People often ask me how I make those funky, colorful patterns you see in the photo. Does it take a lot of time to paint them? Will the paint wash off? No, and no. It takes no time to paint them and the paint will not wash off because there is no paint.
I make these patterns in an extrudinary technique – a way of folding polymer clay of several colors to form a pattern of squares, triangles, even hexagons.
First I select colors – matching, yet contrasting, so they look nicely together, complement each other, and don’t form unpleasant shades when they mix.
I use a tool called extruder. It passes clay through a tube to form a coil. The shape of the coil depends on the die – a metal disk with a cut-out to extrude coils of different shape. I condition the clay, roll into thin sheets – sometimes of the same thickness, sometimes into several sheets of different thickness – and cut dozens and dozens of flat discs.
Then I put discs together to form long cylinders. It’s important to keep in mind that neighboring colors should make one another stand out.
Then I use a tool called extruder. It passes clay cylinders through a tube to form a long “snake”. The shape of the “snake” depends on the die – a metal disk with a cut-out to let create different shapes. Did your mom or your grandmother ever make cookies by passing dough through a cookie attachment on a meat grinder? If she did, you pretty much know what an extruder is like.
I cut these “snakes” into several pieces and put them together to form a cane. Then I slice the cane and combine slices into sheets. When the sheets are pressed together and rolled to the desired thickness, I use them to make jewelry, buttons, accessories, decorate kitchen utensils and tree ornaments.
Extrudinary technique produces unexpected, vivid, colorful clay patterns. I never tire of coming up with more uses for these bold, beautiful patterns!
The technique itself is fun and not very complicated. It takes some skill and some practice to achieve even, uniform results and to some more complex shapes. But basic pieces can be done by any beginner. Don’t believe it? Try and see for yourself. I teach extrudinary technique in several classes – jewelry-making and tree ornaments. Let me know if you want to try one of them.
