Extruder beads

I am going to use this ochre color Cernit formulation again, I have some left over from making the beads and it will match the beads that I have already made. Yes, I do have a plan for these. Stay tuned.

You will need a Makin's professional extruder and the Bead core adapters in the small set and one of the small round dies that come with the clay gun set. There are also two sets of 10 different dies that can be purchased extra. I am going to use the smallest bead core adapter 1mm to make these beads.

This is what that looks like with some of the disks that are available, the bead corers, and the Makin's clay extruder. You see that small arrow in the bottom left corner of the picture pointing to the bead corer disk and the disk that is in the extruder end cap, those are the ones I used for these beads. The long extruded coils in the top of the picture are the bead coils with a hole inside them baked and waiting to be sliced with the clay blade that you see right next to the green extruder. Those little beads that you see under the coils waiting to be cut are the cut beads ready to be used in a design. I can not even begin to convey how much I love this tool. With all of the disks that are available with the clay extruder, I can make all kinds of beads myself that match my clay beads and focal pieces exactly and I can also extrude clay rods to build canes with too (more on this later).

Place the disk you want to use in the fitting on the end of the gun and then put the core adapter into the hole of the disk with the rod of the adapter coming out the center of the disk as shown. Condition and soften some of the ochre clay (or clay color of your choice) until it is soft and smooth, roll into a coil about two inches long and slightly smaller than the diameter of the barrel of the clay extruder. Place the clay in to the barrel and screw on the end fitting with the disk and the core adapter in it on to the end of the barrel of the clay extruder. Now screw the handle down until the clay starts to come out the hole of the disk.

Here you can see the clay starting to come out of the hole in the disk. Continue to screw down the handle and the clay will keep coming out. Do this until all the clay is out of the gun and you can not move the handle anymore.

Here is what the end of the coil looks like with the hole in it and a coil of the bead. These can be baked now in strips as long as your baking tray or cut in to sections maybe 5" long. After they are baked and cooled you cut them into any size you want.