Each participant will receive a bag of White Stoneware ($25.00 value)
Extruders will be available for use.
Please bring any other tools that you would like to use.

The hand extruder can open up exciting new areas to explore with clay! Join us for a 2-day hands-on workshop with David Hendley.

When David uses the extruder, in most cases he does not want the finished shape to "look" extruded. Clay right out of the extruder can have a hard-edged, tooled look, and a twist, or a turn or a distortion can soften that extruded look and make it more expressive. A sign of success, for him, is when another potter sees something he's made using the extruder and can't figure out how he did it.

During the workshop, David will cover three broad areas using the clay extruder: extrusions as additions to wheel-thrown pieces, such as handles, feet, and rims: extrusions used as building components, such as walls, to construct forms; and hollow extrusions that make vessel forms with the additions of tops and/or bottoms.

He will talk about the principles of extruder die design, fabrication, modifications, and trouble-shooting, with an emphasis on encouraging students to make their own extruder dies. He will also present ideas for examples of "post-extruding" tools that serve to manipulate or enhance clay extrusions.

David has been using extruders in his ceramics work since he built his first clay extruder in 1975. Several examples of his finished work, as well as my tools, dies, and techniques are included in the books, "Extruded Ceramics", by Diana Pancioli, Lark Books, 2000 and Second Edition, 2014. His website, www.farmpots.com, also has lots of information and photos about clay extruding.

For the hands-on workshop, it's helpful if students are familiar with basic clay-working skills, such as joining clay, forming slabs, and throwing. Experience using a clay extruder, however, is not necessary ~ students will be experienced by the end of the workshop!