Clay Gun Tips

Location of Sugarcraft Klay Gun
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Shows some uses of the
Klay Press above

Use to make "hair"

Use Silicone Putty to make 
the molds shown.
The cake is a round one, cut.

There are many brands of this product out there. I decided to carry the Sugarcraft Klay Gun after I took a class and the teacher adadamtly recommended this one. She explained that others don't protrude the clay out nearly as easily. She said it you use another brand a lot your hand will get very sore.

From Jamie Hibbs
Tip: "I use a test tube cleaning brush to clean my extruder. They are available at a variety of places. I got mine from http://www.sugarcraft.com

From Bambitowne
Tip: "There are a lot of great suggestions here on how to extrude the clay. A lot of them suggest that you warm the clay one way or another before pushing through your extruder. Great idea! But, what do you do when the clay is too soft to make anything out of???? Well, try putting it in the freezer for a short period of time. This will speed up the process of the clay hardening enough to use it again. Have fun!"

From Kendra Wilson
Tip: "You can also place the portions of clay to be extruded onto a heating pad to soften them for the gun. Use the clay wrapper to protect the heating pad surface. Do not over heat!!! If you over heat it, some Sculpey diluent might help it. Also using smaller amounts of clay are easier to extrude."

From Adele
Tip: "Cleaning the Clay Gun - Wrap plunger in a baby wipe, and push it into the gun. When it comes out at the bottom, it has cleaned the gun and pushed the waste clay out the bottom of the extruder so it can be reused on a later project."

From Chris
Tip: "I was having a very hard time squeezing clay out of my clay gun. The little handles don't give you very much leverage and some of the stiffer poly clays are a nightmare. I now use a regular household caulk gun. My husband made a small wooden circle with a hole and slit in it to place at the tip end of the caulk gun so that the handle on the clay gun would not slip and slide. I put the shaft, clay, and plunger through the slotted wooden hole. Screw on the disk and squeeze the caulk gun. Presto - even the harder clays like Kato poly comes out with ease."

From Nancy Pollack
Tip: "To clean your clay gun, simply take it apart and bake it along with everything else. When you can handle it, peel off the thin layer of clay inside the gun. Not quick, but really easy,and thorough. Apologies to the author of this suggestion that I found on the web, and cannot find again."

From Jenn
Tip: " **Use with care** - When I want to extrude a LOT of clay with my sugarcraft gun, I load it and put it in a WARMED and turned off oven for about 2-3 minutes. It warms the clay enough to slip through like butter, but doesn't heat it enough to bake it."

From Lyn
Tip: "Place the clay in a resealable plastic bag and put into a bowl of warm (not hot!) water. This softens the clay and makes it easier to extrude."

From Catz69
Tip: "I dip the gun (with plunger up) into very warm/hot water (not too hot) for a few seconds. Shake off and load the clay. The clay comes out even and easy, and the clay cools down as any dampness from the water dries."

From Rhoda Conley
Tip: "My daughter Nancy in Oregon has taken up clay work, discovered that a brass shotgun cleaning brush works well for cleaning clay guns, follow with a cotton guncleaning swab. I adapted my nutcracker, the kind with a lever action to be a clay gun extruder, a little grinding in two places with the dremel and a grinding stone, it works well for me. "

From Sage Tyrtle
Tip: "After seeing the tip about the bottle brush I went in search of one. It turns out that the Gerber Nipple brush works *perfectly*. It's exactly the right size."

From Alaine Sepulveda
Tip: "I put the plunger against the floor and have my husband push down on the finger grips with his feet while he surfs the net. He has big, thick shoes, and I have time to craft while he extrudes for me."

From suelee
Tip: "I have tried the caulking gun adaptation method but found another suggestion on a link (which I lost - sorry to whomever it belonged to!) using two 2x4s a hinge and a hole in the top for the clay gun nozzle to fit through. There is a corresponding depression for the plunger head to fit into and when put together you have two hinged boards one above the other, pop in the filled clay gun, press slowly but steadily on the top board (great leverage!) and voila! works great and takes much less effort. Also love the sculpy brand clay gun discs since they are thick and sturdy. The other brand has discs that tend to buckle and collapse due to the density of the clay."

From Denise Graham
Tip: "After loading the gun, I set it under a heating pad on low for a few minutes. Pushes out easier."

From Jeanna Carroll
Tip: "I load the clay gun and then run my hot blow dryer on it for a minute or two. It usually softens the clay enough to extrude it easily. I still want to try the caulk gun adaption thing!!!"