I saw several cakes decorated with a clay gun and then a few threads about it. So I had to try it. I bought one from Jo-Ann, and thought how hard could that be? But I was brutely rebuffed!!

I thought all you had to do was put the fondant in and push but it was NOT that easy. Once I put it in I could not push it out, at all. It stuck to the sides on the inside and did not budge. So I forced it out with a knife and used powered sugar to coat the insides, still not a budge.

How in the world do you use that thing? Please help! I love that look.

You have to knead in a good bit of veg shortening into the fondant before you put the fondant into the gun. then it comes out easy!

Oooo... I really, really want to see the answer to this- I was going to buy an extruder, too. Didn't realize there was a trick, but now that you mention it, I can see how it would get sticky. So, here's a bump!

I use a 50/50 mix of sugarpaste and modelling paste (fondant and gumpaste).

I also grease the inside of the tube by putting my finger in Trex (Crisco?) and then rubbing it in the tube.

Hope this helps.

Suzanne x

IF I USED WILTON (UGH!) IT IT TOO DRY AND I WOULD ZAP IT A FEW SECONDS IN THE MICRO.....OK BUT EXTRA WORK....THE SATIN ICE SEEMS TO GO THRU MUCH EASIER...

I NEVER THOUGHT TO GREASE THE INSIDE OF THE TUBE....MAKES SENSE.
THANKS.........

I usually just soften my fondant in the microwave for a few seconds and add in some crisco and it extrudes nicely.

I'm about to use my clay extruder for the first time tomorrow.

Thanks leahs and Relznik for your advice.

ah, veg. shortening, now that makes sense. thanks

Now my question is - Will the pieces take longer to dry with the added shortening?

Yeah, those metal extruders are brutal!! Heating it up for a few seconds in the micro really works. I grease the sides too.

Then, when you get hooked on extruding you'll probably want to upgrade to the green twist handle makins one or the sugarcraft gun.

Courtney

Yep, like everybody said, the fondant/gumpaste has to be much softer than you would normally use it to be pushed through easily ( really,really soft ) & greasing the inside of the clay gun with shortening helps too.
It might take a little bit longer to dry,I haven't really noticed

Ok, I'm now wanting to buy one of these things. Where can I buy and how much do they cost?

I bought one from Michaels. It's in the section where the modeling clays are. I didn't buy the cheapest one but it was around $15 to $20 and was green metal with a twist handle. It comes with a bunch of dies to place at the bottom of the tube. I just washed it up good and put MMF in it with no gumpaste and made a tassle with a die that had several holes in it. I placed it on a cake I made for my MIL. She was impressed and so was I. I had to extrude several lengths to make a decent sized tassle. It was pretty easy and adding more shortening to it made it come out nicely. I didn't have to grease the inside of the gun; I guess the MMF had enough grease in it. You'll love using it!

I love my sugarcraft gun but sometimes I would like something that has a larger capacity and produces larger pieces.... What else is there out there? I broke my daughter's play clay extruder.....

I've seen Duff use one of those big honkers (extruder)...he was making that scottish cow that had LOTS of hair. I have a small one, but could it be harder to use one of those big ones??? I'll just have to find out!

I posted this a few days ago regarding extruders. The cheap plunger ones that you push the fondant through are really worthless. The metal twist handle one I mention is fantastic--no need to add tons of crisco and you get nice long extrusions.

***************************

I have the black & red Sugarcraft gun (expensive=$35+) and I really hate it. Besides needing to soften the fondant with crisco, I also don't feel that the length of a rope you get out of it is really worth all the effort.

I bought the Makins shiny green metal clay extruder from Michael's using a coupon (<$20) and I love it. The barrel is long, so the ropes you get can be 18 inches+, depending the diameter of the hole in the disk you choose. It's easy to clean, and you don't have to add as much crisco to the fondant because of the twist turn handle (also no pressure on your hand this way). It comes with lots of disks and you can buy an additional set with another 10 disks for about $6 with another coupon.

http://www.theclaystore.com/pa.....57fa6fdc0f

HTH
Rae

Oh thank you Rae!!! I will go see if I can get it with my next coupon.... It will be nice to be able to make larger and longer pieces......

BLAKECAKES,
So glad you commented on the clay extruder you got @ Micheal's (Makin's professional ultimate clay extruder)! I actually just got one yesterday & haven't tried it yet. You say you can make up to 18in ropes? Mine has a barrel that is about 5 & 1/2 in long. How can you make ropes longer than the barrel?
Thx!

Are you talking about the chamber that holds the dough/gumpaste? I might be misinterpreting your question but the size of the design disk opening plus the capacity of the chamber will determine how much/how long your product is.... You just keep pushing til it's empty.... Sorry if I got your question wrong....

Ok I worked some Crisco into my fondant (to which I had added some gum tragacanth to make it harden properly as usual) - it pushed out of the gun nicely but now it won't set
Help please...?