What brand of clay extruder do you all use? I bought a cheapo one from AC Moore & it is a pain, literally! I was wondering if more expensive meant easier on the hands???

TIA

The green one from Makins clay with the twist handle is easy to use and you can usually find it on sale at Michaels or some place similar.

I agree. I got the Makins one for Christmas and it is very easy to use.

what is a "day extruder"?

I doubt I'll be MUCH help here, but.... I purchased the Craft Gun from a cake supply store in the Northeast for about $65.00. I inquired about its use and specifically the possible strain on the hand/wrist area. I was told that it's relative to how much I'd be using it at one time. I haven't used mine yet, so I can't speak from direct experience (yet!); but it sounds like it could potentially be a bit of a pain.

[Edited: for correction]

Clay extruders are used for making long uniform strings of clay/fondant instead of having to roll snakes by hand. They come with discs with round, half round, square, triangular holes etc for a variety of shapes and sizes of extrusions.

Love my Makins Ultimate Clay Extuder--shiny light green metal with a "T" twist handle. Long barrel, easy on the hands, cheap, lots of disks. You don't need to add much crisco to the fondant/gum paste, either, in order to get it to go thru the extruder easily, either. Just a little bit makes it a bit easier.

As for any push extruder--metal, or plastic--they're junk and not worth the pain.

The -s-u-g-a-r-c-r-a-f-t-gun (red & black squeeze handle) is expensive, has a short barrel (so less product length), & requires a lot of crisco to be kneaded into the fondant in order not to hurt your hand too much. Mine sits in the drawer while I use the Makins Ultimate.

Rae

I just got my Makin's extruder...worked just great, but careful assembling it for the first time...I got a couple of nasty metal splinters that took forever to get out!! Then again...could just be me...I'm very accident prone !!

I also use the Makin's green clay extruder. I've used other ones but they are most difficult on your hands. Here's a tidbit for you--make sure you put lots (I mean lots) of shortening on the fondant before you pack it into the extruder. It should be pretty slimey (work the shortening into the fondant but make sure it is really well coated). This helps the fondant to be expressed through the extruder without much pain!

I just bought the green Makin's (after reading a thread here the other day) and OMG, it is so much better than the smaller(not cheaper though) one that I had. No pain, all gain! Love it.

Thank you all so much...green Makins it is!

Has anyone ever tried the Play Doh brand extruder? Silly I know but it does all of the same things as the expensive ones, and has a lot of attachments.

I got this one and will be using it on a cake next week. The little ones would probably be great for smaller projects but I needed a big one. This one is heavy-duty and the same price as the ones at Hobby Lobby & Michael's. You can put over a pound of fondant in at a time so you're not constantly reloading. I can't wait to use it.

http://www.mudinmind.com/Pottery+Tools/Extruders-+small/Medium+Clay+Extruder+Gun.html

Glad to see this post. It helps making my decision. Thanks everyone!

Rae - Thanks for the info. That is good to know. I'm hoping I don't regret buying it! I guess I'll know after I cover 3 tiers next week. Maybe I'll recruit someone else to squeeze while I cut

Just ordered my Makins. Thanks again Rae for your detailed synopsis!

Hope you hgave lots of fun with your new toy

Rae

well my husband bought me this vintage cookie machine thingy. He paid a dollar for it . Hes like can you can stick (marshmellow paste lol !!!) in it .

I m like hun I doubt it, but I have wondered if i can. Does anyone know? It looks just like a clay extruder gun. just of course with different attachments.

Where can you get one?

ayerim - why don't you do an experiment and see how it works?

I think the rachet function on the cookie machine thing might create some non-uniformity in the result, but I guess it depends on how you handle it overall!

I have the silver cheapo one and I agree it's a pain to use... but since I only use it for small details here and there... I haven't gotten the shiny green one... that's the one Ron Ben Israel uses and recommends... I will get it eventually though.... it's a lot easier...

Makins Ultimate Clay Extuder is the only way to go. Don't know how I lived without mine. Bought it off of e-bay.

Cool! Thanks for the information everyone. I am glad I came across this post. I was going to order one next week for $45.00. It's nice to know that there are other options out there. I think I will order the Makins Ultimate Clay Extuder. It's 1/2 the price!

I bought my Makins Ultimate Clay Extruder at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon and it cost me $12.49. Don't know how I ever survived w/o it. It's one of my "must have" tools

I went to my local ACMoore yesterday looking for the Makins Ultimate Clay Extruder. They did not have it. They did have another one for 11.99. I purchased it with a 50%off coupon so I paid $6+ including taxes. I was happy with the price, but was not sure of the quality. When I got home me and my mom decided to test it out. We used SatinIce fondant for the test. I did not have to use Crisco or anything. It worked great! I played with all attachments/discs that it came with and I was surprised at how nicely it worked.