New Year - New Tools

A few months ago Jeff and I purchased an extruder a from friend. We have a small extruder but it's quite limited in what you can do with it.This week Jeff finally had the time to mount this larger one on the wall. 

I decided to start simple and extrude a few wall pockets. It was fun to experiment with different stamps and methods of cutting the openings. It was also a nice break from piggy banks.

Pumping it Up

 Jeff has made a lot of soap dispensers throughout his clay career. The pump mechanisms have changed over time from the plastic with a cork, to plastic screw top with glued on ring, and most recently to stainless or bronzed metal, with plastic glued on ring.

This winter he bought a few thread molds that eliminate the need for gluing on a threaded plastic ring. They were a little rough when he bought them and he had to do some clean up of the plaster. Now that he has worked with them a few times he thinks he will be able to make his own.

The soap pump in the photo below has the glued down ring and foaming soap pump. If the molds work well Jeff will switch over to those exclusively. In the mean time, I have been having fun adding the ginkgo leaves to his bottles.

clicking on the photo will take you to Jeff's Etsy shop