Bad Blogger

It's been a while since I've posted anything. It's been a busy time here...mostly due to my 'real job'. Periods like this make me appreciate even more the bloggers that seem to post every day or so. That's dedication!

I have wanted to buy a new extruder for some time now. The hard part was deciding which extruder to buy. I looked at several smaller ones including the four inch Northstar extruders. I have a friend who has a Big Blue. She's very happy with it and never worries about needing a larger extruder. Big Blues are quite expensive and I don't use an extruder that much. After thinking about it for months I decided to go ahead and get the Big Blue. It's....uh....big!

It arrived in two boxes:

I knew this thing was solid the minute I picked up the boxes. The larger box weighed over fifty pounds. As I unpacked it I could see the quality workmanship in this device. It's really put together well. I went to Lowes and got a small sheet of thick plywood and some lag screws. I mounted the wood to the wall studs in the studio and then mounted the Big Blue on the plywood. It's very sturdy and I should have no problems with stability. Here's what it looks like all setup:

It's a beast but I've used many different extruders before, including the Big Blue. No extruder out there allows a user to extrude clay as effortlessly as the Big Blue. Besides, if you're doing a lot of work it's the only one I know that holds an entire twenty-five pound pug of clay. While shopping around online I was amazed at the differences in price for the Big Blue. Some retailers were selling them for nearly $1000 plus shipping! I ended up getting mine for around $825 with no tax and shipping included. I was happy with that price.

I was in Orlando a couple of weeks ago and stopped by Axner. There were some new Mudtools plastic ribs there and I decided to buy a set.

I haven't used them yet but I'm sure I will in the near future.

I'm attending a workshop on 'spraying glazes' at the Jacksonville Art Center in Floyd, Virginia next week. It's being taught by Chris Lively. You can check out his website here. The workshop takes place Monday through Wednesday. I'm going to fly from Orlando to Charlotte on Saturday and spend Sunday in Seagrove. Then it's a flight back Wednesday night and work Thursday morning! Quick trip but I hope it's worth it.

That's all for now...I have bisqued pots in the kiln that need to be removed. I will post pictures from the workshop next week.