Featured in the New Edition of the Extruder Book

I am thrilled to have my work included in the second edition of "The Extruder Book" by Daryl E. Baird.
The book is filled with great insight on organizing spaces, techniques, designs and lots of inspiration. Daryl does a great job with the demos. Available as a book or an ebook!

I connected with Daryl few years back over facebook and was delighted to meet him in person in 2012 during NCECA in Seattle. He had come by my studio to see my setup and was impressed by several things which he has included in his book. Organized Extruder space, CD shelf reused for storing extruder dies, my dies made from Aluminum sheets... are all included in this book.

My Oil Vinegar Bottles and one of my Dancing Diva Sculptures is also included in the book.

Decorative Butter Dishes

I have been making decorative butter dishes for a few years now and I am always thrilled to decorate them with unique patterns. Because of their time consuming nature, I usually made 12 at a time. This time I decided to challenge myself and make 30 of them. Most of these are for wholesale orders, so I have been a busy bee.

I made all different patterns and had to really scratch my head on these.

Few things I realized from making larger quantities at one time...

• You increase your efficiency. For example, you pick up one tool and do the same step on all the butter dishes. Rather than picking up and putting down 10 tools for each piece. This saves a lot of time.
• Develope quicker ways to do the same thing. I made a new tool which helps me score and slip. More on that in another post.
• And because I wanted different designs on all butter dishes, I came up with some really cool new patterns.
• And most of all your hand developes a memory, just like playing the piano which makes things go a lot faster and your work will continue to improve.

Do share your insights on what you have learnt working in your studio.