| From the pages of Pottery Making Illustrated
Credit to Die For by Daryl Baird
These few simple tools are all that is needed to create dies from old or expired credit cards.
| For several years, I had the opportunity to work alongside Jim Robison
on the commercial exhibit floor at the annual National Council on
Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference. We worked the booth
like a couple of traveling medicine men. First, Jim would draw the
“townsfolk” in by demonstrating his considerable skill with a slab
roller and an extruder, then I would sell them on the idea of
personally owning one or both of these wonderful pieces of equipment.
I always enjoyed seeing how Jim could easily seize the attention of
passers-by while he added beautiful touches to the vases and platters
he built in just minutes, using simple tools he found in kitchen shops
and paint stores. A pie crust ventilator made subtle scored lines in
the clay while a tiny paint roller and a piece of lace trim gave it
exquisite texture.
In addition to demonstrating at NCECA, Jim conducts workshops in Europe
and North America. Among the most intriguing items he takes with him
are the extruder dies he has fashioned from credit cards, membership
cards and coffee cards.
Recently, a friend asked me to make an address sign for her new home.
As a devoted “extrudist,” I wanted to make the sign, at least partly,
with my favorite studio tool. None of the stock dies I had on hand
seemed suitable, so I decided to make the shapes I needed using Jim’s
credit card die construction techniques. |
Making a Die
You’ll need a few simple tools for making a
credit card extruder die—A no. 2 pencil, an indelible marker with a
fine point, a Dremel tool and assorted bits, an X-Acto knife and
several No. 11 blades, emory cloth or 150-grit sandpaper, rubbing
alcohol and a small rag. Safety glasses or goggles are essential when
using the Dremel tool. Optional tools include a hand drill and bits, a
scroll saw, a jeweler’s saw and a small vise. |
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1. Outline your design first in pencil, then use a marker.
Tip: Clean the credit card with soap and water before starting to draw on it. | 2. Cut out the opening with a Dremel or other rotary tool, working inside the line.
| 3. Trim burrs with an X-Acto knife. As you clean up the die opening, hold the credit card die up to a
bright light. This makes it easier to gauge where more trimming needs
to be done. | 4. Sand the die smooth.
| 5. Check to make sure your custom die is centered in the die opening.
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To begin, use a No. 2 pencil with a good eraser to lay out the shape of the die opening. Dull the finish of the card with fine sandpaper if the pencil marks are too light. Go over the pencil drawing with a fine-point, indelible marker, like a Sharpie (figure 1). If you make a mistake, these lines can be removed by wiping the card with a rag dipped in rubbing alcohol.
To cut out the shape you’ve drawn, a hand-held rotary tool, like the type made by Dremel, works fast (figure 2) and is fairly easy to control. These come with a variety of drill bits, along with grinding and sanding bits that can be used to refine the shape of the opening. In addition to using a Dremel tool, I tried cutting out the die shapes with a scroll saw. It worked well, but setting up the saw for this was tedious and time-consuming. I also gave a coping saw and a jeweler’s saw a try. Even with a fine-toothed blade installed, the coping saw was next to impossible to use. The jeweler’s saw cut more smoothly but it was slower than using a Dremel tool.
Once the opening has been cut out with the Dremel tool, it will be rough, so you’ll need to clean it up. I like using an X-Acto knife with a No. 11 blade to clean up the opening and square-up the corners (figure 3). The blades are very sharp but they dull quickly when cutting plastic. Have several on hand and change blades often.
Once you’re satisfied with the die shape, use a small piece of sandpaper or emory cloth to clean off any burrs (figure 4). I used a narrow strip cut from a foam-backed sanding pad because of the way it fits the contours and corners.
Using a Die
Credit card extruder dies are best suited for use with extruders that
have a 3 to 4-inch barrel. Don’t try to use credit card dies in
large-barreled extruders because these types of extruders will exert
too much pressure on the die, and cause it to crack. For the same
reason, you’ll achieve the best results by using only a two or three
pound charge of very soft, well-wedged clay in the extruder to minimize
the stress placed on the die. Place the card on an extruder die with a
hole somewhat larger than the hole you just cut. I’m using a North Star
standard extruder and the outer part of a small hollow die makes an
ideal mounting plate for the credit card die. Looking from the
underside, make sure the die is centered.
Hold the die in place and turn it face up. Use small wads of soft clay
to anchor the credit card to the mounting plate (figure 5). Then,
attach the die to the extruder barrel and load the charge of clay into
the barrel carefully so the credit card does not become misaligned.
Evaluate the first extrusion. If areas need to be refined, it’s easy to go back and give the shape a little “tune up.” |
Street Address Project
To illustrate the
use of these dies, I made a street address sign for my home. I rolled a
large slab of clay that was just under a half-inch thick and cut out
the oval shape using a plastic serving platter as a template.
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| A. Three credit card
dies. | B. The slab should match the thickness of the notch
on the bull nose die
extrusion. | C. A T-shaped extruder die
is used for the
numbers, which are assembled on
drywall. | D. Address sign, 18 inches long, Laguna Speckled Buff clay glazed with Laguna’s Fern Mist
glaze, fired to cone 5 oxidation. |
So far, I have three credit card dies in my collection. I
used the extrusion from my bull nose shaped die to create a decorative
rim for the edge of the clay slab. The height of the notch in the
extrusion matches the thickness of the clay slab. Make the bull nose
extrusion long enough to cover the entire circumference of the slab and
attach it as soon as it’s extruded. Spray the slab before attaching the
rim and use even pressure all the way around the piece to bond the trim
to the slab. No scoring or slip is necessary.
I used a
T-shaped die to make the numbers for the sign. The die is 1¼
inch wide by ¾ inch high. The “T” profile is easy to shape
while also offering a large surface area on the underside, ensuring a
strong bond between the extruded shape and the slab.
Make
extrusions of several lengths and shape the numbers on a piece of
drywall. Draw the outline of the numbers or letters you want directly
onto the drywall, and follow these lines as you lay out the extrusions.
If the numbers don’t look quite right after the first attempts, you can
go back and bend them more.
Keep the extrusions moist as you
work. If you’re assembling a shape from several extruded pieces, like
the number 4 for example, take care to join the pieces thoroughly. This
is where you’ll need to score well and apply slip to the joints before
attaching the parts.
Spray the oval slab with a mist of water
and lightly place the numbers on the surface. When each one is properly
positioned, repeatedly apply light, even pressure until the numbers are
firmly in place. It isn’t necessary to distort the shape of the
extrusion to achieve good attachment.
Securely wrap the sign
in plastic and allow it to “rest” on the drywall sheet for two or three
days. Afterwards, slide the sign onto a fresh piece of drywall and
lightly cover it with plastic. This will help it dry
evenly.
Tip: When working
on large, flat projects, you can minimize the
risk of the piece warping by using a sheet of drywall as a
work surface.
Daryl Baird is the author of The Extruder Book,
published by The
American Ceramic Society. He resides in Sagle, ID.
You can
send
comments to him at idahobaird@nctv.com.
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