The tricky bit with extruded handles is keeping every one identical, and getting the clay stiffness to agree with the pot it will join. The maker deals with both: pushing clay through shaped dies gives repeatable strips, and the handle material is dried to a firmness matched as closely as possible to the mug body before attachment. That pairing seems to be what makes the method reliable.
The process starts with a handheld extruder rather than a wall-mounted unit. Clay goes in with the slider release depressed, and the loaded clay is held over the edge of the desk so its own pressure stops air getting trapped; the extruder's friction compresses the clay during loading, which helps avoid bubbles too. A die is fitted, a length of clay is pushed through, then the strip is cut into sections of roughly 10 to 11cm, the ends are flattened and each piece is bent into a loop and left a few hours to stiffen.
Several details stand out. A laser level throws a reference line on the mug body so the scoring runs truly vertical, and the same tool checks where the logo stamp sits on the base. A serrated metal rib scores the cup, a paintbrush spreads slip on both surfaces, silicone shaping tools round off the joints, and a metal ruler and blade take care of measuring and cutting the blanks. The barrel apparently holds enough clay for about a dozen handles at a go.
The finished mug wears a glossy variegated dark blue glaze with the wheel-throwing ridges still visible, and the handle is a double-ridged loop with a profile that gives melted glaze somewhere to run. One open point: the maker notes that only a handful of mugs come off the bench on any given day, which is why the handheld tool copes fine. Whether it would still suit a bigger production run is a fair question to leave open. In my opinion, being able to match mugs made months apart this closely is a genuinely useful result.
Project by Old Forge Creations. Watch it on their YouTube channel: