27 videos, step by step, beginner cane workshop
What people are saying about this tutorial.
jennifer rose
Just finished this first workshop on how to make canes, and I must say I learned so much. This is exactly what I have been looking for, someone who could explain cane making in a step by step that process that I could replicate. I watched the videos, went into my studio and began to create all of the canes Alice showed. I finally have results I can be proud of, and I say thank you so much for doing this workshop. My only question now is when do we get more workshops. If you are only going to take one online class let it be this workshop. Thank you Alice for your hard work, and your dedication to helping others learn the joys of polymer clay.
Still having fun after all these years! I’m still amazed that there are so many people that don’t know anything about polymer clay. Have never even heard of it. But I guess there are hundreds of things I know nothing about. Okay thousands……Millions? But polymer clay is such apart of my life and has been for the last 15 years, with it the main focus for at least 10, that it’s hard to imagine that there are people that haven’t heard of it.
Even when I wasn’t “into” pc, I had tried my hand at it. In the ’80 I made fruit ring candle holders. I know I have them somewhere and I’m going to look for them and see if they are anything like I remember them.
Anyway, I’m always so happy to hear from people who have found my blog and say they want to find out more about pc. The more interest we have the more related product there will be. Besides, it’s such a satisfying art form. Anyone can do just about anything with pc. So if you’re new to pc, go get yourself a few ounces and just play. Find a class near you or online. Do a search online and you’ll find hundreds of free tutorials for you to try.
The bracelet in the photo is a Skinner blend, roller into a plug flatten out and cut into two equal parts and formed into a cane. I cut this cane into four equal part to form the final cane (shown below). I covered a bracelet with a thin layer of black clay, then cut and place slices of the finished cane on top of the black, covering the whole bracelet.
Skinner Blend Cane
Okay, cheerleading over. Go forth and have fun! Christmas is coming, gifts to be made. But if you want, I have bracelets for sale on my Etsy site. Just in case you run out of time…….
I believe that ideas are born and then float around and land on different people. It has happened to me more times than I care to think about. Here’s another one, only this time it’s someone I know through our blogs.
As I mentioned in my last post (about 30 minutes ago) Dora of Dora’s Explorations posted her Zentangles on her Flickr site last week and I just had to do some. I knew I had to try my hand at canes like this.
I didn’t realize that Dora was thinking the same thing. I check in on her site from time to time to see what she is up to because she posts some incredible cane tutorials. In fact, I’ve featured one of them here. When I was there the other day, she was doing home work for Color Inspirations by Lindly Haunani and Maggie Maggio.
So I had no idea that she was getting ready to do a tutorial for Zentangle canes. I should have known, that is how her mind works. She always does the most complicated fabulous canes.
I know her canes will be incredible and her tutorial inspiring. So go to her blog www.dorasexplorations.wordpress.com and see if she has her tutorial up yet, if she doesn’t, bookmark her site, you’ll want to check back until she gets it posted.
You can see more of her fabulous Zentangles on her Flickr site.
Dora from Dora Explorations posted a picture of a Zentangle to her flickr site. I said to myself, I gotta do this. So 16 doodles later, I decided that I needed to translate these doodles into canes and then on to bracelets, wall hanging and more.
So all day yesterday, I created black and white Skinner blends and turned them into canes for my designs. I’m pretty excited about the outcome.
So thanks Dora, you are a constant inspiration. Here’s the second bracelet, both are going to my Esty Shop. Lots of work, but fun! And that’s what I’m always about, Fun!
I made another profile face cane this week. I am working on a tutorial to sell in my Etsy Shop. It’s coming along and I hope to have it ready soon.
In the meantime, I’ve made some bracelets with it and another mermaid with the older cane. This mermaid is going to one of my galleries and the other bracelets are going to be sold on AliceStroppel.Etsy.com
To photograph these ladies, I used the background in the pdf that I gave you in the last post. These girls are truly crazy and funky, but I have to tell you, they do get attention. One of my customers emailed me to tell me her sister was forever borrowing hers. I love that!
A group of perfume pens ready to go to a shop. Below is a group of bottle stoppers. The same face cane with different hair and hats. I also sell them in my Etsy Shop.
Wine Stoppers
I get my stoppers and perfume pins from Boston Clayworks. They are both fun to do even without the face canes and they make great gifts.
Lately, I’ve been following Dora’s Explorations Blog and her polymer clay cane experiments. She seems to enjoy the complicated canes and I understand the challenge.
Her plaid canes are fabulous and there are many more just waiting for you give them a try. She is generous to share these tutorials on her website.
If you want to challenge yourself, take a look at her newest cane tutorial, “Joy of Hex“. It free and the pattern possibilities are endless. Thanks Dora for sharing your talent with us.
While I was searching for the author of the eye cane tutorial at the bottom of this post, I came across this tutorial from Naama Zamir. She Posted this tutorial on March 1st, 2009! I made my Ancient Mystery Bracelet on Aug.10, 2009.
I didn’t see her tutorial until 10 minutes ago. In fact I had already started this post to look for the author of the eye cane tutorial.
Ancient Mystery I
This post is to acknowledge that she thought of the technique before I did! It just must have been floating around in the air and landed on me. Take a look, she explains how to do it wonderfully.
Now to the reason I was searching the internet… this ikat cane tutorial.
Ikat Eye Cane
Do you know who wrote this tutorial for an Ikat Eye Cane? It was on a website several years ago.
I printed it out and I use it sometimes for my face canes. I copied and pasted it into another program to print it to save ink. I usually labeled things I printed out with the author’s name and the website address. But somehow I’ve lost that information.
I’ve searched for it online for quite some time with no luck. I’m afraid that it is no longer available. I would like to suggest this cane for my face canes and send people to this tutorial. If it is no longer available, then I would like to be able to share the technique.
If you know the author or the website address, or someone who might be able to help me, would you please leave a comment or email me at alice@polymerclayetc.com? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
I was busy last night with these cuff bracelets. I really had fun! Seriously, I was smiling the whole time. When I took them out of the oven, I laughed out loud. They are are listed in my Etsy Shop. I’m working on a tutorial for the face canes to sell in my etsy shop. This is just too much fun.
I wasn’t sure if I could use the profile face cane successfully on a bracelet, but I like her, she is really 3d.
I was stuck on redheads, now to move on and do some more blonde and burnettes.
Here’s how this started! I was going to shoot a video to share about all the items I found while cleaning that I can use with my clay work.
But as always, I had to clean up my clay space before I could begin. There sat slices of canes that I used in my (not finished yet) Polymer Clay Collage Project…. you’ll see a line of red squares across the bottom. Some were slices that I messed up and then there was this small little piece of cane left.
If you have been following this blog at all, you know me well enough to know that I do not like to make scrap clay. So, I layered the messed up slices with a layer of black #7 on the pasta machine. Then I sliced the remaining cane and added those slices with the black layers in between. Ending up with a new cane.
Why I didn’t start filming this for you, I don’t know, except that I didn’t know that it was going to come out this cool.
I sliced this cane into thin slices and added them to a sheet of black. Then placed the whole thing on my bracelet. It looks pretty good, I liked it anyway.
Then I had just a couple of slices left of this scrap cane (and I’m laughing here)! I didn’t want to scrap the rest of the cane I didn’t use because I liked it.
So I decide to play with what I had left. this next bracelet was the result and I like it way better than the first one.
Ancient Mystery II
I laid the left over slices out on a skinny strip of black and ran it through the pasta machine. It was ragged along the edges and I kind of liked that, so I put it on a layer of ecru clay and covered the bracelet form, added dots and there it was.
It was interesting and fun to experiment and the best part is I made something out of clay that was going to become a gray blob.
But..I still haven’t made the video with the found objects to use with clay. It will have to wait now, I have a special request for more girl bracelets in my Etsy shop, so I better get moving.
I’ve listed the other two bracelets there, so cross your fingers that summer sales will happen.
I love this fish, the colors are so vibrant and full of contrast. Our judge, watercolor artist Janet King, said that it was hard to choose a winner, but she really like the red color choice in Adrienne’s fish. I want to thank my friend Janet for taking the time to be our judge. Janet is a fabulous watercolor artist and instructor. Please take the time to visit her site and spend some time with her paintings. This bird painting is one of my favorites of Janet’s and represents her humor. See why I asked her to be our judge and why she is my friend?
Adrienne will be receiving the perfume pen in the mail very soon. Thank you Adrienne for the time you spent with your fish. Adrienne was the first to enter a fish and she enjoyed it so much she made another and entered it too. As you can see it paid off, she won!! We do improve with age. (At least with polymer clay)
Thank you to the rest of you who entered this summer contest. I wish I could post all your photos. It was such fun to receive the fish photos in my in-box. But I think what I enjoyed most was talking with so many wonderful people out there that share this crazy passion for polymer clay. Or maybe it’s just the shared love of making things with our hands. The creative process is such a healing, exciting, self affirming activity that it is a necessity for our very being.
Several people told me that this project has rekindled the creativity spark in them. What a compliment for me and an affirmation for just starting something creative. Thanks again.
I did want to show another fish that came very close to winning that I felt I needed to share it. Laura Lang’s fish is beautifully done and I enjoy her color choices. Thanks, Laura for entering.
Laura Lang's Entry
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