Polymer Clay Canes for Beginners 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.
Online Workshops with Alice Stroppel
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I’ve been spending some time developing a class for beginners, beginner caners that is. I know so many clayer that haven’t made a cane or weren’t very successful at caning and just gave up. I also know many people that are interested in learning more about polymer clay, but don’t know where to start.
Marty Montague and Karen Johnsnon from Beads, F.O.B. in Sarasota, FL attended my pen and ink class last month and saw some of my colorful beads and asked if I would teach a caning class in Sarasota. Polymer clay is the perfect compliment to beads of all kinds. Creating a focal bead from polymer and pairing it with other elements gives the beaded an even greater ownership of a piece. I’ll be truly excited to see what the beaders from Marty’s shop will create after this workshop
I’ll be teaching the two day workshop on Aug. 20th and 21st. Learn more in my class section, or download this pdf for all the information. To register for this workshop call Beads, F.O.B. at 941-921-0871.
These are a few of the samples I’ve been making from to basic Skinner blends that I will be teaching in this workshop. Each new caner will walk away with enough canes to make hundreds of different pieces and because it’s a two day workshop, there will be time to create lots of beads or pendants before we all go home.
Come on a join me, we’re going to have a blast.
I’ve been busy this week making slices to exchange at a retreat I’m going to in September. Very excited about it and I’ll tell you more about it another day.
I’ve also been making a zillion, yes that many, skinner blends for a fun new workshop I’ll be teaching in Sarasota, FL at Beads, F.O.B., Inc. on Saturday, August 20th – 10am – 4pm and Sunday the 21st from 10am – 1pm.
Marty Montague is the owner of Beads, F.O.B., Inc and she and Karen Johnson is manager, designer and teacher at the shop. They both attended my pen and ink class last month and we all had such a good time Marty asked me to teach a cane/bead class for her. I’m delighted.
It’s a two day workshop for people new to polymer clay, don’t worry you won’t have to buy lots of equipment, I have pasta machines to share, but you will be investing in lots of clay. The up side of that is you will be “stocking” your cane pantry with enough colors, blends and canes to make hundreds of beads or pendant with the techniques I’ll show you.
It’s also a workshop for those who have been playing with clay for awhile but have just never tried caning and are ready to take the plunge.
I’ll be showing you how I make reasonable sized to small canes to use all kinds of fun projects. I never make giant canes because I don’t like to have lots of one cane, I’d rather use my clay stock to make hundreds of small interesting canes. It makes it easier on your pocketbook if your just starting out.
I’ll spend some time with skinner blends, I’ve learned a few important things over the years that I’ll share. Plus we’ll be using the skinner blends to make many different canes and beads.
So here’s what you’ll be learning
- Create a Skinner blend
- Make these basic canes: stripe, checker board, jelly roll, bulls eye,
flowers and some fun little accent canes.
- Use tons of tips gleaned from my years of practice. If there is an
easier way, I’m going to do my best to find it.
- Learn several ways to make beads.
- Finish a simple yet striking pendant.
This strand of beads are just a sample of the beads you’ll be able to make from the canes we produce in this workshop.
 I’m still making samples for this class and will be posting them over the next couple of week. To find out more about this class download my pdf, to register call Karen or Marty at 941-921-0871
I’m not sure if their August newsletter is out yet, but it will be shortly. You can download it from the front page of Beads, F.O.B.
The next class in my studio will this month, July 30, 2011. We’ll be using up your old canes and creating some very cool fish.
I’m using fish as the subject, but you could cane map almost anything. I’ll be showing you a couple of other cane mapped items in the next few days. The photo above shows one crazy fantasy fish that I applied to this cute little tea pot. Fun! Here’s a close up. It’s only about 3″ square.
The Class is $55.00 and that will include lunch and Foam core for mounting your finished fish and cording or pin back to finish your small fish. Plus…I’ll add a bit of metal foil to add the pop need to create a fantasy fish.
Click here for all the information. Hope to see you here,
Alice
 Face Patterns These are some of the sample items I made for my class last weekend and I think they are a good mix of styles from the same group of patterns. The face on the bracelet in the middle is the same face that is one the figure in blue surrounded with black and white canes.
If you are a student in my P&I class the patterns in pdf form are emailed to you after class, usually the next day. If you can’t make it to the South East anytime soon, you may want to consider my tutorial and these patterns. Both are for sale in my Etsy shop.
Now that I’ve started coloring on clay, and I kind of feel like I’m 10 and have all these wonderful coloring book pages in front of me and all the colors to go with it. I just can’t stop.
 Carole, Ellyn, Charlene, Sydney, Tyra, Marty, Terri, Vicky, Pat, Karen It was a hot day in Central Florida, but we had enough fun to make up for it. This was a great group of woman who created some fabulous work. I’m always inspired by the diversity of the pieces. Even though we all start at the same place we end up with such different creations, it’s a joy to witness.
Most of these shape were created with Barbara McGuire’s Antique Door Plate stamps. You can purchase them from me, just leave a comment on this post if you’re interested.
Here are the works of art in the order of the stairs ….. pendants first.
 Carole Carole wanted a blue surround and made quick work of putting together blue canes for her soulful girl. Love her eyes.
 Ellyn Ellyn and I are on the same wave length, I love mermaids and this one is going to be such fun to wear.
 Charlene Charlene freehanded this cool ribbon cat and step away from the rest of the group with a gold surround for her face. Charlene is President of the Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild that sponsors the Fandango retreat. You should think about attending next year.
 Sydney Okay, so Sydney just kept adding until hers is now too big to wear and is going to grace the front of a journal. A mixture of canes and ink and markers, can you tell which is which? Can’t wait to see the finished piece. Sydney is involved in the Florida Gulf coast Polymer Clay Guild, if you live in that area you should check it out.
 Tyra Tyra created her own drawing of this interesting mythical character and we were all impressed. Lots of wonderful detail.
 Marty Marty kept saying she couldn’t draw and didn’t like her pendant at first, but by the end of the class she walked out with it around her neck. I think she was mistaken about the drawing part.
Marty is owner of Beads, F.O.B., Inc. in Sarasota. If you’re over that way stop in and tell her and Karen I said hi.
I don’t have a pendant picture for Terri. Terri, if you have a picture send it to me….. please.
 Vicky Vicky created these fabulous faces on her own shapes. I just love the colors and her imagination. Vicky has a website with more of her beautiful work displayed.
 Pat Pat outlined her face in red, a great accent against the black. Fun! Love those lips.
 Karen Now Karen’s face is right up my alley too. It’s strange and funky, and yes very cool, I love that.
 Terri Terri created this sweet girl and used her imagination to cover a mistake in coloring. I know she’s going to love wearing this bracelet.
 Carole Carole combined the pen and ink with a hair cane to come up with this unique bracelet. There is three different faces, it’s really cool.
 Ellyn Ellyn has three faces on her bracelet as well. I love the softness of this face and the coloring of the hair. She emailed me the next day saying she wore it home and it made her smile. YES!!! that’s my goal, so mission accomplished.
Ellyn works at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, check out what they have to offer.
Not everyone finished their bracelets in class but will finished them at home I hope. Send me pictures everyone.
Thanks to Sydney for taking pictures of everyone work, I had to borrow some of hers. She also has an album she created. Take a look.
I have my work cut out for me for the next few days, I’m going to lay out the steps for my class on pen and ink on polymer clay. I have been busy making blanks from white pc in all different shapes as well as covering bracelet blanks with white. The more I do the better I like it and the more ideas jump into my head.
I haven’t been so busy that I haven’t had time to enjoy the lake and our beautiful oak trees. I love swimming and playing with our dog, but I love sitting and watching my guys play too.
I’m thrilled to tell you I’ll be guest artist in June at Barbara McGuire and Ellen Prophater’s new fabulous Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center just outside Atlanta in Buford, GA.
The fun will begin on Friday night June 3, where I’ll be the guest of honor at an Artist Reception to kick off the week-end. It’s going to be a great time and I hope you can be there.
On Saturday and Sunday I’ll be delving further into two favorite techniques that I’ve developed using polymer clay. The first class on Saturday from, 11:00 to 5:00, will be Pen and Ink Polymer, using Polymer clay as your canvas you can soar as high as your imagination can take you.
 Pen and Ink You don’t have to “know how to draw” to have fun with this technique and create colorful results you’ll be proud to wear. Read more about it here.
The second class on Sunday, June 5th, from 12:00 to 4:00, will be Cane Mapped Mosaics. I’ve given away a 20 min. video cane mapped mosaics for free since the beginning of my blog. This class will bring us all together too explore the many possibilities with this technique and to take a closer look at color choices.
 Cane Mapped Mosaics Read more about this class here. I hope you can join Me and Barbara, Ellen, Sue and the rest of the ladies at Woman Creative the first weekend in June. To sign up for one or both of these classes visit Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center.
I was so happy to find this glass company, Behrenberg Glass, because they sell plates without a “foot” on them. Making them perfect for decoupage or glass paint or ……….. polymer clay mosaics like my fish in video that you get when you sign up for my newsletter.
As you can see, I didn’t use a fish mosaic, but something I started a couple of months ago, using up old cane. I just couldn’t wait to make something new, I wanted to see how this would work……NOW!
So here you see the mosaic after I’ve baked it and popped the plate off. The great part about this is now I can use it without the plate, or if I want to be able to put food on it I can glue it to the back of the glass. Cool!
After I transferred the design to the back side of the plate and molded it to fit, I trimmed it and backed it with another thick layer of clay before I baked it.
I still have lots of playing around with this idea before I finished, I’ll share with you what I learn. If you make something this way, please share your pictures.
Stay warm and dry everyone,
Alice
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