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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.[caption id="attachment_102" align="aligncenter" width="100" caption="Member IPCA"]
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I’m making this neck piece using my new method. It’s bright, I know. but it’s me.
It is lumpy and bumpy, with highs and lows. Very interesting.
It’s relatively light because Ultralight is involved, but we’ll see how it feels when I wear it. More work to do…..see you next time.
I made this neckpiece for my birthday friend using one of Helen Breil’s texture sheets and a piece of Stroppel cane. The funny thing is the colors blended so well in person, you couldn’t see the blue tones in the cane as much as you can in this photo. I still like it, it’s interesting and different and hope my friend likes it too. I’ve had the texture sheet for several months, I bought it at a retreat where I met Helen for the first time. What a talented lady, just take a look at her fabulous work. I was lucky to be in a slide swap with Helen and this is the very cool slide I received.  Helen Breil and Alice Stroppel Swap The back side of my piece is fun too because of the great texture from the sheets.
I was working on several things this weekend, more girlfriend slides in my Etsy shop and several of my new bracelets. Two of the new bracelets were for the International Polymer Clay Associations competition Progress and Possibilities. I have never entered any competitions with my clay work except in a monthly Viola polymeristas once or twice. I hadn’t planned on sending anything to this competition until my friend Suzanne Ivester asked me why not. I told her , “I don’t know, I don’t know what I would send? She kind of wagged her email finger at me and made me think it was time to see if I could come up with a design. I’ve been working hard to make my work as professional as I can, as smoothly finished and well made as possible. Now it’s time to take the next step and start pushing those other buttons like others approval, how will it measure up, and just plain ol’ fright. Yep fright! You might think that is totally crazy coming from someone who blogs all the time, exposes my work to thousands of readers everyday, makes videos of my techniques and shows myself in these videos from time to time! But it’s true, asking someone else to judge your work is totally different than just sharing it with those who want to take a look or actually buy something you’ve made. But I don’t think I’m alone in feeling this way, so I’m going to pass on my challenge from Suzanne to you, make something and enter it in Progress and Possibilities 2011. There are three categories – Art Jewelry, Functional Objects and Sculptural Objects with three levels of expertise – Beginners, Intermediate and Professional. So you see, even if you are a beginner there is a place for you. If you are Intermediate like me, then I double dog dare you. If you’re professional…..well enough said. I double dog dare you! In the meantime, I’m still sending girlfriends to Etsy. I’ll show pictures of my new bracelets another day.
I couldn’t let everyone else have all the fun with the Stroppel cane. Can you tell I love lime green? And I think the black and white check sets it off. Listed in my Etsy shop. I made my own bail on this one. Oh and just so you know, it is an absolutely gorgeous, spectacular day here in sunny FL. I think this afternoon I need to get outside for a bit. Sitting down by the lake sounds a bit like heaven. Now if I can just tear myself away from this creating mood I’m in……….
When Randee Ketzel sent me two of her Stroppel cane bracelets, well I was blown away by her thoughtfulness. I will always treasure them. I wanted to send Randee something in return so I decided to make a girlfriend wearing something well…..Stroppel! If you want to see her in her Stroppel cane sweater, she’s on Randee’s flickr site.
I sat down to make more girlfriend slides and thought why not do a series of Stroppel Sweater Girls. So now I’m just laughing and making sweater girls. I figured you can wear one or two or even three. You could collect as many as your neck will hold. lol… Okay now I’m just being silly. Both of these girls are for sale in my Etsy shop and there will be more to come. Thanks Randee for the inspiration. Have you ever had that “slap your forehead” moment, you know the one, the one where you say to yourself “why didn’t I think of this sooner?” Well that was me yesterday, here is the result……….girlfriend slides. And why not I ask you, why not slides to go with the bracelets or instead of a bracelet? I know pins are good too but I love the necklace idea. Sorry I know it sounds bad to say you love something you just did, but hey…..I would not be playing with clay if I didn’t kind of love what I was doing right? So I’m off now to list these plus a fish slide in my Etsy shop. Dancing girl la la la girlfriend queen da da la la \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Arlene Harrison from Harrison Hollow Designs left a comment asking what a slide was. Well my understanding was something that slides off and on a cord or wire. But later I began to think about the difference between a slide and a pendent with a bail. Or why isn’t the fish with the hole considered a bead? If I drilled the hole more in the center of the fish would it be a bead or does a bead have to have a design on all sides and be round? What is the difference between my fish and the pendant I made for my class at Beads F.O.B. in Sarasota? I made the “bail” out of polymer clay for the class pendant and drilled a hole through the bail, with the fish I just drilled a hole straight through with no bail.
Bail A finding that connects a pendant to a necklace. They come in different forms: some clip onto the pendant, some have mounts to glue the pendant to, and some attach to a ring on the pendant. The purpose is to hold the pendant flat when worn. So maybe the pendant above is really a slide just like the fish? I don’t know …….I’ll just have to ask Marty and Karen at Beads F.O.B.. But the good news is I can tell you how to make whatever they’re called.
Then I poke a hole straight through the body of the piece and then insert small rivets that you can purchase in the scrapbook department.
I bake it and then remove the rivets and re-drill the hole with my Dremel tool then replace the rivets with a tiny bit of super glue. Make sure you don’t fill the hole with super glue. The rivets just finish the hole and neaten everything up. Here are all my almost finished fishies, some are going to my Etsy shop. But I have to finish them by signing the back with my name and the date, so it will be later today.
Here’s the second necklace made with faces from my Fandango retreat. More black and white and pen and ink. Can you tell I’m having fun!
I’ve been working on finishing up the face pendants I created at Fandango. This is the first one and I’ve mixed black and white canes with the pen and ink face. I also made black and white beads and strung the whole thing on black Buna Cord. This is like one of the projects planned for my up coming class on the 25th of June here in my studio. We’re going to make a pen and ink bracelet first, then spend the rest of the class working on the necklace. The class is full, but I will be posting another one for July 16th, so if you think you might be interested, mark your calendars.
Tomorrow morning bright and early I’m leaving my husband home with the dog and cat and I’ll be on my way to Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild’s Fandango. I can only manage to get away for one day, but I just couldn’t miss all the fun with the Saturday night auction. Plus I could stand knowing all those clayers were only 2+ hours away and I wasn’t going to see them again this year. My plan is to see if a can’t get the instructors and demo artists together again like last year for a short video. I have to laugh when I think about last year and how hard it was to get everyone in one place long enough to film. You can watch it here. I made the Blue Moon above to wear to Fandango, I used my Pen and Ink Technique along with a ploymer clay shape and canes. The shape was made using a stamp from Barbara McGuire’s collection. |
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