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 love doing my girlfriend bracelets and pins. I laugh while I’m making them and I’m delighted when someone else likes them as well. I left one with Debbie at my dentist’s office, she bought it right off my wrist. She was going to give it as a gift, but by the time I left, I think she had decided to keep it for herself. Made me feel really great. Granted, the visit costed more than the cost of the bracelet, but every little bit helps.
Debbie continued to smile as she wore her girlfriend bracelet and that made me smile. She even gave a me self addressed stamped envelope for me to send her more business cards because she gave her card to another patient while I was having my teeth cleaned.
I swear, I’ve never had that happen to me before. Thank you Debbie for brightening my day even though I only went there to brighten my teeth.
 Wall Art - Polymer clay Yesterday, I wanted to try something different. I’ve always wanted to do wall pieces with polymer so I decided to just begin. This piece is 10″ x 6 1/2″. It can hang just like it is, but I am considering mounting it in a frame. What do you think?
It is actually a snap shot of how my brain works I think. Full of color and gong in several directions at once.
 This one is much smaller and I think I’ll finish it as a bib necklace. The one below is 2 1/4″ x 2 and is finished already as a pin.
I love the versatility of polymer. I can’t imagine ever getting tired of creating with this medium.
 Bib Necklace - Polymer clay Far from finished, not even baked yet, but I’ve not blogged in a week and was having withdrawals. I’ve been teaching, getting ready to teach and creating new canes. All the Halloween colors inspired me for these I guess. Still playing around with them for other applications.
I made this a bib necklace because I wanted to see all the canes together. I also wanted to show my class what they can create, besides beads, with the canes they are learning to make.
I’ve also been walking. I promised myself that as soon as it cooled off a bit, I’d get up from my clay chair and get moving. Well, it’s still 90 in the afternoons, but in the morning and at dusk, there has been a great breeze and the humidity is down, so I’ve had to keep my promise. Let’s see if I’m still motivated when it’s 30 out. (now come on, for me that’s really cold)
What have you been working on?
 Girlfriends Galore A new listing in my Etsy Shop. This Girlfriend Bracelet has 7 fabulous friends dressed for the town. Trust me, this is one fun to wear bracelet.
I’m still working on the beads from yesterday. Everyone voted for a necklace and I agreed. Sherry McKinney came over yesterday and we had a great clay day. She worked on some luscious animal cane beads for a special order and I worked on the necklace. I had to make some more in between beads and at Sherry’s suggestion my own o-rings. Bake, work on girlfriend bracelets, get beads out of the oven and back to stringing.
Then we decided that a bead closure looked better than anything else, so I had to make those beads, bake and by that point Sherry had long since gone home and I to bed.
This morning I began again to string the beads. Then they didn’t hang just right. So back to the drawing board and other ideas. Suddenly a fabulous idea just jump from the ether into my head and that is what I’m dying to get to. So post this, dinner, then to see if my idea will work.
Tomorrow…………
 Baby Blues I had leftover bits and pieces of my last big face cane and as usual, didn’t want to just throw them in the scrap pile. So….I turned them into this crazy necklace, fun and strange at the same time.
If everyone can be so into vampires, surely someone will like eyes and lips. Hummm maybe I should have added a couple of fangs. Nah..too scary.
Here’s the necklace I made with the focal bead from last week. Fun to make but the other beads aren’t as large as I think I would like. I like big and bold, giant statements to make people take notice.
Tomorrow another experimental day, it’s so hot here in the daytime that I can spend all day claying most days. Too hot to work in the yard or do much of anything outside, so clay wins again.
 Pod Necklace I’ve been having the best time over the last few days. I have decided that I am going to do all those things that I have been wanting to do. Okay maybe not all of them. Not enough hours in the day for that.
I’ve wanted to make pod necklaces ever since Kathleen Dustin did her first ones. So this pod necklace, nothing like nor near Kathleen’s fabulous work, never will be, don’t want it to be, but I enjoyed it so much and in the end, that is what matters.
Actually this is more of a bud necklace I guess. Remember, I don’t do jewelry really. At least I didn’t, so I need to work on design, but I smell challenge ahead. Watch out.
 Pod Necklace I’ll tell you what was funny, cropping the picture. I don’t have any clothes for my mannequin and I had to be very careful how I cropped it. Okay, I know I could have used something of mine, but I was lazy and just wanted to take the picture. Besides, she is the size I dream of being and all my clothes would swim on her. That would mean pinning and tucking and well….no.
I have another necklace that I made today using the focal bead from the other day and I’ll post that tomorrow.
I sometimes wonder how I ever get through anything. I decided to stop thinking of things to do, filing them away in my head and never ever bringing them back out again, and do something about the ideas right then.
Do you do this? I know you do! We all have those minutes when we are right in the middle of creating something we think is wonderful (or not) and another wonderful (and once again, at least we think it’s wonderful) idea jumps into our brain. We don’t usually stop what we’re working on to do the new thing. At least that’s what I used to do.
The other day I decide to just follow where I am being led at any given time. I have spent most of my adult life doing what I thought would “sell”, or what others might like. I have given some of that up for doing exactly what I want to do and exactly when the idea comes along.
I was making new canes for my new face cane bracelet series and some of the canes and some of the process looked like great necklace material. So I took the fork in the road and ended up with the necklace above. I’d ordered some buna cord awhile back and that’s what I used to finish it off. I also used some silver finding for the clasp.
I’m on my way back to the bracelets now, see I wasn’t gone long and I’ve made something I really like and will wear. I just wanted to share this with you. I had fun, and that’s my job!
 Another day of experimenting. Mica powers and Barbara McGuire Stamps, found jewelry and a piece of the face cane. Can’t decide if I want to make it a necklace or a large lapel pin. It measures 4 1/2″ x 3 1/2″ so it’s large.
This is one of those that, like Kate from Shibori Girl Blog felt about her latest cuff bracelet, this one is going to have to stay with me.
Somehow it baked too long and turned brown, so I had to add the leaves to the hat and bake again. The face is still to dark, but I’ll wear it or just hang it on my wall. I loved making it because it was so different.
I did add one of the bracelets to my Etsy shop in case anyone thinks they just can’t live without it.
I’m still having fun in the studio after all this time.
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