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.
I just couldn’t throw her away and I didn’t have the inspiration to start a new face cane this last week. So today I wanted to continue the canvas and polymer clay ideas that have been running around in my head. I decided that this cane was perfect for my explorations.
This One ?
I love altered art and have collected “things” for years. I do Birthday presents for my friends and cards now and then. I’ve been wanting to mix altered art with polymer clay for quite some time.
Or this one?
I’ve laid everything out on the canvas and I’m pretty happy with the placement of things, but I’m still trying to decide about flower. Flower in her hair? Soft or bright? As an accent? More needed?
Flowers in her Hair?
I’m still toying with the idea of earrings. I like using old jewelry pieces too. The couple dancing is a scanned reproduction of a drawing my Dad did in the 40’s. I’m not sure just when, he didn’t date it, another reason I try to date everything I do.
Or just as an accent?
So that’s what I’m playing with today, and if nothing else comes from it, I am having a blast. Tell me what you think?
I have been doing so many thing with clay this week and not really getting anything finished. I’ve done some pretty cool things, but nothing is ready to post.
Since I’ve been back from Fandango, I had been posting everyday and wanted to keep that up, just a goal I had. But this week I don’t have any finished items. I was feeling kind of bummed, like I wasn’t accomplishing anything.
I always find myself doing all kinds of odd things to distract myself. Looking through my inspiration books, thinking of a million things I want to try. Cleaning and sorting, mixing colors and looking at old canes with new eyes. I always know something wonderful is about to happen when I get like this. Which brought me to this afternoon’s “get out of this, whatever it is” break through.
I’ve been making face canes for the last few weeks, all different kinds, some successful and some not so. But all of them learning experiences. I began to straighten up my face canes and make room for more and realized just how many I had.
I began to look at them from different angles and started to laugh. I’m still laughing, because they’re funny and because I accomplished more than I set out to years ago with my first face cane. Even though I still have more I want to do, I am so delighted to have gotten this far. So I shook my finger in my own face and said, “just create”. It’s hard to remember to just have fun, but that’s the point after all. My “girls” reminded me.
So I’m posting tonight to share a few of my face canes with you. The ones with big lips, little eyes, blue eyes and brown, from the first ones with way too much red or not enough color at all, I hope they make you laugh too.
Okay, now I’ve totally lost my focus and plan to stop this and move to Plan B – making another face cane. But before I do, I’ve baked the face then made these flowers, put it all back in the oven again and am waiting for it to cure. I don’t think they go with her at all, not painterly enough, so I might not leave them with her. I don’t think they go with the canvas I painted either. But it’s all about experimenting until I’m happy. Can’t learn if you don’t try.
I am easily distracted today, lots of company this week and last, but it’s been great. Plus I’m going to artists day at the Sebring High School tomorrow. I’ll set up my work beside other local artist and answer questions from the art students. I’m always excited to share what I do with people and the kids are so interested. You should see the work they produce, seriously wonderful. Their teachers deserve a great deal of credit. So I need to gather my things and get ready.
An order from Boston Clay Works came today and included was one of their new eye class cases. I am thinking about what I want to cover it with while I’m still thinking about this face cane. I’m worse than I was when I was a kid and always jumping from one thing to another. so it’s kind of funny that I’m going back to my high school tomorrow.
But the bottom line is…..uh…….I’m sure you don’t want to hear me say I’m having fun one more time…..but I am.
I didn’t have as much time today as I wanted to spend with my face cane. Had to help with some yard work. It felt good to be outside in the wonderful weather. I did have time to paint this canvas and mess around with her neck and blouse. Colors still aren’t right, but I’m just going ahead with her and after she’s baked I’ll shade in under her chin with some wash.
I need to add wings and I want to do some flowers or something. I’m going to cure what I have so far and then add the other elements. I’m finding because I’ve been handling this one so much I need to get it cured.
I have been inspired by several folk artists and am trying to create my own folk angels. One of my favorite artists is Campbell Jane, I just love her work.
I spent hours messing around with this face cane. I finally decided I wanted to move on and start all over again. So I quickly added lips and called it a day. It not exactly what I had in mind. But I learned a lot and will begin experiment #2 on Monday. This is the first slice.
But as usual with my face canes, she has grown on me. So I added hair, a neck and some old pc butterfly wing. Nothing is baked and her shirt is just a piece of skinner blend I threw on there for the picture. With this cane I was trying to get a folk art angel look, it’s almost there, but I’m not finished yet. (that’s funny, I probably will never be finished, what a silly thing to say. )
Face Cane with Hair - Alice Stroppel
Even though I wanted to move on and start another face cane, I couldn’t resist playing around by adding the wings. And possibly tomorrow, a halo. Anyway, I’m good with her, I learned…so on to the next step. Oh by the way, part of the reason what I wanted to achieve didn’t quite happen is she’s just too big. with hair and neck she’s about 7″ long, now that’s big. The next one will start smaller.
I know…you’re wondering why on earth I would post this vase with these kind of scary looking faces on it. Well to tell the truth, they’ve grown on me and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. They remind me of the journey.
I made this first face cane over ten years ago. I didn’t put a date on this vase so I’m guessing. This vase still makes me laugh, in fact the better I get at making face canes, the more I laugh when I see these girls.
I thought they were wonderful. They didn’t turn out anything like I wanted. I wanted this cane to be beautiful, painterly, with gradual color change, but as you can see…………….but it didn’t matter, I actually took colored clay messed around with it and made this face that when I sliced through the cane, I got face after face. I was so excited. Are you kidding me? It was the coolest thing, I was hooked. Even though I was working somewhere else, I continued to work on my face canes.
My friends had to put up with me giving them things with very strange faces on them. My mother who loves beautiful angels was shocked I know, when I gave her a bracelet made of face beads. They were not beautiful angels, but yet another test face cane. But bless her, she smiled and said thank you. So that’s why I made this first “pretty” faced angel for her. I think she’ll like this better and forgive me for giving her the others.
I also didn’t know very much about the clay. The eyes are made with translucent clay and the rest of the face with regular. Today I know it’s better to try to use the same type of clay or a mixture of both.
As you can see by my post from the other day, I’ve been working on another face. Even though I’m very happy with the way I finally figured out to make faces, and I really enjoy sharing the process in my Profile Face Cane Tutorial, I still want to make a face that is painterly, with more color. So I’m experimenting. I haven’t got it right yet, but when I do I’ll post pictures.
I’ll work on it for an hour or two, mixing colors and trying to figure out an easy way to do it so I can make another tutorial, then walk away for awhile.
In the middle of the night I woke up and started thinking about how I could accomplish the look I was trying to achieve and another idea hit me for something not even related to the face. So yesterday I spent time playing with that idea before I forgot it. geez…….
But it’s all good, I’m where I’m suppose to be, doing what I’m suppose to be doing, taking as long as I need, it’s all fun and a great adventure. I ask you, what more could I ask for.
This week is my birthday week, there are parties planned and things to do. I’m thankful! Thank you for stopping by today!
Okay guys, here’s a peek at what’s on my work table. A new face cane with a new look. I don’t want to show you everything I’ve done yet because I’m still working out colors. I think it looks kind of painterly don’t you?
That’s it for today and I’m going to try to stay away from the net so I can get those colors mixed.
This is the first thing made from my face cane from Barbara McGuire’s class. It’s a 5 x 5 plaque headed for my mother’s house.
I certainly enjoyed making this angel, and I’m sure I’ll be making many more things from this face cane. But right now I’m mixing colors and putting together a face that I have been dreaming of for years. Wish me luck and stay tuned, you never know what I’ll come up with.
I’ve left Barbara McGuire for last because I had a chance to get to know her better than the other artists at Fandango. I’ve already posted about the incredible face class I had the opportunity to take with her and how much fun it was.
One of the demos Barbara McGuire gave was placing one of her faces on a base to make a large focal bead like the one in the photo above. I purchased this one from Barbara that night. She used her new stamp on this one and demonstrated those as well.
But before that, I was truly excited to watch her demonstrate her color mixing techniques. This demo had Barbara with her pasta machine and an array of colored clay. After watching Sarah Shiver and Julie Picarello mix their colors using the skinner blend method, I was finally driven TO the edge by watching Barbara. It actually took attending that small face class to send me OVER the edge and soaring into a world that I have been just sticking one tiny finger in. I haven’t been this excited since I made my first face cane almost 10 years ago. The combination of all of the artist’s techniques came together for me and I was gobsmacked.
I loved learning how to make a face the way Barbara does, but I have my own voice that I am still training. I may never produce anything but jingles, but I will continue to strive for a symphony. Just this last few days I feel like I’ve been set free. Mixing colors will never be the same again.
It was such a pleasure to get to know Barbara and I appreciate all that she shares with us.
I feel that finding our own creative voice and a way to use it is what we are all striving for and I know Barbara has started a new publication to help us do just that. She was kind enough to share a bit about her Woman Creative postcards in the following video. Enjoy.
To find out more about Barbara, her products, where she’s teaching next visit her website. Be sure to take a minute to check out Woman Creative.
I’ve been trying to clean out my polymer suitcase and put things back where they belong. Geez, don’t know if that will ever happen.
I got home on Monday after Fandango and fell into bed. I didn’t unpack the car, barely said hello to my husband and fell right to sleep. The phone rang and it was Barbara McGuire! She was giving a private lesson with two ladies and they graciously said I could join them. How great was that?
So I didn’t have to unpack much, washed some clothes and hit the road the next morning. Tired but very excited to get to spend more time with such a creative polymer clay artist.
I knew I would have fun, but who knew that Lisa Dalziel, whose house we totally trashed with clay “stuff” for two days and three nights and Pat Livesay her partner in clay crime, would turn out to be two of the coolest, most fun to be around, classmates I could have asked for. We had a blast! Thank you both so much!!!
Lisa, Alice, Pat and Barbara
After a day of claying we all had our eyes done (boy I really could use my eyes done) and were all very pleased with ourselves. Not only is Barbara fun to be around and a founding member of the polymer clay community in America, she is an incredibly talented artist and an excellent instructor. She truly knows polymer clay. Taking a class with her is like learning from your best friend, the one that knows more than you do.
I think we all did a fabulous job with our eyes. Each one different but very cool. Here’s my finished face.
This face is totally different than my other faces and I’m hoping to incorporated some of what I learned with Barbara into some of my faces. That’s the way we move on and grow. Thanks Barbara for sharing with me.
I’ll be having more of Barbara to share with you in up coming posts. I had time to video her and some of her new products. But for today, check out Barbara’s SHOW & WORKSHOP SCHEDULE 2010 to find out where you can catch up with her.
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