Polymer Clay Canes for Beginners

27 videos, step by step, beginner cane workshop beginner Cane Tutorial 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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Margit Böhmer’s Beautiful Work – A Gift

Margit Böhmer

MargitB and I are Flickr friends and have been for a couple of years now. I love her bright cheerful colors and the unique construction of her pieces. I feel like we are sisters in our love of color and clay.

We were both in the Winter Inchie Swap with the Polymer Clay Italia and swap mistress Leila Bidler. Sadly we weren’t in the same groups so we decided to swap with each other.

When I opened my package from Margit, I found these fabulous earrings she made just for me. I am so excited to have these, they’re gorgeous I’ve always wanted a piece of her work.

Inchies Margit Böhmer

On top of that, I also received two inchies. The Santa Claus cane is made by Mary Webster from Oregon and the inchies are Margit’s, colorful as always! How lucky am I? What a happy Christmas present to me. Thank you Margit, you’re a doll.

Spend some time on Margit’s flickr page if you want to be inspired or just want to enjoy some truly exciting work.

Polymer Clay Italia 2011 Winter Inchie Swap

Polymer Clay Italia 2011 Winter Inchie Swap

Yesterday at the Post Office I was doing a small dance after I checked my mailbox and found a package from Leila Bidler.  My inchies from the Polymer Clay Italia 2011 Winter Inchie Swap had arrived.

And you can see why I was excited. This is the second inchie swap I’ve participated in with the remarkable Leila Bidler. I have always admired those who take on the task of a swap, it all seems so large and such a lot of work. But I’m delighted she is enjoying it because I sure am.

Leila said this was a winter swap and to do something wintery and not necessarily the holidays. The only thing I can really relate to about winter is water and palm tree, oak trees and sunshine. So I used a mini Stroppel cane to make the palm fronds and that was inchie #1. I thought I might make some of my fellow swappers smile.

Leila has been doing some incredible work with polymer clay and bargello for some fantastic results.  Just take a look at her blog post. I am thrilled to say that she sent me a wonderful piece of her purple bargello work. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

Leila Bidler Bargello

You really need to go look at her blog to see how fabulous these are. I just can’t decide if I want to frame it, wear it as a pin or make it into a slide. What I do know is I’m thrilled to have it. Thank you Leila.

I sent 20 inches and received 20 + back. I love each and everyone of them. Inchie #2 was a Stroppel cane inchie, not wintery at all, but I was in the middle of all the attention focused on the cane, so I just went with it. Most of them looked kind of like stained glass I think, the one I kept for myself, not so much.

Thank you to all my swap buddies. Happy Holidays.

Polymer Clay Italia 2011 Winter Inchie Swap

P.S. Margit, yours will be on it’s way after Christmas.

International Inchies – Polymer Clay 1 by 1

Last week I wrote about an international swap I participated in. Leila Bidler from Polymer Clay Italia hosted an international inchies swap and I just received my inchies in the mail today. I was very excited to open the package a take my first look at all these little gems.

International Inchie Swap

International Inchie Swap

I wanted to identify each inchie with their owners name, but I’m having trouble figuring some of them out, so I’ll just list all the names. I’ll take time to figure them out and correct this list later.

Aren’t they great? Each one is so different and unique. Special in their own right because of the time and thought that went into them all.

Thanks to all of you who are listed below, now I have to decide if I’m going to frame them or wear them.

2 hearts at the top – Leila Beidler –  swap mistress             Italy

Rossana Malvani – Italy
Patty – Italy
Eva – Germany
Costanze/Polymericcia – Italy
Susanne Svenja/Svenelo – Germany
Joice – Netherlands
Liselot – Netherlands
Pauli – Netherlands
Sassy – Netherlands
Ariane/Magic Toscana – Italy
Daniela D’Uva/Alkhymeia –  Italy
Leila Bidler/gom6699 –  Italy
Svenja/Svenelo – Germany
Nevenka Sabo – Serbia
Karin –  Netherlands
Pauli – Netherlands
Petra – Netherlands
Sassy – Netherlands
Christine Dumont – United Kingdom

Inchies International Swap – Polymer Clay Italia

Leila Bidler from Polymer Clay Italia hosted an international inchies swap and these are the inchies I sent in to trade. Queen of Hearts, lots of them.

Inchies -Alice Stroppel

It was a Valentine’s Day  Swap and we had to make our inchies with a Valentine flair. So these crazy Queen of Hearts were my contribution.

Leila said that my return set of 20 inchies have been mailed, so I’m waiting as calmly as I can. It took almost a month for my queens to reach Leleila, in fact I was getting worried that they had decided to tour the world on their way to Italy. I hope it doesn’t take that long for her package to reach me.

For those of you who haven’t ever heard of inchies, it’s like ATCs (artist trading card) business size cards that are traded between artists and rarely ever sold. Inchies are the clay and mosaic artists version, altho there have been many ACT made from clay.

Inchies are 1″ x 1″  little works of art. I sent in 20 inchies and I will get 20 different one back from artists around the world. A swap takes a willing hostess to have everything shipped to them and then they have to sort and sent all the packages back out again.  It takes a lot of work and I send my thanks to Leleila for giving me the opportunity to be in touch with so many others that love polymer clay.

You can take a look at a slide show of this years swap here or go to the Flickr site here.