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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[caption id="attachment_102" align="aligncenter" width="100" caption="Member IPCA"]Member IPCA[/caption]

New Stroppel Cane Flickr Group Formed by Cara Jane

Stroppel Cane Pendant - Alice Stroppel/Meisha Barbee

The Stroppel cane continues to be experimented with by polymer clay enthusiast around the globe and I couldn’t be more delighted. It’s so exciting and a little bit unreal.

I’ve been trying to pin, on my Pinterest site, each new picture of the cane or a finished piece when I found one. But I’ve given up trying to get them all, there are way too many. I’ll still pin all the items I find or if you don’t have a Flickr account and want to send them to me, I’ll post them.  alice@polymerclayetc.com

Cara Jane Hayman

Cara Jane Hayman came up with the idea of creating a flickr group for The Stroppel Cane. Thanks Cara Jane for setting it up. This Flickr group should be fun and allow us all to take a peep at what others are making and the color palettes they used for their old canes. That has been as much fun for me as seeing everyone’s finished products.

The Stroppel Cane has already begun to morph and take on a life of it’s own as we saw in my last post featuring Orly Rabinowitz’s verion of the technique.  So tracking it’s life from the beginning could be very interesting.

So go join the Flickr group and upload the picture of your Stroppel Cane projects. Thank you all very much for all wonderful things you’ve made, it’s been a fabulous couple of weeks.

Stroppel Cane Featured on Polymer Clay Daily!

Photo by Cynthia Tinapple - Collaboration by Alice and Meisha Barbee

Photo by Cynthia Tinapple - Collaboration by Alice and Meisha Barbee

I was thrilled this morning when I saw that the Stroppel Cane was highlighted on Polymer Clay Daily.

Once again, thank you Cynthia, because of your wide audience more people will see the video and maybe it will spark some fabulous new pieces. Makes me happy just thinking about it.

Oh and can you guys guess which piece Meisha claimed? I didn’t even have a chance to fight over it.

Seriously, we both had fun and made some great memories to go along with these pendants.

The Stroppel Cane – Polymer Clay

The Stroppel Cane – Saving Unused Cane Slices From Ending Up in the Mud Pile!

I am very excited to share my newest invention with you. I call it The Stroppel Cane! For the last couple of months, as I clean up my workspace after a project, I make a Stroppel Cane from the “not so perfect cane slices” and any other scraps I have on my work tile.

You can use these canes in any number of ways and I’ll be featuring some projects here on my blog in the future. From time to time, just do a search for The Stroppel Cane and see what comes up.

Please leave a comment it you liked this new video. Without feed back I don’t know if what I’m sharing is reaching anyone or if you are enjoying or finding what I’m sharing useful. And do share it on Facebook and Twitter and send the link to your friends. I love hearing from you in any form. Enjoy!

Moth Versus Butterfly

moth mosaic

I was checking my clipart disks for butterflies to do using my mosaic technique and ran into the moth section and I realized that moths are pretty spectacular. The guy above is a moth, fantasy colors of course. I still have a butterfly on my table and there are some fabulous butterflies as well. I’m going to make a necklace out of this one.

You can learn this technique by signing up for my newsletter (in the upper right hand side of this page) and watching the free 20 minute video tutorial.

Stay tuned, because I’m going to be teaching a full day of this technique very soon. It’s lots of fun and the applications are limitless.

Faces and Shapes – Polymer Clay and Ink

When I came home from Woman Creative – Art and Jewelry Design Center just outside Atlanta, I came loaded down with rubber stamp shapes from Barbara McGuire’s collection. I started playing around with them and because I am so involved with my pen and ink technique I decided to marry the two elements. I, as always have created something I think if incredibly fun and a bit off beat, but I’m diggin’ ’em.

I have tons of old jewelry and buttons and well just stuff (cool stuff mind you) that I’ve be gathering over the years and have decided to continue to use those bits and pieces to accent my work. I’ve added a cool button to the top of the face pendant above.

Face Shape pen and ink and polymer clay alice stroppel

The pen technique is the one I demonstrate in my video for sale in my Etsy Shop and the shapes are rubber stamps from Barbara McGuire’s collection. The ways you can use the pen and ink technique are endless. Use some of these ideas of mine or dream up some of your own. The sky is the limit and the only thing keeping you from floating away is you thinking you can’t fly.

Okay, okay, you can’t REALLY fly, but you can feel that way sometimes if you lose yourself in your creativity. Stop judging yourself and you will be more than surprised at what you can create. I’m talking to myself as much as to you, I produce things I’m proud of when I make them for the joy of it, not for the dollars I might gain.

Learning to let them go to someone else is the next big stumbling block for me, but I’m doing much better at that too. I can’t wear, look at or hang all the things I make, so I find it much easier to let them go than I did in the beginning.

full figure

I’ve also been playing around with whole shapes. I like this girl and really wanted to keep her, but I’m putting her in my Etsy shop. I have ideas for oh so many more. Here I am again, too many ideas and not enough time. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. Maybe I’ll see you then too.

Correcting Pen and Ink Face

A Correction - pen and ink

After I posted my girl yesterday, I saw what I couldn’t see while I was working on her. Her jaw was way wrong. I had corrected it a bit while working on her, but not enough. It’s funny how you don’t really see something until you back away from it. In this case taking the photo and posting it, then looking at it later online made me see what I could before.

I think I was excited by how the coloring was coming out and the use of the canes in combo with the drawing and didn’t really want to look at the face.

So last night I operated and she looks a bit better. Thanks for sticking we me through all this experimentation. For all those out there that say you can’t  draw…..sure you can, you just have to look harder at what you’re putting on the canvas. We all know when something looks wrongand we can fix it.

Now to fix her nose……:)

P.S. I first was introduced to some of the colored pens I use by Kathleen Dustin. She is the master and a wonderful instructor. If you should ever have an opportunity to take a class with her, you should run, not walk to do it.

More Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay

Dark Haired Girl

I just have been having a fabulous time yesterday and today. Had a dental appointment but there was a terrible storm and I have to drive over an hour to get there, so I didn’t go.

That meant I got to stay and continue experimenting with different shapes to hold my pen and ink and polymer clay.

This was great fun, but it’s still a WIP. Needs beads and a chain. The pen technique is the one I demonstrate in my video for sale in my Etsy Shop and the shape was a rubber stamp from Barbara McGuire’s collection.

I’ll post it when I have it finished. I have several more pieces that I really am excited about and I’ll be sharing those with you too.

On this piece I drew the woman and then layered slices of canes off to one side. I like the way it came out.

Colored Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay Sent to Woman Creative

Colored Pen and Ink on Polymer ClayIt’s been a busy month! Yesterday I sent a large package to Ellen Prophater at Woman Creative in Buford, Georgia. (Scroll down to the bottom of this post and watch this short video I made while I was there earlier this month. ) Barbara McGuire is  Education Director and Founder and Ellen is Exhibit Director and Gallery Manager. It’s a beautiful space and a must see if you are anywhere near by.

The Pen and ink bracelet above was one of the items that I sent for my display. ( It’s a composite picture of one bracelet, showing all sides) I created it using the techniques shown in the Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay video that I have for sale. You can purchase it by clicking on the image in the upper left hand corner of this page, or visiting my Esty shop here.

I love making canes and working with the colored clay, but I am thrilled to be able to combine both the drawing and the clay together. Exactly what one of my customers just emailed me about this tutorial.

I started out creating items with black and white with a touch of red, and still love those pieces, but have started to add color to the whole design and really am enjoying the color very much.

All of my items will be for sale in the Woman Creative Gallery along with many other well known artist’s work. Of course this is the place to see Barbara’s work, both current and some of her earlier pieces. Plus there are all kinds of classes you can take, click on this link to Woman Creative website, then on calendar on the right hand side of the page.

Girl Friends Galore

I sent all of these girlfriends to Ellen Plus other fun things. Can’t wait to see picture of how she displays them. Ellen has such a wonderful eye for display, she knows just what to  do.

I also sent one of the large Girlfriends Galore Bracelets to Charline Ahlgreen for the Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild’s annual Fandango auction. Plus two of my tutorials. So if you’re there and bidding, bid large..*g*

Don’t worry, I still have some for sale in my Etsy Shop. I am getting low on faces and need to spend a few days making more, so you might not see all of these same faces next time you look.

I’ve got to get busy, so see you later.

New Tutorial – Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay

If you’re looking for my OWOH giveaway it’s here

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My newest video tutorial Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay is now available for sale in my Etsy shop. This video will show you what supplies you’ll need to create pen and ink drawings on bracelets, pin, pendants or whatever else your imagination can come up with. Follow along with me as I share my techniques and tips about working with pen and ink on polymer.

If you aren’t familiar with my videos you might want to take a minute and take a look at some of the free ones that are here on this blog.

Look at the top of this page and you’ll see a tab that says, video tutorials. Or you can get there from here. A good one to watch is How to Attach Your Polymer Clay Artwork to a Metal Bracelet Blank.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have a blog be sure to click on the One World One Heart link at the beginning of this post and leave a comment on that post to win a crazy girl bracelet.

Alice

Etsy Treasury Features My Tropical Leaves Tutorial

My Tropical Leaves Tutorial was featured in this Etsy Treasury. Jackie from The Pleasant Pheasant is curator of this treasury, thanks Jackie.