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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“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?” Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass
As you can see I’ve been working on Alice herself and here she is with the Mad Hatter. You’ll notice that I’ve moved the hatter and here’s why.
The other night after my post here and on Facebook, Ellen Prophater call me to share her thoughts on how to adhere my figures to the silver teapot. Thanks so much Ellen it’s nice to have a friend looking out for you. She suggested I use Genesis Artist Colors Thick Medium-Extender. She uses it all the time and with great success.
Oh course I have some, I bought it from her, naturally. Elleen and Sue Sutherland own Creative Journey Studio and carry almost everything you might want or need for claying. I’ve actually used it once or twice but didn’t really like the consistency of it and put it aside. But to be fair I didn’t use it long enough to really judge but it’s hard to spread.
And she’s right, super glue was not a good choice for this project so I popped the Hatter off the teapot and reattached him using Genesis, it worked very well. At least the bond is strong and solid.
Now you’re going to laugh, I had to tie the Hatter to the pot.
I told you that you were going to laugh.
Because of the dip in the teapot the Mad Hatter just didn’t want to stay in place. With Genesis on his back he just slid all around. It’s a problem I have with any liquid clay and with Genesis obviously.
Because he was already baked and solid I could tie him down, obviously this wouldn’t work with uncured clay. That leads me back to my post from yesterday where I talked about sculpting the Hatter about three weeks ago and he wasn’t very pliable, he was hard to fit to the shape of the tea pot.
Oh and I decided to move him to the right side of the teapot and like him there better so it all worked out.
Yesterday I sculpted Alice and placed her on the teapot right away while she was still soft. She stuck pretty well and didn’t move around when I baked her. I didn’t use the Genesis on Alice before baking because it’s thick and hard to spread, I didn’t want to mess up my sculpting efforts by push to hard.
She’s stuck to the teapot pretty well without anything but just the same I’ll pop her off and use Genesis before I bake the teapot again.
The flamingo makes me smile, being from Florida the flamingo is a favorite Alice Character of mine, not that there are any in my part of the state! Sandhill cranes yes, Flamingos no.
Here’s how the set is shaping up and you know that by the time I’m finish, I’ll have to add a few Alice crazy flowers. Thanks for following along.
Look at these great flamingo bracelets made by my friends Sydney Carter, Emma Simpson, Charline Ahlgreen, Tyra Ahlgreen, Sara Pietruk and Linda Eastman. We had so much fun they all wanted to do it again the next day only this time it was Peacocks. I just love how each one turned out.
A giant thank you to Polyform and Iris Weiss for donating the clay for this workshop. Everyone was delighted and they used every bit making canes and Skinner blends for these funky, fun bracelets
Charline decided to made something different with her peacock. So cool…
Thanks everyone and I’ll see you again soon.
 Mary, Andree, Sue, Lori, Earnestine, Alice, Niki, not shown, Ruby and Audrey I was so excited to welcome some of the members from the South East Florida Polymer Clay Guild to my studio. We spent two days playing with clay and enjoying each other’s company. Thank you all for coming……
I’m sorry to say that I did not take any pictures on the first day and Ruby and Audrey had already left by the time I remembered my camera. This time I was lucky to get in the picture because my husband happened to drift through the studio and I enlisted his help, a bit blurry, but hey!
Oh and our wonder dog Ceasar is shown at the bottom of the picture, okay, “kind of ” shown, really blurry…but he was so happy for the company.
We made face canes and then we made Flamingos. Not everyone wanted to make bracelets, so we have Lori’s punk candle ring and Andree’s sculpt to go on a mirror frame. Lori’s needs some feathers and Andree’s needs some skinny legs, they’ll finish up at home. Everyone else is going to be sporting a funky new bracelet. I think everyone did a fabulous job and enjoyed working with Ultralight.
Thanks so much to Mary Marzano for all the time she put into organizing the weekend. I’m not sure who had more fun, me or everyone else, I think maybe me!
To find out more about this guild, when they meet and where, visit the SEGPCG website or join them on Facebook.
The group came on a great weekend. It was downtown Sebring’s second Friday event and my good friend Janet King was the featured artist at Highlands Art League’s Yellow House reception. So we all met at the hotel and went to Janet’s reception then back to the hotel for dinner. There was Jazz on the circle and all the shops were open downtown. The next day was the Roaring 20’s craft show downtown, but we were busy in my studio with clay.
 Janet F. King Janet’s work is incredibly beautiful and I’m lucky to own a piece or two. Once you see her work, you’ll want to own a painting of her’s too.
If you’re in Sebring, be sure to take the time to visit the Yellow House, if not, visit Janet on her website at Janet King Watercolors. com
I’ve been working with Ultralight a lot lately, using it as a core for many of my larger bracelets and beads. I used it as a core for my Woman in the Moon and she’s easy to wear.
I didn’t use it as a core for this flamingo, I was experimenting with Super Sculpey as the core as it’s a bit easier to sculpt with than the very soft Ultralight. It’s heavier for sure and I won’t use it again as the core for bracelets this thick.
I’ve started a series of bangles using this method and I’m really jazzed about them. Right now I’m working on streamlining the process and learning the tricks of working successfully with the softer clay. It’s so much fun and I want to be able to teach others how to create their own characters. There is no limit to what we can come up with, here’s a toucan.
 (Thanks Trish for the color adjustment on this picture)
I was surprised by my husband when I got home from my 10 day retreat. Not only did he have the tile man lay the black and white tile in my funny pink bathroom, he had him put new countertops and back splash in the kitchen. What a surprise and he cleaned everything up after the tile man. What a great guy!
How do you like the flamingo tiles I made (muffled) years ago? Just had to do flamingos in Florida right? Now I need to made some fun drawer knobs for the cabinet under the sink.
I’m clapping my hands…………the tile came yesterday and we laid it out on the counter top and on the shower floor. Now all we need it the tile man to come and do his job.
I’m going to replace the knobs on the drawer with black and white checked polymer clay maybe or flamingos or I don’t know what. I do know I’m going to smile every time I go in there.
PS please excuse the awful color on the bottom picture, just couldn’t get it right. But that’s kind of what happens to your eye when you walk into this PINK bathroom. But it really is more like the top photo. The tile and the flamingos are going to make it happier for me.
I made these flamingo tiles at my friend Janet King’s studio years ago when we had a pipe burst in my studio’s bathroom and we had to have the whole house re-plumbed. I won’t tell you how long ago….no…….don’t ask to me to…. please. I had never taken a shower down here anyway.
So, we are finally getting the floor of the shower repaired and the big hole in the tile filled in. You have to understand this house was built in the late 60’s and it is not your typical construction even for then. But these tiles are unique to say the least and we could never find replacements so I made the Flamingos.
I made Flamingos because……….the room is pink, I mean P.I.N.K. from floor to ceiling……..
See what I’m talking about? Seriously, who does this? So what else could I do but flamingos? I am way too old for Barbies.
Anyway, the exciting part is we are putting down black and white check on the floor of the shower and on the counter top. It is going to make me smile everyday. How fun is that? Plus I finally get rid of that really ugly counter top.
My husband actually said he is going to like it. What? Is this the same man from the year of the bathroom flood? My how time mellows, but more than that I guess he finally realizes I will never give up my studio and has embraced my weirdness.
I always say there is a reason for everything and maybe not doing the repair was to give him time to realize how cool I am. *G*
So if I’m missing for a while, I’m working on more flamingos for my pink bathroom. Plus I have another project I want to start soon too. I’ll show you that next.
I’ve added some Girlfriend Wine stoppers to my Etsy Shop. I’ve made so many of these and they still make people laugh.
They’re fun to do and if you want the perfect gift for that girlfriend of yours who is always there for you, and that is the first person you call for the “leave the husbands, boyfriends, or significant other at home” night out. Then this is the gift for you! All my girlfriends have one. So stop in my shop to see what else is new.
Or make one yourself, I buy my bottle stoppers at Boston Craftworks. You don’t have to make a girlfriend stopper, I’ve made some funky flamingos that I’ve posted in my shop too. I really laugh at these guys.
The flamingo is several canes that I put together directly on the piece. It takes more time, but I like the results.
Alice
P.S. If you own a blog and would like to win one of my bracelets, just click on the link below to participate in One World One Heart.
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 If you’re looking for my OWOH giveaway it’s here
 Tropical Leaves I’ve been creating tropical canes. I’m going to do several color combos but I made one skinner blend and it resulted in these canes. I went ahead and made these different canes with the same colors just to record what I did. When Laquita Cater was here, we were looking through my canes and she asked how I made some of my tropical canes and to tell you the truth, some were so old (or maybe it’s me that so old) that I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d done and certainly not how I reached my mixed colors. So I’m kind of on a mission at Laquita’s request, to create a tutorial of tropical leaves and plants.
I do want to show how to use one skinner blend to end up with all these diverse canes. I’ll be choosing the different color combos and maybe listing several of them in the tutorial.
Just looking out my window gives me lots of inspiration, plus there is always the internet with tons of pictures of tropical plants. So I’m off to create.
 Etsy Treasury by Alison E Kurek He’s been bugging me. “When will I get more exposure? When will I be noticed?” All I could tell him was to continue to be his pink self and someone would come along a recognize his inner beauty. Here’s hoping that like his brothers before him, he’ll go live with someone else soon.
I’m thrilled that my flamingo has be chosen by Alison Kurek for an Etsy Treasury. Thanks Alison, I’m honored! I enjoyed all the other fabulous work by so many talented Polymer Clay Artist Guild of Etsy members.
Visit Alison’s Etsy shop and take a look at her wonderful artwork.
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