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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Charms for an Exchange

Alice Stroppel charm exchange

Some of these charms are made with my Stroppel 2 cane. Here’s the how to! 

Just like the white rabbit, Oh dear, Oh dear, I’m late, I’m late. And like Alice, I don’t quite know which door to open first.

Alice and the White Rabbit

 

I’m going on retreat and just finished the charms for the charm exchange, finishing up the brown bag exchange gift, figuring out what to donate for the auction and washing clothes. Whew!

The stressful part is trying to stay under the 50lb bag limit. Packing, weighing, taking important stuff out and then putting it back in again and leaving out some clothes. I figure I’ll just wear the same thing over and over. Better that than leaving out important polymer clay stuff…..

I was very happy to see that my rabbit and I were featured on Polymer Clay Daily today. Cynthia is spot on today, I feel just like the other Alice running around in wonderland. But I actually feel like Alice more often than not, after all I am Alice. *Grin*

I hope today finds everyone having a Wonderland kind of day. Just stay off the roads if you are. hehe

 

Exciting Trade With the Incredible Sherry Moon

 

 

 

Sherry Moon

Sherry Moon

My fabulous trade from Sherry Moon.

I’ve had a very exciting week. I took a class with Kate Church and created a very funny and cool doll. I received two trades in the mail from two extremely accomplished artists and I finished 20 something charms for an exchange. Whew.

I’ll tell you all about each of them in separate posts, the first one being this over the top cool mosaic magic carpet I received from Sherry Moon.

When I first saw her large carpet I just fell in love, here’s a picture, tell me you don’t feel the same.

 

Sherry Moon

Sherry Moon

 

It’s just so luscious and looks so much like a real carpet. I was thrilled when Sherry said she wanted to trade for one of my cane mapped butterflies and she agreed to do a mini version of her carpet. Here’s the butterfly that now lives with Sherry. Thank you so much Sherry, your work is sterling and I’m honored to own this bit of magic.

Polymer Clay Butterfly

Polymer Clay Veneer



AliceStroppeltealtablefinihsed4w


A reclaimed table finds new life in my house. It started out as a wobbly table made from solid oak but with a few years and coats of red paint under in it’s history. I brought it home and almost ave up on fixing the wobble, but fortunately my husband, who is not a wood guy, saved the day and came to the rescue for both me and the table. 

I spray painted teal over the red and then sanded a bit here and there. Let her dry and then I was ready to start. I’ve been doing large pieces to frame and hang on the wall and thought why not give furniture a try.

This is the same technique I use for my smaller pieces of wall art too, I call it cane mapping. Laying out a map and filling it with clay.

I started with a smaller table and it worked pretty well so I decided to give this larger one a go. It’s 28″ H 29″ L 18″W.

I start out by making a paper pattern of the top and draw my design on the paper. Then I place the pattern under a large piece of glass and just start laying clay.

Alice Stroppel teal table polymer clay veneerOnce I have a good deal completed I bake it and then move on to the next part of the pattern. I end up with several large puzzle pieces that I then glue onto the table top. If I work on too large a piece I tend to rest my hand on on drop something on the part that was finished and have to redo parts of it, Baking in pieces helps to preserve the work I’ve already completed.

Alice Stroppel teal table polymer clay

I use Liquid Fusion clear urethane adhesive. It dries fairly quickly, but takes 24 hours to completely dry. When I was finish with all the pieces for the top, I glued them together right on the wood.

Then I exuded a matching teal round snake from the edge. I baked it in four sections in roughly the same shape as the edge of the table. I use Premo because it’s flexible and it was easy to apply. However, to make sure it stayed in place, I taped it all around and left it until morning.

Alice Stroppel teal table edge

I don’t add a finish to the top, if I could stand to do it, I might sand and buff it. But until I get myself a do-boy…well…it will just get pretty with age and develop it’s own patina. I feel this way… it’s plastic…water won’t hurt it…you can wash it with a damp rag. The only thing I will do it make sure to use a coaster for hot beverages.  I know the bracelets that I made years ago and wear often have this wonderful feel to them. So I say use it what’s the worse that can happen?

Thanks for all the wonderful words of encouragement, the likes, the shares, on Facebook and thank you in advance for any comments left here.  On to the next project!!!

Follow me on Facebook if you want. https://www.facebook.com/alice.stroppel

Alice  Stroppel polymer clay veneer.