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’ve finished the bracelet I was working on the other day. Having three spaces to fill is alway a challenge. On the other hand it mean three blank canvases to have fun with.
So there you have the whole bracelet. I’m off now to start on another one, right after I finish filling out the survey to help standardize measurements for polymer clay. thanks to Sage, Maggie and Cynthia for putting this together. Read about it here, on Polymer Clay Daily, or go right to the survey here.
I received this cutey pie in the mail all the way from Switzerland. She is a Winter Ladyand she came in a great little box with her own stash of Swiss chocolates. Speaking of Swiss Sweets, Teia and Mario make the cutest mini baked good, so neat and colorful. Check out these cupcakes.
Teia Fetescu and Mario Hubak are a polymer clay team that own Clay Corner, with a website, a blog, a Facebook page and a Flickr photostream where I saw this sweet little Swiss lady.
Teia Fetescu and Mario Hubak
I asked Teia if she would be kind enough to trade one of her girls for one of my girls and luckily she said yes. So off to Switzerland went this Stroppel sweater girl and now I have a Teia girl hanging in my studio. What a great trade, just a bit of international exchange and once again, I win. Thank you so much Teia and Mario.
I’ve been neglectful in posting the wonderful things that I have received from other polymer clayers in the last couple of months. I’m always delighted when someone thinks enough of me to actually give me something they’ve made, it’s such a welcomed surprise.
Kathe Keck
Kathe Keck gave me this oh so cool Stroppel cane giant bead made with Christine Dumont’s Tutorial. Kathe and I met last year at Fandango and she has attented two of my classes at Beads F.O.B. in Sarasota where we shared a room. She’s great fun and I was thrilled when she said I was the lucky owner of this Stroppel bead. Thank you Kathe, I love it.
Berit Hines
Berit Hines came to see me a couple of months ago and we had a great fun clay day. She left me this beautiful little box to keep treasures in. Thank you Berit, I have it right here on my shelf and I’m thrilled to have it. I hope to see you again before you leave to go back north.
Sydney Carter
Sydney Carter must have read my mind and knew how clay coated my hands are all the time. When she attended my sculpting class last month, she brought me this fabulous mixture that she made from a recipe from Polymer Clay Cookbook by Jessica and Susan Partain. Plus she made some of the best snacks to share with us all…..yummm. Sydney is an active (very) memeber of Florida Gulf Coast Polymer Clay Guild that meets in Palmetto, FL. If you’re in the area, you might want to check it out. Thank you Sydney, you’re the best.
Tyra Alhgreen
Tyra Alhgreen attended the same sculpting class and brought me this oh so funny fish. I just love his crazy self. Ihave him hanging on a stand along with the jelly fish below. Thanks you so much Tyra.
Charlene Ahlgreen
Charline Ahlgreen was in that sculpting class too, in fact you could say she was the reason and cause of the class. She brought everyone together. This is a clever jelly fish that together with Tyra blowfish make the perfect underwater scene. I have really enjoyed it.
Charline is the President of the Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild and is very busy about now with the auction for Fandango, their annual retreat. I’m going to be there demo-ing my pen and ink, so come on if you want some great fun claying and visiting and being inspired and claying and etc.
I’ll be hopping a plane in a few weeks to fly to Atlanta and get to spend some time with friends at Creative Journey Studios and a couple of days with a good friend from forever in another little Georgia town
First stop is in Buford, Ga and two classes at Creative Journey Studios. I can’t wait to get back there to see how the gallery has grown. When I was there last year it was just beginning and not everyone had sent their work for display and sale, mine wasn’t even there. So I’m excited to have the chance to spend some time there with Ellen Prophater, Sue Sutherland, and Patricia DiBona.
If you need to jump into spring, you might want to seriously consider a trip to this charming little Georgia town. If you want to be inspired by polymer clay artists’ work all in one place, Creative Journey Studios is the ticket. Just take a look at the list of artists that have work that you will see up close and personal and possibly own. What a treat it’s going to be.
Judy Belcher, Jana Roberts Benzon, Leslie Blackford, Carol Blackburn, Kim Cavender, Louise Fischer Cozzi, Heather Cobb, Patricia DiBona, Ann Dillon, Lisa Dunn, Julie Eakes, Christi Friesen, Natalia Garcia de Leaniz, Sue Gentry, Linda Gilcher, Lindly Haunani, Ginny Henley, Stacy Hogue, Lou A. Huppke, Susan Hyde, Debbie Jackson. Jeanette Kandray, Kim Korringa, Judy Kuskin, Sharon Kyser, Loretta Lam, Ron Lehocky, Peggy Martin, Sandra McCaw, Barbara McGuire, Laurie Mika, Ann & Karen Mitchelll, Harvey Moriarty, Mari O’Dell, Mary Pratt, Ellen Prophater, Laurie Prophater, LaTrecia Raffety, Ponsawan Sila, Jan Stephens, Meta Strick, Debra Svitil, Alice Stroppel, Bettina Welker, Melanie West, Lori Wilkes, Elise Winters, Karen Woods
Today, I’m working on some bracelets like the one above, because I need a donation for the fabulous auction they have each year. Speaking of seeing some of your favorite artists’ from around the country and the world. President Charlene and others from OAPCG have a long list of donated work that attendees can truely buy sometimes for a song. Okay maybe you have to pay, but it’s tons of fun and just getting to see the work is a treat.
Take a look at last year’s auction bounty. I think there is still time to register, but hurry!
I record and watch CBS Sunday Morning every weekend and love the suns that mark each segment. I’ve always dreamed of having a sun featured there someday. Just one of those fantasies that are fun to have. I haven’t made many suns, so how I thought I could have one featured, I’m not sure.
My core belief is this …thought, word and deed. First you have to think of it, then you talk about it, then you do it. So I’ve made my first sun, I’ll just put “Sun Man” next to Apple Man on my shelf and dream.
I still have to finish the inside , but that’s part of the fun.
If you are new to my blog and haven’t seen my Stroppel cane video, it’s to your right on this page. Several months ago I share a technique I’d been using for awhile to use up my scrap cane slices and keep them from the mud pile. It kind of took off around the world when Cynthia Tinapple posted it on Polymer Clay Daily.
Nina
Since then I’ve had the pleasure of seeing polymer clay artists from beginners to professionals give the Stroppel cane a try with some stunning results. Guilds are sharing it, there are swaps and Challenges. This Challenge from Parole de pâte had over 125 entries.
Nolwen
The Challenge was to create a piece using the Stroppel Cane or Julie Picarello’s Lazy River. The entries were about half and half between the two methods. Here’s some really wonderful pieces using the two techniques together.
Ysseym
There are so many pieces to choose from I can’t show them all here so I’ve just post a few.
Aneliz
Thank you to all those who participated and to Parole de pâte for hosting this challenge.
Surprise, a second post in one day. I just wanted to share what I’ve done today at my clay table.
I’m still working on appleman and the concept. It’s a sweet little cabinet ( Doreen, I just need to figure out how to add a shelf or drawer) or box with a quick surprise inside and room to hold a special treasure or two.
I’ve added canes to the inside with my mosaic technique (modified) and baked him one more time. One of the things I want to work out is fewer baking sessions.
This one will end up on my shelf and I’ll enjoy him for a very long time. I have ideas for more in my head and am looking forward to translating them into clay.
I worked on my apple man yesterday, cutting him apart and adding a hinge, a clasp and some little ball feet. Today I’ll finish the inside.
I need more experience with hinges and making a really good fit, but I’m excited about the possibilities. He’s just such a fun little box. Or do you call it a box if it opens from top to bottom? Would it be called a cabnet instead?
You might have to look twice at this apple, my husband did. He came into my studio and said, ” oh I thought you had an apple in your hands, oh it is an apple, oh it has a face! That’s cool.”
Now you have to understand that for years all I could get out of him was, “what were you thinking?”. But in the last few years his comments have gotten more complimentary and “that’s cool” is amazingly high on the list of compliments so far. Hehehe…..I’m wearing him down.
He loves that I love what I do, and he’s oh so supportive, but I’m not sure he has ever understood my crazy way of thinking. But that’s okay I don’t understand his obsession with cars either, so we’re kind of tied. I’ll take “that’s cool” and love it.
After the sculpting workshop I taught last weekend, I decided to play around with some ideas I’ve had in the back of my head for a long time. I started this apple man with the idea of making him an ornament like The Baker Man ornament I made when shooting my found objects video.
I can’t believe that was almost 2 1/2 years ago. It just proves that no idea is ever lost.
Well apple man quickly turned into something entirely different. He is a work in progress so you’ll have to come back to see him finished. I think this idea is pretty “that’s cool”, so keep your fingers crossed that my experiment works.
I’ve finished the bracelet I was working on the other day. Having three spaces to fill is alway a challenge. On the other hand it mean three blank canvases to have fun with.
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