Polymer Clay Etc.

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.

StudioMojo – Cynthia Tinapple

I know, you tried to click on the video above and watch it right now, but it’s just a screen shot of the video featured on Cynthia Tinapple’s new premium weekly newsletter StudioMojo.

Once again I was surprised when I checked my email on Saturday and saw that this weeks copy of StudioMojo was titled The Stroppel Phenomenon! The cane certainly has been a phenomenon that is hard to explain. I’m overjoyed that this simple idea has made so many people so happy and given new life to many a sad cane and all those slices that have been hidden away from the world……..

Needless to say, I’m thrilled to be featured this week in StudioMojo, but I wanted to let you know about this newsletter with it’s interesting close up look at the polymer clay world from artists to the latest products.

Last month I became a subscriber to StudioMojo and have truly enjoyed it. The artist’s interviews include some of my favorite people and there’s more to come each week. The newsletter centers around “sparking your creativity.” It certainly has done that for me.

Thank you Cynthia Tinnapple, one more time, for featuring me.

Thank you Randee M. Ketzel

Bracelets by Randee M Ketzel - Owner Alice Stroppel

Look what came in the mail today!!!!! These beautiful crazy wonderful bracelet from Randee M. Ketzel and they are actually mine now!

Seriously, where else but in the polymer clay community would you find such generosity? Randee M. Ketzel better known as RMKDesign was one of the first to try the Stroppel cane. Her efforts were nothing short of extremely cool!!!!

I commented on the photos on her Flickr site and she said this to me, “Alice, I love this!! So fun to do–and finally I’m not feeling guilty about all my failed canes anymore–you’ve given them purpose. If I can ever return the favor, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

Weeeelllll I said, “uhmmmmm let’s see…..I should ask for everyone’s first born creation from their first SC….yeah that’s it. Just think what a collection I could have, man……. the vision. lol”

She asked for my address and I said, “oh no I couldn’t” as I sent it to her. And today, in the mail, two babies came to live at my house.

They are beautiful and funky and very cool. They are some of the very first pieces made after I posted my video. Thank you Randee, I’ll treasure these forever. Plus…..I’ll wear the heck out of them along with telling the story. I always say the story is as important as the rest.

Randee, I can’t tell you how happy these made me. Thank you again.

Stroppel Canes from Around the World

Melanie Bright's Stroppel Cane

The very first person to send me a picture of her Stroppel cane was Melanie Bright, so her cane is the first one in this post. Actually her’s will be the only one talked about individually in this post.

This was funny, Melanie’s email had jadejeweler in it and I wrote back calling her Jade. When I realized my mistake, I wrote her back to say I was sorry and then I just decide I’d call her Jadegirl. We both had a laugh. Thank you Jadegirl for being the first to share your cane, I love the bright pink pops.

I have been trying to keep up with all the pictures around the internet and the world, (I’m grinning here) and I was going to post each one because I need to say thank you in a big way.

That was before Cynthia Tinapple from Polymer Clay Daily posted a link to my video. There are way too many cane now and that’s a wonderful thing, thank you Cynthia.

But I don’t want to leave anyone out or put anyone first, so I’ll just give you a link to my Pinterest site where I have been gathering as many as I come across. Thanks to Cara Jane fro the UK for the idea to use Pinterst to gather them together.

If you have posted a picture of your Stroppel cane (if you’ve try it that is) send me an email with the address and I’ll pin it.

Here’s a preview of what’s there, but once you get to Pinterest if you click on each picture it will take you to that person’s website or Flickr site.

A great BIG thank you to each and everyone of you, it’s been such an incredible experience.

Polymer Clay Daily and New Polymer Clay Face Bracelets

I just want to take the time to thank Cynthia Tinapple from Polymer Clay Daily once again for another feature about the Stroppel cane. This morning she linked to several polymer clay artists that have been experimenting with the technique and I have to say that I am truly delighted by the results. Thanks to everyone who is playing and posting about the Stroppel cane, it’s been so much fun!

Now on to what I’ve been playing with……new profile face bangles.

I’ve been working on these new bangles in between having so much fun with the Stroppel cane. In fact the one on the bottom of the pile is one I was working on while on retreat and it has some Stroppel cane on it. But in my head I saw this style bracelet made with my face canes and a couple of other ways I haven’t been able to out of my head and into clay yet.

These are just the prototypes, still working on perfecting the process. But I’ll have some up for sale on Etsy before the week is out. I’m working on more ideas, so be sure to check back and see what mischief I’ve been up to.

I just noticed how much purple is in each of these, well, I like purple and I guess it shows. And lime green……….

This is a view of the backs. These bracelets really make a wonderful canvas for just about anything you want to create. I’m having fun again, but when don’t I have fun when clay is involved?

Thanks to Laurie Prophater and her inspiration bracelet that I’m so lucky to own from our trade. It was the shape that just made my head start to whirl. It was the first time I’d held one like it in my hands and had the free time to ponder. Retreats are a very good thing, gets your imagination jumping.

Laurie’s blog is Ornamental Elements or you can visit Laurie’s Etsy site.

Larger Stroppel Cane – Polymer Clay

After reading what everyone else was doing with the Stroppel cane, using up old canes and not just scraps on their work tables, I decided that I needed to dig around in my really old canes and see what I had. Tons! I have Tons of old canes, most of them made from Sculpey III that I won’t ever use for anything else and some of them really pretty bad. So experimenting was it.

I also have a desire to do wall art with polymer clay, I made this cane that has layers as wide as 1/4″ to 1/2″. I sliced it and added what I call my dot, dot, dot cane and am now ready to attach them to the canvas shown below. I just can’t decide what to do with the background, the canvas or which way to place the pieces. I’ve already baked them.

I like the contrast of the black against the white so I might just paint the canvas white. I think I have to look at it for awhile. Maybe they would look better like this……

Just me having fun again. Thank to all of you for your ideas for the Stroppel Cane.

Artybecca’s Beads for a Stroppel Cane Pendant

Artybecca

Aren’t these beads just wonderful? Rebecca Watkins aka Artybecca and I made a trade and I think I made off with the best part of the bargain. Rebecca hand carves each one of these beautiful beads and now I have these to look at, wear and enjoy. Thanks you so much Rebecca, I’m so happy we got to meet each other in person, I had such a great time playing with clay!

This is my half of the trade, the first piece I made entirely from a Stroppel cane.

Thank You, Pen and Ink, Trades, and my Mount Dora Class

This might be a long post…just so you know….

Thank you, thank you, and thank you some more. All of you who left a comment, joined my newsletter list, emailed me, ordered one of my videos from my Etsy shop, left a comment on Polymer Clay Daily or just stopped by to take a look at the Stroppel Cane.

I was truly blown away by the amount of traffic that my funny little blog generated in just a few days. I owe a great deal to Cynthia Tinapple at Polymer Clay Daily and to my blog and newsletter followers.

I knew I liked my new cane, but really didn’t realize just how much everyone else was going to like it. I’m thrilled to be able to share it with everyone. When I first started with polymer clay, I learned so much from the generous people on the internet and it was all free. Now, just to keep up with all the fees out there one has to make a little money here and there, but I will always give away as much as I can, kind of a play it forward kind of thing. So feel free to share the Stroppel cane with anyone you think would enjoy it.

Again, it makes a big difference to know that there are people out there reading, watching and interested. The comments that you all left really meant so much to me. Thank you all.

Now on to other things. This picture is of what I did yesterday between answering all the wonderful correspondence. These are bracelet blanks covered with clay and baked. I call them canvases because they are ready for the next step of ink, markers and TLC.

I have several reasons why I needed to make these blanks.

1. I need more stock in my Etsy shop
2. I made a trade agreement with two very famous delightful pc artists
3. I’m teaching a class on the 15th and need samples to show

I cover the blanks with a layer of black, then sections of white and in between I place black and white canes.

Laurie Prophater

The first trade I made was with Laurie Prophater and I already have the bracelet and have been enjoying it so much. It is simply gorgeous, I am thrilled. Laurie’s blog is that fabulous one we all love to visit Ornamental Elements. Here’s more good news, you can own one of these fabuloso Faux Ivory Bangle Bracelet bracelets for yourself Just visit Laurie’s Etsy site.

Laurie Prophater

Each side is different and so lovely, plus she makes the accent pieces herself. I need to hurry up and get her piece finished. I have a couple started and will probably give her a choice like she so graciously did for me.

I’ll let you in on a big secret. Laurie’s bracelet has given me so many ideas to try using my style and she has given me the okay to use the basic idea. But if you know me, you know my crazy mind will take me places no one else has been before. lol. I already have one (actually two) made, but am not ready to show you yet, when have I had time anyway? The past few days have been very busy and so much fun. And I’m all about the fun!

The bracelet on top is more colorful and I’ve added some canes for hats and accent pieces. The bracelets on the bottom uses more of the white background giving the faces a kind of gothic feel I think. Next group, I’ll do just black and white and red lips, maybe some color in the eyes, like some of the first bracelets I did when I developed my pen and ink technique.

Pen and Ink Class

I’m teaching a class on the 15th of the month in Mount Dora, FL at the Mount Dora Center for the Arts. Come on and join me, you’ll love this quaint southern town that loves the arts.

Here’s a link to the information and the phone number for registration is 352-383-0880.

Back to drawing faces. Thanks again for everything, you guys are the best.

Stroppel Cane Featured on Polymer Clay Daily!

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!

Black and White Checkerboard Tile with Flamingos

(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.

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