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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.  Member IPCA |
I got carried away. but with what exactly, I’m not sure. I used another of Barbara McGuire’s stamp sheets to makes some shapes to play around with pen and ink on. I just let my self go and there she was. I kind of like her. She’s going up on my wall. Love, love, love, playing with clay and colors.
I’ve been working on finishing up the face pendants I created at Fandango. This is the first one and I’ve mixed black and white canes with the pen and ink face. I also made black and white beads and strung the whole thing on black Buna Cord. This is like one of the projects planned for my up coming class on the 25th of June here in my studio. We’re going to make a pen and ink bracelet first, then spend the rest of the class working on the necklace. The class is full, but I will be posting another one for July 16th, so if you think you might be interested, mark your calendars.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I can’t stand to throw anything away, even when things go a bit wrong. I was working on two pen and ink bracelets (using the techniques shown in my video tutorial for sale in my Etsy shop) for Woman Creative – Art and Jewelry Design Center when somehow my oven when crazy and I had a couple of scorched bracelets on my hands. Not totally black, but not fit for sending to Ellen at the Center. But today as I was taking them off the blanks, I just couldn’t throw them away. So I began to play around with them and I cut them apart and repositioned them on other pieces of clay and I began to really like the antique look of the pieces. What didn’t work as one of my usual bracelets really did work in a different setting. In the beginning I thought I might want to add some more antiquing to them, but I really like them just the way they are. I’m thrilled to have saved them and I think I might be on to something else. But that’s the way it is, too many things I want to do and too little time. I guess what I really wanted to share with you was that sometimes what you think as failure might just turn into success, never give up!
I had this portrait idea in my head for awhile now and thanks to an idea nudge from a flickr friend I finished this girl last night. It’s a portrait mirror, I just covered the mirror part because of the reflection. I’ve been having fun trading with new friends on ficker. I traded with Doreen Bell, an amazing Mosaic Artist, you can see her work here on Flickr. I traded several of my girls for a project she wanted to work on involving a mirror and the Seven Dwarfs of menopause. Here’s the crazy funky wonderful “Libby the Librarian” a hand held mirror Doreen created to make me laugh.
And you just gotta laugh at this girl. She’s even reading Alice in Wonderland. Anyway, my girls on a mirror, I thought hmmmm sounds interesting, so I borrowed her mirror idea, thanks Doreen, and created the girl above. We Never Stop Blooming. The other fabulous mosaic artist that I traded with is Laura Pattison in Spain. She wanted a crazy business card holder and I wanted one of her famous rainbow mosaics. I think we are both happy, I know I’m more than thrilled. You need to check out Laura’s work here on flickr
So that’s what I’ve been up to, plus a hundred other things, *g*. Have a great week-end.  Business Card Holder My playing around yesterday resulted in the business card holder from the last post and this one that was glued on a plastic holder. It was easy breezy and maybe a great gift for kids to make for the adults on their list. Any design will do, it doesn’t have to be a girlfriend. Geometric, flowers, or more manly designs for the guys. You could match any profession. I googled the plastic holders and found tons of them from .50 on up. Office Depot had them for .99. Make your design, cure it and glue it to the holder with super glue. Do not bake the holder. I put this girl on the wrong side for my cards, I didn’t realize it until it was already baked. But I’m not keeping it anyway, I’m keeping the one from the last post. Tomorrow? The last idea from my day of the clay. Hint…..remember Pet Rocks?
I have a couple of things to talk about today. The first thing is this too funny for words business card holder for your desk. I love this girl, she makes me smile, I loved making her and now that she has joined the other memorable items on my desk, I love looking at her. It was one of those moments when I was making something else and that led me to this holder and then on to another holder design. I’ll show you all of these things tomorrow. I have hurry up and get this posted because I have to finish preparing to lead my book club discussion tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it, but I have to make sure I’m ready. Plus the other pieces are in the oven and I can’t take pictures until they cool down. I was very excited to create this card holder. It’s solid clay, probably about 3 oz. I have 20 or 30 packages of Sculpey III that I will never use and have wondered what I was going to do with them. Now I know I’m going to use some of it for the base for some more of these card holders. I covered the base with black clay and then made the indentation to hold the cards, then add the face. Covered the edges of her face with more black “hair”, added her simple hat and she was ready for the oven. The whole time smiling……I love my “job”. The second thing today was..my pasta motor died. I should have known it would happen sooner or later but I was just thinking that I haven’t ever had trouble with MY motor. There was a thread on Polymer Clay People yahoo digest about motors and people were talking about motors stopping on them. I thought HA, not mine. Then yesterday…it happened. So today I had to order another one. I really wanted to buy the Dream Machine from Polymer Clay Express, but as I already have 9 pasta machines, I really couldn’t justify another. Now I have to wait until my new motor gets here. I know, I can crank the pm by hand, but come on, after all these years, I’m just too spoiled. Okay, I know I won’t be able to wait 4 or 5 day so I guess I’ll just be cranky. See you tomorrow.
I am so relieved. My internet connection is actually working today and I was able to upload the following video featuring my new bracelet. This New Bracelet video gives my Etsy customers a better look at these new bracelets and a simple explanation of what a cane is. Visit my Etsy Shop for the bracelets that are for sale.
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