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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I have my work cut out for me for the next few days, I’m going to lay out the steps for my class on pen and ink on polymer clay. I have been busy making blanks from white pc in all different shapes as well as covering bracelet blanks with white. The more I do the better I like it and the more ideas jump into my head.
I haven’t been so busy that I haven’t had time to enjoy the lake and our beautiful oak trees. I love swimming and playing with our dog, but I love sitting and watching my guys play too.
I’m trying other ways to display the fish that I shared with you the other day. I still like the black background so I decided to see how a lone fish would look in a square frame. I can see a group of these on the wall. I like this as well as the larger grouping.
Still, nothing is permanent yet, plus I used very small glue dots to hold the pieces in place. They are used in scrapbooking and it only takes one or two to hold each item and I can easily remove the polymer piece if I want to. They will mess up your background though so keep that in mind.
This is a 9″ x 9″ frame and the fish is only about 3 1/2″ from lips to tail, so you could use several in a grouping.
 This butterfly is for a friend, in appreciation. I started by making just the character in the middle and then decided to try some wing stamps by Barbara McGuire that I brought home from my visit to Woman Creative in GA. Well once I added the wings she got quite large.
I decided to place it in a frame so that she can hang it on the wall or wear it if she’s brave enough. (It’s big, really!) I hope she likes it.
This is kind of my finished fish piece. Kind of…..I’m still playing with it and not sure I like everything about it and might do something different with the flower stems. The metal leaf was left over from the fish and I thought I try it as stems. It wasn’t what I had in mind and I’m not sure I won’t try my original idea after all.
I haven’t glued the pieces down yet, I had a black background in mind, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t want to try to do the background in polymer, so if I want a different background I have to think of something else. I’m not much of a painter, but I’m thinking of painting a lighter background on board. Plus I’m still arranging and rearranging each piece and wondering if I need more fish.
I might have to let this percolate for awhile, but hopefully not too long. I like to finish projects and get them either out the door on the way to a new home, or among my many polymer clay keepers.
Anyway, it was fun and if nothing else I’ve added metal foils to my cane mapping techniques and I’m ready to see what else I can do with it besides fish………love fish but……. well you understand I’m sure.
I’ve been working on more fish and some other fantasy flowers for my WIP but it’s not finished yet, so I thought I’d share these fish today.
I find that I am using more and more of those little canes I made from scraps of other canes like the ones I show you in my video Don’t Waste That Little Bit of Skinner Blend. In fact while I’m doing these fish, I am making more little canes to use. It’s just plain fun because nothing has to be perfect and you kind of create as you go.
I usually create that way, just begin and see what come from it. Some days I like to just mix colors and have them ready for making a series of canes that coordinate. Other days I like to make skinner blends for the same reason. It makes creating a project so much easier, working flows easily when you have canes made up but also when you have bits of left over colors from your canes so you can make quick little matching canes to accent a piece.
I’ll try to post a picture of the flowers tomorrow. Hopefully I can finish the whole picture by then, maybe!
These fish with their own bling are a part of a WIP, but I wanted to share them with you today because I am excited about how they look.
It’s one of those slap myself on the forehead moments…ever since I attended a class with Kathleen Dustin, I’ve had every color of Gilding Material, gold leaf, variegated blue leaf, red variegated and silver too. This class was years ago maybe 2005, can’t remember. Anyway I made a few thing using the techniques I learned in her class and then move to other things.
This metal leaf has just been patiently waiting for me to remember it. Today, 6? years later I incorporated it in these cane mapped mosaic fish. You can learn the basic mosaic technique by signing up for my newsletter in the upper right hand side of this page.
I’ve been framing some of the other fish that I’ve done for my classes and I wanted to create a large piece that contains several fish and other subjects. So I’m not finished yet, this has exploded me into a whole different group of ideas. Like I need anymore to add to the ones I haven’t gotten to yet. But maybe I’ll add some of these to the front of the list.
It’s so great to be able to share what I’m doing each day. I know there is someone out there checking in once in awhile, thanks……….
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 sold the last of my girlfriend galore bracelets at Fandango and needed to make more and here’s the new gaggle of girlfriends.
I was honored to be asked to donated something to the International Polymer Clay Association retreat this year and I’m sending one of these cuffs. I only wish I could go this year. I would love to meet all the other wonderful clayers that are going to be there. Maybe next time.
I’ve also made the largest GG bracelet yet, showing in the photo above are all sides of this 1 1/2″ wide cuff. It really looks great on a large girl like me. This bracelet is listed in myEtsy Shop.
It’s hard for me to decide which size I like the best, I like them all I guess. Someday I have to save one for myself. Maybe it’s one of these because I’ve used the last of at least one of my face canes and so these really represent my faces over the last few years. Kind of a road map of my journey.
The next group of bracelets will be welcoming some new faces because I’ll be making more this month. I can’t wait to see the new personalities that show up. That’s really how I feel about my face canes, each one kind of decides who they are going to be and sometimes I don’t have alot of say in the matter. Kind of fun.
Here’s the second necklace made with faces from my Fandango retreat. More black and white and pen and ink. Can you tell I’m having fun!
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.
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