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 always include a gift card with any purchase online. It just makes your item look more professional and it is a great place to promote your name and contact information.
I begin by laying out several tags to be printed on one 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of card stock. I use 90# weight. Again, I use Adobe InDesign, but I know you can do the same thing in word.
The tags are 2″ x 3″ and will be cut and folded in half to equal 2′ X 1- 1/2″. The picture of my “girl”, my logo, is on the front and any instructions and contact information is on the back. This makes a very nice gift tag for the customer if they are giving the piece to someone else.
I also send these along to the shops, it’s a nice place for the retailer to put the price and inventory numbers. There is one difference, the retailer usually doesn’t want your contact information anywhere on the item. The customer has found your work because of the gallery or shop, the retailer wants that customer to return to them to buy again. You can’t blame them and it’s good for you if you sell more items in the retailer’s shop.
If possible, use your name or the name of your online shop or blog as your business name on the tag in some way. Or the other way around, name your blog or online shop after your business name. That way, if a person doesn’t live in the same town as the shop, perhaps a tourist passing through, and really wants to find your work online, she/he will google your name.
Tag Before Folding
This is a tag before folding. I would have all my contact information on the back for an internet sale, ask the retailer what they prefer. On the back of this one, I’ve included instructions that came with my perfume pens. It is a perfect place to add this kind of information or a story about the item, an explanation about polymer clay or whatever might engage the customer. Retailers really appreciate this kind of service and so do your direct customers.
I was somewhere the other day, showing one of my mermaid bracelets to someone and she asked, did you paint the bracelet? I know many of you get the same question. Boy do we need an explanation on the our pieces! In fact I think that I need to do that right away for my next batch of tags. We have to educate the public and let them know the time and skill it takes to create something in polymer clay and more important, that if they purchase this item, they will have a unique piece and something to start a conversation.
Tag Folded
I fold my tags in half, punch a hole only on the top back side and add a bit of stretchy cord. I attach it to my item and off it goes.
You could make the tags a single piece and not fold it over, you could make it smaller. There are so many things you can do with this idea. I’d love to see what you already do or what you come up with after reading this.
Oh and by the way, don’t forget to add a few pennies to the cost for paper, ink and time to produce the cards and tags. Yes you have to have them for promotion, but it is the cost of doing business and you have to recoup the cost through your sales.
So there you have it. Lots of items to get you on your way to a clean, smart look for your masterpieces in polymer clay. Good luck and remember please, to have some fun along the way.
Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
I put my pins on cards that I create and print on my printer here at home. I lay out several cards in Adobe InDesign to fit an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of card stock. You could use word, or other programs instead. I cut the cards to size, using a paper cutter to make sure my cards are even and look professional.
Then I punch two holes for my pin. I have a hole punch that I bought from a scrap booking company that has a longer reach than a normal punch. The trade mark on the handle is, Close to my Heart. I use the 1/8″ circle. You can custom fit each pin to the card.
Fish Pin on Card
Then I thread the pin through the two holes and fasten to secure. Normally, I would have my website, my blog, and my email address on the card. On the card above, I don’t have any contact information, because this pin is going to a gallery that doesn’t allow the artists to attach it to their items. But I have the name of my business on the top and my name on the bottom. If the customer really wants to find me on the internet, they could.
However, the smart and most honorable thing to do is to ask where the customer heard about about you and your work and see if you can’t work with the retailer to offer this customer more of your items. It will cement your relationship with the retailer and it’s the right thing to do.
If however the customer live too far away from the retailer and would not be able to buy your work any other way, then be happy she took the time to find you and see if you can find just the right piece for her.
You could also use this cards for necklaces, simply punch one hole in the middle and thread the chain through to the back and secure with tape. You can suggest to the retailer that they could punch a hole in the center top and hang these items.
Next Post, gift tags. Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
I add pictures of the items to my inventory sheets that I send to galleries with my items. It takes time, but makes things a lot easier for all of us. Especially if the work is on consignment, there won’t be any question about what you sent, what you get paid for and what comes back to you if it doesn’t sell.
Shops and Galleries are going to want item numbers too. You need them for your records as well. You could just name everything if you don’t mind that sort of thing. But I have a hard time thinking of clever names.
The shop owner can list the inventory number on your item and be sure you get proper payment. They’ll be delighted that you have prepared your work this way.
I make my lists in Adobe InDesign, just because I like working in that program. Not everyone has that program, but you can make a list in Filemaker Pro, Word or Access or Excel. In fact the data base programs are probably the best way to do it. If you don’t know how, ask a friend to show you.
First thing is to make sure the name of your business, your name and your contact information is listed clearly on your inventory sheet. You should have a place for the retailer’s business name, their name and contact information and a place for them to sign acknowledging that they have receive all the items listed. You might have them initial each item as well.
For my inventory numbers, I use letters and numbers. The letters usually say what the item is. The top item on my list above is –
1. Item # – BRWF-210 (BRacelet With Face)
2. Description – 2″ Bracelet With Face.
I’ve assigned the 200s to 2″ bracelets with face canes. The next BRWF will be #211. So all 2″ bracelets with faces will have the prefix BRWF and they will be in the 200s.
3. Wholesale price is next. In this case the gallery will be marking the items up by 40%.
4. Quantity
5. Retail Price – For the owners use, they actually may want to mark it up even more. A long as they pay you what you agreed to, they can sell it for whatever the traffic will bear. Just make note of the price they are getting, so that you can adjust your wholesale pricing if you see a trend. Make sure that they actually sell the item at the higher price before you consider raising your prices.
I take this one step further. I provide display cards and tags with all my items and I’ll show you how I do it and some sugestions to follow in the next posts.
Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
Okay I’ve figured my time and materials and have listed my mermaid bracelet in my Etsy store, I’ve listed her for a price of $60.00. She is all clay, no other materials were used. I don’t have a metal base on the bracelet like I do on most of my other ones.
However, there is much more clay used. The clay itself wouldn’t amount to very much money, maybe $4.00 or so, but the time that has been spent on the canes amounts to about 4 hours total. Plus the baking cost and spending time on the photos. Yes, I have some canes left over, but the point is, without spending that time in the first place, I wouldn’t have the canes to make my mermaid, so I’m generous in figuring the time spent.
Then I add the time spent on the mermaid bracelet, about 2 hours and I come up with about 6 hours to get this bracelet to my Etsy shop.
So, at the price of $60.00 minus $4.00 for the clay and $4.00 for the oven, that leaves me $52.00 for labor. Divide $52.oo by 6 hours and I will make 8.66 per hour. Hmmm. Oh I forgot, I still have to list it for $.20, then I have to package the bracelet nicely to send to my customer if it sells and drive to the post office. Then I have to pay a commission to Etsy, and one to PayPal.
Plus I have to spend time on my blog, Twitter, and Facebook to make sure everyone knows I’ve posted a new item. But I still don’t have the “right ” customers linking to my blog, Twitter and Facebook.
By that I mean, unfortunately, other polymerclay artists aren’t really interested in buying my polymer clay creations, they have their own.
If the item doesn’t sell right away on Etsy, people suggest that you re-list your items over and over. Just figure out the right time to re-list when the most people are on the front page of Etsy and there you go. What??? I know it probably works, but I’d rather spend time making something.
But I do like Etsy, I’ve had a few good sales and I’m happy. But I want to branch out further and continue to find galleries and shops to take my work.
Back to the money…..So now that $8.66 per hour isn’t looking very fat. (Not that it was a ton of money anyway) But that’s okay. I enjoy making my items and I really like it when other people buy them and I know they are enjoying them too.
If I sell it wholesale, because I could by the way I priced it, I would divide the 8.66 in half. Leaving me with $4.33 per hour. Not even minimum wage. But I don’t have to do anything but get it to my retailer. With my items I can send them by mail and send several at a time.
I’ve made the seconded mermaid bracelet, using the same canes. this bracelet took less time because I already had the canes, increasing my profit somewhat. Providing they both sell. I’m going to send this one to a gallery and see which one sells first. I’ll let you know.
Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
Figuring out how much to charge for your work is difficult. Especially when you are just starting out and don’t know how well your work is going to sell anyway.
Which brings me to the first thing that you have to look at and be seriously honest with your self about. How good is your work? Is it well made? Current? Something that many people might want to own? I really believe that most people already know the answer to this question. If you are honest with yourself, you can compare your work with what is out there and know how it stacks up.
I’m not saying that it has to look like someone else”s work. You really don’t and shouldn’t want that. In fact the more unique your items are the better chance they have of grabbing a buyers attention. But is it well finished, would you buy it, is it different, colorful, eye catching…….would you take a second look at it if you were a buyer?
If you can answer yes to most of these questions, then good, you’re ready to market your work. But please don’t judge your work by what your relatives say or by the lack of sales on your online site. You know deep inside yourself if your work is good enough. If it’s not, then try harder, learn more, practice, we can all improve by spending the time. If you know it’s good and nothing is selling online, then it’s time to do something to improve your odds.
Next comes one of the most important elements in selling your work. Pricing to sell! The most important thing is to know how much it costs you to produce your item.
1. Cost of Materials – Calculate exactly, don’t guess. Try to buy wholesale if possible. Don’t forget the cost of having the items shipped to you or gas and time to buy it at a store.
2. Labor – How long did it take you to make the item? How much do you want to make an hour? How much is your time worth? Don’t forget to add prep time, ordering, preparing work space and tools etc.
3. Promotion – Spending time on your blog or any of the social media sites promoting you and your art.
4. Fees – Listing items, PayPal, internet fees.
So now that mermaid bracelet I just made cost me more money than I thought. But I can’t afford to charge less for the bracelet than I have invested in it. So I have to take the figures above and come up with a basic cost to make the item.
I could just charge this amount and feel like I made my money back plus a little bit for labor. But then I wouldn’t have left any room to sell at a wholesale price or give a commission to a consignment store.
Retailers typically keystone the price, meaning they double it. So if you ever want to have the opportunity to sell wholesale, then you need to price your item from the beginning with that in mind.
If you have calculated that your item’s base cost at $10.00 then your selling price would $20.00.
Selling it yourself, (for $20.00) you actually make a profit that can be reinvested to help your business grow.
Selling it wholesale, (for $10.00) you still have covered your costs and are being paid for your labor. Plus you don’t have to spend the time to market this item yourself.
Selling on consignment, same as selling wholesale except the commission is usually less that wholesale. Generally from 30 to 40%.
And last but not least, you really have to respect yourself and your work. If you undersell yourself, you are not only doing a disservice to yourself but to the art of polymer clay and all the other polymer clay artists out there trying to make a living.
We have many wonderful artists that are trying hard to raise awareness for the art of polymer clay. Some of them produce work that most of us will never achieve, but we can all strive to improve. We need to support their efforts and remember to value our own work.
Part 1 Selling Your Polymer Clay Artwork Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
Creating with polymer clay is fun, addictive and costly if everything you make stays at home with you. Don’t get me wrong, that can be a good thing if you can wear a different necklace, earrings, and bracelet set every day. Have polymer clay art in every room of your house! Light switch covers in the dining room, cover vases and sculpture the livingroom, covered knobs on the bedroom furniture and mosaic tile mirrors in the bathroom. (Did you know you could replace all the buttons on your kids clothes with polymer clay……..oh never mind…sorry)
Then you start giving your masterpieces to your friends and relatives. And they love them, the first 3 or 4 that is. After all how many nercklaces, earrings, bracelets, light switch covers, vases, sculptures, covered knobs and mosaic mirrors can they use?
The time comes when you just have to find a place to showcase your work or just give it up all together. You know we don’t want to quit, some of us just can’t. So what’s to be done?
If you are reading this online, then you have the skills to find the right outlet for your work right at your finger tips. I’m not going to talk about Etsy, or ArtFire, or any of the other online places to sell. You probably already have a shop set up on one of these sites. If you are successful and are selling your art faster than you can produce it, then you can skip the rest of this post.
But if you are a bit frustrated with your online shop sales, then you aren’t alone. It’s hard to be the artists, the marketer, the agent, the packer, and shipper, etc. All you want to really do is make your art…..well sorry.. that will probably never happen for most of us! We will all have to do some things to promote ourselves. But maybe you are living close to a solution to your problem. Or at the very least another outlet for sales.
There are thousands of art/craft galleries around the country and almost every town, no matter what size, has at least one. Maybe you have contacted you local shop with no luck. Well how about shops or galleries within a hundred miles of your house? Tourist spots are fabulous outlets, or just busy cities with a reputation for “artsy” shops.
I randomly picked Jackson, Mississippi to see what I could find. I did a google search for “arts and craft galleries jackson, mississippi”. About halfway down the second page there was a link to the Jackson Free Press that said………….. Culture The Fall Arts …The Jackson area certainly has numerous venues for arts of all kinds, from museums …. Chimneyville Crafts Gallery Works by 400 members of the Mississippi
The next step was to check over the list and see what sounded like a good possibility. I found several, the first was Chimmeyville Crafts Gallery. I did a google search and couldn’t find a website for Chimmeyville Crafts Gallery, but found out that it was operated by the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi, Inc.
I did another google search for the Craftsmen’s Guild and found their membership page
These were the membership benefits for $75.00 per year.
Benefits of membership include:
-Invitations to show and sell work at all sanctioned Guild events such as the December Chimneyville Crafts Festival
-Referrals to other national and international festival organizers
-Direct referrals to collectors, buyers, designers and wholesalers
-The privilege to sell and demonstrate work at Guild retail galleries and exhibits
-Direct referrals to feature writers, authors and producers
-A quarterly newsletter with articles designed especially for the professional artisan
-Invitations to special members’ meetings, workshops and social events
Notice that you can sell and demonstrate your work at Guild Galleries, I think they have two.
Also there is a referral service to collectors, buyers, designers and wholesalers. If I lived within 100 mile of Jackson, I would be a member of the Guild. If for nothing else but the referrals. ( I didn’t check any further to see if you have to be present to sell you work. Some places require that you volunteer a certain amount of hours a month.) But I would still join for the referrals.
I didn’t look any further, but there were several galleries that looked promising. I would see if they have a website, find their email address and mail them an introductory email and two or three (low resolution) photos of my work, asking if they might be interested in featuring them in their gallery. If you receive a positive reply, then an appointment can be arranged and a road trip planned. Find a friend to go with you and make a day of it.
Next post I’ll talk about the importance of pricing your work to sell on your own website shop with enough room to then be able to sell to the shop owner at wholesale. You shouldn’t undersell the retailer that is carrying you work.
You can do this kind of search for any city you live in or near. We have a great advantage outside of the internet. Not many people have seen the fabulous artwork that we are making with polymer clay. We have the opportunity to be the first in a gallery, shop or guild to offer polymer clay art for sale. You don’t have to do craft fairs or festivals, (even though they can be another great way to sell your work). It may just be a matter of finding a couple of just right galleries close by.
Good Luck, let me know how it goes. Part 2 Pricing Polymer Clay Artwork to Sell Wholesale Part 3 Mermaid Bracelet Listed on Etsy Part 4 Inventory Lists for Your Polymer Clay Part 5 Display Cards for Polymer Clay Pins and Necklaces Part 6 Creating Tags for Your Polymer Clay Creations
My friend Alice Hansen and I took a road trip down to Matlacha, FL and Pine Island to Julia’s Arts Gallery.
Julia's Arts
Julia’s Arts is featuring some of my polymer clay work, bracelets, bottle stoppers, perfume pens, and my fish mosaics. The Mermaid on the blue bottle and the new fish bracelet are living there now too.
Julia's Arts - Gallery
It’s a delightful gallery with some really wonderful art by some very talented artists. I’m thrilled to be included.
I love little Florida coastal towns, the “artsy” buildings are so colorful. They grab your attention and make you feel happy, lift your mood if you’re feeling glum. Get you ready to kick back, grab that drink with the umbrella and relax. You’ll find some of the most unusual art work in these cool, colorful galleries.
Alice and I had a great time, we stopped in Punta Gorda to have lunch on the way home and visit some galleries there. Charming little town and they have made a great effort to come back for the devastation from hurricane Charlie several years ago.
Alice has had her painting and prints at Julia’s for several years now. Alice’s work is amazing! She is famous for her marine life watercolors. Manatee and fish of all kinds fall under Alice’s spell and no color escapes her brush. She sells her original artwork as well as prints and note cards of most of her paintings. You can contact Alice through her gallery page at Highlands Art League. Or see more of her work on Julia’s Arts website.
Now all I have to do is figure out how to create these wonderful gentle manatees in polymer clay. Don’t you just love the colors Alice uses?
I used the same canes to create this bracelet that I used on my mermaid in the last post. And again, I layered the cane slices instead of butting them side by side as in the video. However, I did draw a pattern and built the fish first before putting it on the bracelet.
Laying Out The Design
You can just see the pattern between the two fish. I’m fitting the fish on a piece of glass. To see my video that explains how to use a pattern and a piece of glass, just sign up for my newsletter. It’s free.
Bracelet Covered With Black Polymer Clay
I covered a bracelet with black clay, then laid my fish on top. I made sure everything was securely down and baked it.
Side View of Fish Bracelet
Notice the tail on this fish, there is another slice of this cane on the other side. In fact, these are the last two slices of the cane. In the last post I told you that this cane was made from left overs and I was only able to get 6 slices out of it. Four I used for my mermaid’s hat and these two for fish tails. I didn’t waste that little bit of Skinner Blend.
See what happens when I start thinking about merchandise for galleries on the beach. I was mixing colors and making canes for leaves and plants for my flamingos and started thinking about my fish mosaic.
I ended up with a mermaid……………..
When I mix my colors, I try to mix them with the same amount of grey to get my base color and then add white and skinner blends. I am looking at the book Color Inspirations and am interested in play with the “mud” idea too. But for now I’m mixing grays with my color blends to get a muted result.
Then I make different canes using the mixes and Skinner blends. When I’m ready to work on a project, I have canes that blend and go together nicely.
Polymer Clay Mermaid Close Up
I used the coral Skinner blend in each of the canes. Sometimes as the main body of the cane and sometimes as accents. Her hat was leftover bits of mixed color and Skinner blend. It didn’t make a very big cane and I only got six slices off of it, but I only needed four to make her a smashing hat. I used the other two slices on a fish bracelet I’ll show you in the next post.
I used the same method to build this mermaid as I do for my fish mosaic except I’m layering the canes instead of butting them up next to each other. It’s less labor intensive, but doesn’t create the same level of sophistication as the mosaic work. It just depends on what effect you are trying to achieve and how much time you want to spend.
To see how I do my mosaics, just sign up for my newsletter and watch a video for free.
I love these blue bottles and I’m quickly running out of them. Here’s one I did for a fund raiser at Highlands Art League. It made $135 for the league. I was delighted as there was some incredible art work auctioned off that evening from some very talented artists.
A group of perfume pens ready to go to a shop. Below is a group of bottle stoppers. The same face cane with different hair and hats. I also sell them in my Etsy Shop.
Wine Stoppers
I get my stoppers and perfume pins from Boston Clayworks. They are both fun to do even without the face canes and they make great gifts.
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