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 finished the bib necklace and made a bracelet to go with it. The colors were fun to create and I loved making the canes. I really enjoyed figuring out how to make the bib part too. I used the largest round pastry cutter from a set I purchased from a restaurant supply house in Tampa. Cut the bottom, then moved the cutter up and cut the inside curve.
I think I’ll make a short video next week or if I have time this week, I’ll try to fit it in.
I have to laugh at myself because a have suddenly gotten very busy, both with polymer, and personal. Maybe it’s just that the summer is over and things always seem to move faster then. Whatever it is, I’m not complaining, I’m having a great time.
I have to tell you that Friends on Facebook have been so complimentary about the bib necklace. It’s really great to get such feed back. I wish it were here…. but Facebook make it so easy and everyone is there. So it works well and it helps to get super encouragement from other clayers. Thanks guys.
Well I’m off to get my clay conditioned for my Profile Face Cane class with Orlando Area Polymer Clay Guild. Can’t wait, they are so much fun.
Far from finished, not even baked yet, but I’ve not blogged in a week and was having withdrawals. I’ve been teaching, getting ready to teach and creating new canes. All the Halloween colors inspired me for these I guess. Still playing around with them for other applications.
I made this a bib necklace because I wanted to see all the canes together. I also wanted to show my class what they can create, besides beads, with the canes they are learning to make.
I’ve also been walking. I promised myself that as soon as it cooled off a bit, I’d get up from my clay chair and get moving. Well, it’s still 90 in the afternoons, but in the morning and at dusk, there has been a great breeze and the humidity is down, so I’ve had to keep my promise. Let’s see if I’m still motivated when it’s 30 out. (now come on, for me that’s really cold)
I’ve finished my Tropical Leaves tutorial and it is now for sale in my Etsy shop. It’s another 40 minute video with 7 full 8 1/2″ by 11″ pages with step by step instructions. Colored drawings clearly show you the way to complete each cane.
Tropical Leaves - 9 canes
You’ll learn how to create all of these canes and yes the “vine” is a cane as well. I reduced them all down a bit to create the frame above. I also added a few other canes and bit of color to complete the overall effect.
I’ll be making a couple of other items with these canes so stop back soon.
I posted this short little video on Facebook for an old high school friend. We have been following each other there and she has been watching all my posts about canes. She sent me a message asking about the canes and wanted to know what they were exactly.
So if you’re a clayer already, you’ll probably just want to skip this short subject, but if you are new to polymer, you might enjoy it. Either way, this one was made because Karen Pepper Ingram asked. Thanks Karen!
I’ve been creating tropical canes. I’m going to do several color combos but I made one skinner blend and it resulted in these canes. I went ahead and made these different canes with the same colors just to record what I did. When Laquita Cater was here, we were looking through my canes and she asked how I made some of my tropical canes and to tell you the truth, some were so old (or maybe it’s me that so old) that I couldn’t remember exactly what I’d done and certainly not how I reached my mixed colors. So I’m kind of on a mission at Laquita’s request, to create a tutorial of tropical leaves and plants.
I do want to show how to use one skinner blend to end up with all these diverse canes. I’ll be choosing the different color combos and maybe listing several of them in the tutorial.
Just looking out my window gives me lots of inspiration, plus there is always the internet with tons of pictures of tropical plants. So I’m off to create.
I forgot to post this yesterday. I made this lapel pin out of the same canes that I used to make the necklace in the last post. Just messing around and experimenting.
Okay, time to add new things to my polymer clay adventures. I am venturing into the land of beads. Didn’t think I really ever wanted to do jewelry, because everyone does jewelry. Then I found that the cuff bracelet were a great canvas for my face canes and didn’t require a lot of finishing. Which by the way is the most important reason why I didn’t want to do jewelry. I didn’t have the equipment, didn’t really know how to put things together professionally and wanted to spend all my design time claying, not jewelry making.
But the more time I have to clay, the more canes I make and have to use up. I love making canes, they really can be satisfyingly creative. Using them to make focal beads maybe something that maybe able to help me continue to experiment with color and design.
I’m learning about finishing and my friend Laquita said she’d help me with any questions I might have. So nothing ventured nothing gained.
I have this quote on my wall from Shel Siverstien. (Where The Side Walk Ends). I live by it. The only thing is the line that says, “she ate from the plate called TASTE ME and down she shrank so small” is not true in my case! Wouldn’t it be lovely if it worked that way? I taste…right to my waste.
ALICE
She drank from a bottle called DRINK ME
And up she grew so tall,
She ate from a plate called TASTE ME
And down she shrank so small
And so she changed, while other folks
Never tried nothin’ at all
This is the first thing made from my face cane from Barbara McGuire’s class. It’s a 5 x 5 plaque headed for my mother’s house.
I certainly enjoyed making this angel, and I’m sure I’ll be making many more things from this face cane. But right now I’m mixing colors and putting together a face that I have been dreaming of for years. Wish me luck and stay tuned, you never know what I’ll come up with.
This is the bracelet I talked about on a previous post. It was made from slices of canes that were meant for other projects but weren’t used. I saved them instead of throwing them in the scrap pile. When I had enough to make this bracelet, I put them all together and this is the result.
I’m putting in my etsy shop today. It’s fun and colorful and I think with a pair of jeans and a white shirt, it would look pretty good. In fact this bracelet will probably go with whatever you wanted to wear.I’m starting to work on things to go with me to the Orlando Fandango. Masks and donations for their auction etc.
Plus I’m rearranging my work space. My husband is getting a new desk and I’m adding his old one to my work spaces. I know that all of you know what that means. Not looking forward to the moving and cleaning and “un-earthing” of things that I will now have to decide what to do with. Treasures you know, too good to just throw away.
After seeing all the fabulous “found art” being produce while I was flying around the blogs with One World One Heart, I think we need an exchange blog. I have things I know you would just love to have, maybe you have something to trade. I’d love to give all these buttons and ribbons and old books and just stuff I’ve collected over the years to someone who would use it.
This should be added to my Don’t Waste That Little Bit of Skinner Blend video. I had some old skinner blend sheets that I made a couple of months ago and was going to get back to them right away. So instead of storing them in the loose leaf binder under the protective sheets, I just put them between sheet of deli sheets. After all I was going to get right back to them. Right?
I “found” them today and decided to finish them up, make some canes from them. Well, they were pretty dry. The deli sheets had leached them pretty badly.
I worked with them and turned them into plugs and logs. When I trimmed the ends, because they were so dry, I ended up with these fluffy little flower shapes. I started to smash them, but if you know me at all, you know I had to save them some how. So I added this one to the bracelet above.
I also added the first cut from either side of a skinner plug. It won’t win a prize, but it’s interesting, full of texture, and kind of funky.
Made me start to think of ways to create texture in my work that’s different from using a texture sheet or pressing things into the clay. More organic….hmmm…
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