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.
Okay, I’ve been working on an idea using white polymer clay and alcohol inks in both liquid and marker form. I wanted them to be free standing and collectable. Tallest one, the guy, is about 4 1/2″ tall. The small singing head is about 2 1/4″ high and has a removable, exchangeable saying bubble.,
The girl was the first one I made and I wanted the white face with black wash and color for the hair and clothes.
I think the black wash was a bit too much, so I made this guy and didn’t use as much black, I like it better. Looks more like ceramic or stone.
Both of the larger figures are made with scrap clay, (yes I do have real scrap clay that looks like mud, some scraps are just not Stroppel Cane material hehe) covered with white Premo. But even I will run out of muddy scraps at some point, so I made a smaller one made entirely from new white clay. Needless to say I’ve ordered more white clay.
I thought how much fun it would be to be able to use these as little greetings. Happy Birthday, Mother’s Day, etc, etc. I even make it so that you can remove the saying and replace it with another. (no it’s not my birthday). How about crazy funny off the wall humor?
This one I decided to try a little bit of color on her face, and it’s okay, but I like the other finish better, for a signature “look”.
I’m still playing and wondering if it would make a good class. I think most of the people that took my Sun class at Fandango made some great faces and I know these faces would be just as successful. I’m having a blast and my head is full of all kinds of new ideas with these stand alone, Stand Up, characters.
This unique exhibition runs from May 29 – June 15. Hours are Wednesdays – Fridays from 2 – 7, Saturdays from 11 – 3 or by appointment by calling 612-564-3569.
Flow Art Space is located in the Northern Warehouse in the Lowertown neighborhood of St Paul. Find us at 308 Prince Street Suite 218, in the same building as Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar. Entry is free, and street meters are free after 5 pm.
Synergy was wonderful for many reasons, but getting to meet in person people you have become friends with online has to be one of the highlights.
My friend Nikolina Otrzan (Orson’s World) surprised me with with this so very thoughtful gift in memory of Ceasar, the oh so sweet dog we just lost. I was touched and so appreciative. Thank you Nik.
Nik creates some fabulous polymer pieces and some very cool tutorials for sale in her Etsy shop. She also has a class on CraftArtEdu
She is such fun to be around, meeting her after month and months of online friendship was a such a treat. She traveled all the way from Croatia to attend Synergy and I hope to see her again when Synergy happens in Europe.
I’m lucky to own another piece of Nik’s work, we traded when she made me something from one of her Stroppel Canes. Love it.
Cara Jane Hayman is another friend from the other side… she surprised me with the darling little Stroppel Cane piggy. It was so thoughtful to bring it all the way from Bristol, UK just for me. Cara Jane started the Stroppel Cane Flickr group so that everyone can share their canes. Care Jane also has tutorial for sale. Thanks so much Care Jane.
Can you believe I am the proud owner of this fabulous piece of a art by Julie Eakes? Julie’s work in impeccable! We made a large trade and I am more than thrilled.
The wording is, “As you’re pretty, so be wise, Wolves may lurk in every guise.” I wish you could see this piece up close, I think Julie said she made at least five canes to incorporate in this necklace. Julie and I have traded before I’m lucky to own a couple of other Julie Eakes creations.
Julie teaches and if you can take a class with her, you should! Here’s one on CraftArtEdu
Julie is soooo much fun and I’m lucky to call her friend…….Julie, I can’t thank you enough.
And finally, Meisha Barbee and I traded pieces and look what I got, a wowzer. Meisha doesn’t have a website, but I have a feeling that she will soon, In the meantime here is a google search with some pictures of her fabulous work.
Meisha has recently started to teach, if she’s teaching near you, run don’t walk to take her class.
Meisha, you make me laugh way too much, you rock friend, thank you.
You see how lucky I am, not only to own such wonderful work, but to have made such wonderful friends through my love of polymer. It’s a wonderful life.
In yesterday’s post I talked about how I don’t plan what to hang my pendants on or from. After thinking about it overnight, I decided that statement wasn’t actually true.
I’m always trying to come up with different ways to add a bail, invent a bail or create a different closure. The project I will be teaching at Fandango this year is a prime example.
The stars are the closure. It’s an easy solution and adds a 3D element to the piece, that and the sculpted face. This cat uses the same idea with the tail and the head as closures.
You can use this type of closure on almost any design and I’ll show you how at Fandango in a couple of weeks. And there is exciting news from Iris Weiss the Education Manager from Polyform Products, Polyform will be donating some blocks of Premo for my student to use in my class. Thanks Iris and Polyform.
This piece that I posted a couple of days ago is another easy bail alternative. Creating something different and new is something I really enjoy.
I love the creative process of working with polymer clay. However the jewelry making part, findings, stringing, etc, are not on my love list and barely makes my like list. And my usual joy comes from colorful, fun, jewelry. It’s when I decide to create something more sophisticated that I lack the materials on hand to be able to spontaneously finish the piece.
In contrast, I always make sure I have plenty of canes on hand when I begin creating, it’s something I preach to my students. If you have a wide selection of finished canes on hand when you sit down to create, things just flow more smoothly. Not having to stop and make all the canes that need to go into a piece make it possible to create without having to stop the flow.
That’s not to say I don’t start a piece by constructing a couple of new cane, it’s just that I know I have lots of fillers to choose from already made and waiting for me.
So you see, I do plan ahead more than I realize, just not when it involves stringing and findings. So I’m still going to take a look at why I have a block with planning when making something more than a colorful, fun pendant (other than the obvious reason of needing more tools, supplies, etc. ). I’ve accomplished it before and think I just need to get out of my own way. Sound familiar?
So in the mean time, I’ll just keep doing what I love, making fun and funky things to wear and work toward improving my major jewelry construction.
I think these Stroppel Sweater Girls look kind of like Barbara and Cher with red hair. Okay, did that make you smile? Yes? Then my job is finished for today.
I can only say that I was delighted to have this picture with Kathleen Dustin wearing her stunning Necklace. She is such an incredibly talented artist and the polymer clay community is so lucky to have her as one of our polymer divas continually leading the way to excellence.
The entire Synergy 3 – Seeking Higher Ground was about striving for excellence, improving and growing. Becoming the best that you can be.
The piece I’m wearing I’m sad to admit was made at the last minute. I am challenging myself to continue with the design and improve it if I can.
I have a beautiful peacock shawl given to me as a gift that I wanted to wear wear the night of the banquet. I worked on a couple of designs but wasn’t happy with them.
Even though I say it was a last minute thing, I did try out several ideas before moving on to the one I actually wore.
Here are the first three attempts at a pendant. The one on the far right was actually too literal and I wasn’t happy with that. The other two just weren’t coming together. Everything was just too constricted.
I liked this one better, but wish I’d started on it weeks before I needed to wear it.
I decided to use my cane mapping technique and add a touch of metallic. It certainly matched my shawl better and I liked the flow. The bad part was not having a fabulous chain to hang it from, even though I wore it just the same. That seems to me to be one of my largest setbacks, making a piece and not thinking about the rest of the story.
It’s why I usually just do pendants and “slides”. I don’t have to think about the rest. I plan to give that part more thought in the future.
So this is my challenge…….plan, plan, plan and Make it Sing
Wish me luck and go spend some time on Kathleen’s webiste if you haven’t been there for awhile.
When I was getting ready to travel to Atlanta to attend the Synergy Conference, I wanted to make a few new things to wear. I’ve had a couple of ideas in my head for awhile and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try them out.
The necklace or “slide” in the picture above was really simple and fun to make. It’s more fun to wear because it has motion. It’s made with spiral canes formed into rectangles and of course round canes. I’ve attached them together with Buna Cord and looped the Buna Cord at the top to allow me to slide whatever chain or cording through and TaDa….it’s ready to wear.
I really like this necklace too. It moves and dangles and is just fun to wear. But I’m concerned with the o-rings shelf life. I’ve talked with several people that say that after many years, they begin to disintegrate and thus your necklace falls apart. So it’s not something that I could ever sell, but maybe it I keep searching, I can find a replacement.
I have so many things to show you and talk about concerning Synergy and the inspiring things that went on, what was shared, the friends I got to see again, the friends I met in person for the first time and just the overall experience.
Unfortunately I came home sick and am just not getting back to normal. I have lots of catching up to do.
DO take a minute to click on the sun on the righthand side of this page and see what is being offered at this years Fandango retreat. I’m teaching along with Suzanne Ivester, Sydnee Holt, Linda Hess and Penny Jo Couch. I hope to see you there.
I was messing around with a large Stroppel Cane a couple of weeks ago and came up with this idea. This is actually my second one like this because I wanted to make a simple necklace to match. They are both simple and quick to make but the possibilities are endless.
I left the black surfaces lumpy-bumpy just because, but those surfaces could be smooth or covered any way your imagination takes you.
I used a square cutter to cut the hole in the middle but had to go back and trim again with my blade because the cutters aren’t sharp enough. I used my blade to trim around the outside. Of course you can use oval, circle or square cutters.
Tomorrow I’ll share the new camera phone light box set up I just ordered. Actually you can use it with a regular camera too. Very cool.
I’m thrilled to have a piece of my working included in Christi’s new book Flourish. On another page, Christi also uses the Stroppel Cane to make a swirly, twirly, flowery thingy, which is exactly Christi-like and so much fun.
My piece in Christi’s book is a piece I made using some of the tropical leaves from my…wait for it…Tropical Leaves tutorial that I have for sale in my Etsy shop. It’s both a video and a detailed pdf.
Here it is in the book and thank you Christi.
One thing I’ve noticed with artists that self publish is that their publications are crammed with information. It reminds me of myself when I’m teaching. I want to share and show you everything I can in the short time we have together. The other recent book that I’m thinking of is Helen Breil’s Shapes.
Each of these books are so full of information, photos and techniques that each new owner will have projects to last them weeks and enough inspiration to start ideas popping in their heads like fireworks on New Years Eve.
I’m getting ready for Synergy and looking forward to a very exciting, inspiring time. Along with all the talent gathering in one place, I’ll get to spend time with old friends and meet in person friends I’ve only met online. I hope to see you there.
Mary, Andree, Sue, Lori, Earnestine, Alice, Niki, not shown, Ruby and Audrey
I was so excited to welcome some of the members from the South East Florida Polymer Clay Guild to my studio. We spent two days playing with clay and enjoying each other’s company. Thank you all for coming……
I’m sorry to say that I did not take any pictures on the first day and Ruby and Audrey had already left by the time I remembered my camera. This time I was lucky to get in the picture because my husband happened to drift through the studio and I enlisted his help, a bit blurry, but hey!
Oh and our wonder dog Ceasar is shown at the bottom of the picture, okay, “kind of ” shown, really blurry…but he was so happy for the company.
We made face canes and then we made Flamingos. Not everyone wanted to make bracelets, so we have Lori’s punk candle ring and Andree’s sculpt to go on a mirror frame. Lori’s needs some feathers and Andree’s needs some skinny legs, they’ll finish up at home. Everyone else is going to be sporting a funky new bracelet. I think everyone did a fabulous job and enjoyed working with Ultralight.
Thanks so much to Mary Marzano for all the time she put into organizing the weekend. I’m not sure who had more fun, me or everyone else, I think maybe me!
To find out more about this guild, when they meet and where, visit the SEGPCG website or join them on Facebook.
The group came on a great weekend. It was downtown Sebring’s second Friday event and my good friend Janet King was the featured artist at Highlands Art League’s Yellow House reception. So we all met at the hotel and went to Janet’s reception then back to the hotel for dinner. There was Jazz on the circle and all the shops were open downtown. The next day was the Roaring 20’s craft show downtown, but we were busy in my studio with clay.
Janet F. King
Janet’s work is incredibly beautiful and I’m lucky to own a piece or two. Once you see her work, you’ll want to own a painting of her’s too.
If you’re in Sebring, be sure to take the time to visit the Yellow House, if not, visit Janet on her website at Janet King Watercolors. com
I’m glowing (no pun intended ) to be teaching at OAPCG’s Fandango this year, May 2 – 6th. I’ve so enjoyed attending and demonstrating at this event in past years, so being able to teach is just delightful.
I’m going to be combining a little bit of fun to make canes, adding a bit of sculpting and then throwing in a cool closure technique. I’ll also be showing you how I contour the design to finish the edges nicely, it’s a technique I use in many of my pieces. So bring your favorite canes and your smile, we’re going to have some fun.
I’ve been holding this closure technique since last year. This project was designed for Fandango and I haven’t shared it anywhere else. You can use this closure in so many other ways, I made this cat using the closure to create an articulated head and tail. It’s simple and easy to do.
My fellow instructors are Suzanne Ivester and Syndee Holt. Plus this year they’ve added pre-classes on Thursday with Penni Jo Couch and Linda Hess, so I hope you come on down to beautiful Lake Yale and join us for a fun filled four days.
I thought how much fun it would be to be able to use these as little greetings. Happy Birthday, Mother’s Day, etc, etc. I even make it so that you can remove the saying and replace it with another. (no it’s not my birthday). How about crazy funny off the wall humor?
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