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.
Lately, I’ve been following Dora’s Explorations Blog and her polymer clay cane experiments. She seems to enjoy the complicated canes and I understand the challenge.
Her plaid canes are fabulous and there are many more just waiting for you give them a try. She is generous to share these tutorials on her website.
If you want to challenge yourself, take a look at her newest cane tutorial, “Joy of Hex“. It free and the pattern possibilities are endless. Thanks Dora for sharing your talent with us.
While I was searching for the author of the eye cane tutorial at the bottom of this post, I came across this tutorial from Naama Zamir. She Posted this tutorial on March 1st, 2009! I made my Ancient Mystery Bracelet on Aug.10, 2009.
I didn’t see her tutorial until 10 minutes ago. In fact I had already started this post to look for the author of the eye cane tutorial.
Ancient Mystery I
This post is to acknowledge that she thought of the technique before I did! It just must have been floating around in the air and landed on me. Take a look, she explains how to do it wonderfully.
Now to the reason I was searching the internet… this ikat cane tutorial.
Ikat Eye Cane
Do you know who wrote this tutorial for an Ikat Eye Cane? It was on a website several years ago.
I printed it out and I use it sometimes for my face canes. I copied and pasted it into another program to print it to save ink. I usually labeled things I printed out with the author’s name and the website address. But somehow I’ve lost that information.
I’ve searched for it online for quite some time with no luck. I’m afraid that it is no longer available. I would like to suggest this cane for my face canes and send people to this tutorial. If it is no longer available, then I would like to be able to share the technique.
If you know the author or the website address, or someone who might be able to help me, would you please leave a comment or email me at alice@polymerclayetc.com? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.
I was busy last night with these cuff bracelets. I really had fun! Seriously, I was smiling the whole time. When I took them out of the oven, I laughed out loud. They are are listed in my Etsy Shop. I’m working on a tutorial for the face canes to sell in my etsy shop. This is just too much fun.
I wasn’t sure if I could use the profile face cane successfully on a bracelet, but I like her, she is really 3d.
I was stuck on redheads, now to move on and do some more blonde and burnettes.
Here’s how this started! I was going to shoot a video to share about all the items I found while cleaning that I can use with my clay work.
But as always, I had to clean up my clay space before I could begin. There sat slices of canes that I used in my (not finished yet) Polymer Clay Collage Project…. you’ll see a line of red squares across the bottom. Some were slices that I messed up and then there was this small little piece of cane left.
If you have been following this blog at all, you know me well enough to know that I do not like to make scrap clay. So, I layered the messed up slices with a layer of black #7 on the pasta machine. Then I sliced the remaining cane and added those slices with the black layers in between. Ending up with a new cane.
Why I didn’t start filming this for you, I don’t know, except that I didn’t know that it was going to come out this cool.
I sliced this cane into thin slices and added them to a sheet of black. Then placed the whole thing on my bracelet. It looks pretty good, I liked it anyway.
Then I had just a couple of slices left of this scrap cane (and I’m laughing here)! I didn’t want to scrap the rest of the cane I didn’t use because I liked it.
So I decide to play with what I had left. this next bracelet was the result and I like it way better than the first one.
Ancient Mystery II
I laid the left over slices out on a skinny strip of black and ran it through the pasta machine. It was ragged along the edges and I kind of liked that, so I put it on a layer of ecru clay and covered the bracelet form, added dots and there it was.
It was interesting and fun to experiment and the best part is I made something out of clay that was going to become a gray blob.
But..I still haven’t made the video with the found objects to use with clay. It will have to wait now, I have a special request for more girl bracelets in my Etsy shop, so I better get moving.
I’ve listed the other two bracelets there, so cross your fingers that summer sales will happen.
As winner of the Fish Mosaic Contest, Adrienne Lindsey will be receiving the perfume pen with one of my girls on it and as a bonus, (she doesn’t know this yet) I’ve sent her a note card with her fish on the front. I’m sending her a pdf by email with a layout for two note cards that she will be able to print over and over again. She can sell them, give away sets to friends or just use them herself for thank you notes etc. All she has to add is the envelopes.
(I also did a pdf for Laura Lang’s fish too.)
I’ve added this service to my Etsy shop, for those who don’t have the software to do it themselves. If you do have the software, you should consider using your artwork in this way. It really makes sense, you can sell the original and still continue to make money from the item. That’s what other artists do with prints of their originals. Why not Polymer Clayers? Gotta think outside the box.
I just looked at Naama Zamir’s two fish that she made after viewing the video. They are so cute, they would make darling cards or prints for that matter.
I love this fish, the colors are so vibrant and full of contrast. Our judge, watercolor artist Janet King, said that it was hard to choose a winner, but she really like the red color choice in Adrienne’s fish. I want to thank my friend Janet for taking the time to be our judge. Janet is a fabulous watercolor artist and instructor. Please take the time to visit her site and spend some time with her paintings. This bird painting is one of my favorites of Janet’s and represents her humor. See why I asked her to be our judge and why she is my friend?
Adrienne will be receiving the perfume pen in the mail very soon. Thank you Adrienne for the time you spent with your fish. Adrienne was the first to enter a fish and she enjoyed it so much she made another and entered it too. As you can see it paid off, she won!! We do improve with age. (At least with polymer clay)
Thank you to the rest of you who entered this summer contest. I wish I could post all your photos. It was such fun to receive the fish photos in my in-box. But I think what I enjoyed most was talking with so many wonderful people out there that share this crazy passion for polymer clay. Or maybe it’s just the shared love of making things with our hands. The creative process is such a healing, exciting, self affirming activity that it is a necessity for our very being.
Several people told me that this project has rekindled the creativity spark in them. What a compliment for me and an affirmation for just starting something creative. Thanks again.
I did want to show another fish that came very close to winning that I felt I needed to share it. Laura Lang’s fish is beautifully done and I enjoy her color choices. Thanks, Laura for entering.
Laura Lang's Entry
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How funny is this? I haven’t had much time to work on this new project. The Fish Mosaic Contest entries were coming in and I was having fun and other life stuff got in the way.
But part of “in the way” was having to clean off some shelves in my studio. I save everything, much to my husband’s dismay. The box in the picture is “the box” that I think everyone that shops at Sam’s club here in the states bought as a Christmas gift “for that person that you have no idea what to buy” It’s a funny gift full of little candies that look like little bottles of liquor.
When I saw the box, I was going to throw it away, but I thought maybe it might make an interesting addition to my “project”. I need to cover up the liquor logos, add some back ground or something else to the clay. But maybe this could turn into something fun! OR maybe not. (This may just turn into one of those projects that goes on for years.)
Tell me what you think. Should I continue, or forget about it?
Fish Mosaic Contest Winner to be announced on Friday. You’re gonna love it.
If you are new here, don’t forget to look at my videos. Just click on the link on the left hand side of the page or at the top. Or for the Fish Mosaic tutorial, just join my email list at the top right hand side of the page.
I wanted to do something with my profile face canes and really wanted to do something different. I used the piece of glass from my mosaic work and lots of canes both old and new and have begun a picture. I’ve placed a piece of white paper behind the glass so that the work would show up better. So right now there is no background.
This is stage one. I’m going to bake it now and add more to it later. I think, after it comes out of the oven, I’ll add a skinner blend background and see where that takes me. Stay tuned.
BomB #1 (Blurb on my Blog)
Arlene Harrison has shared with us her experiment with ReadyTac and Canes. I’ll let her tell you about it. Thanks Arlene for sharing this tip.
The title of her post is First Play-doh – now ReadyTac.
Someone asked me the other day how I came up with the fish mosaic technique. I thought about the progression that led me to create that first fish.
The Color Vase in this post was covered with polymer clay canes by me in 2001 and even listed on Glass Attic. It was my first polymer clay work to be shown on the internet and let me tell you, I was thrilled.
It was when I still had my old business website, Talented Friends. The link is no longer active to say the least, but the listing is still there on Glass Attic under covering glass.
Color Vase 3
From this vase, I covered many other things and experimented with all sorts of techniques that I saw online or in books or classes.
Several years ago, while I was director of Highlands Art League, we were having a members exhibit and I wanted to do something in PC. I decided I didn’t want to cover an entire vase, I just didn’t have the time. Plus I thought there had to be an easier way to create the designs with clay than trying to do it on the actual vase.
I wanted the design to be recognizable, and something that would lend itself to cane work. I drew out a fish shape on paper and taped it under a flat piece of glass. From there I created the fish vase below and displayed it in our members show along with the Color Vase and two other vases I had done over the years.
Fish Vase Art League
I stepped away from the art league late last year because of my husband’s health. I was home now and had time to actually grow my clay work and expand my horizons. I opened an Etsy shop and decided to try and make small things that I could sell in my Etsy shop and went to clip art for my general pattern for the fish and even a crab. One thing always leads to another as you can see by the cuff bracelet I did this week with the same technique.
This fish led me to share this technique with you. By signing up for my newsletter on the right hand side of the page, you can view the 20 minute film showing the technique I used to achieved this design. I hope you decide to enter my contest too.
What I have discovered is that nothing replaces just getting your hands in the clay and letting the work evolve. One idea will lead to another. Be bold, experiment, enjoy the process. I know I do.
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