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.
For the last few weeks I’ve been working on these fish slides for an exchange I will be taking part in. They really have been so much fun and each one is different than the next so I can’t say I was the least bit bored by the number. I still have more to go and hope to finish up in the next few days.
Even though you can’t see it, there is metal leaf on each one of these fish. I’ve recently begun to use the metal leaf with my cane mapping and have some other ideas that don’t involve fish, so stay tuned. By the way you can learn how to map out the use of your old canes by signing up for my newsletter if you haven’t already. Just fill in your name and email address in the spaces on the upper right hand side of this page. I send out a newsletter about once a month and a class up date from time to time.
Okay so I’m not telling the exact true about being bored with these fish. I can say that bored is probably not the right word anyway, I think I get tired of doing the same type of item for a long period of time and have to break it up with other projects or activities along the way. But I’m always excited to come back and make more because they make me smile. Okay so they don’t make me laugh out loud like my girls do, but they do make me smile a lot.
I usually sit down and make five in a row, get them baked and the holes drilled, then I do something else for awhile. Today I am playing around with how to package them. Most of the time in an exchange just including your card is enough, but I wanted to do mine a bit different this time.
I’ve used cards like this before to display my pins and I think I just might use them this time as well. These are smaller than the ones I’ve used before and I like them better for these smaller pieces.
I have soft wire that I’ve run through the slide and out the back of the card, twisting it together to hold the fish in place. I use a very small hole punch to make the holes so everything looks nice and neat.
The next thing I’m going to play with today is the design of the card. I think it might need some updating, I just signed my name on the top but I don’t think I like that. You never know until you try…words I live by.
The next class in my studio will this month, July 30, 2011. We’ll be using up your old canes and creating some very cool fish.
I’m using fish as the subject, but you could cane map almost anything. I’ll be showing you a couple of other cane mapped items in the next few days. The photo above shows one crazy fantasy fish that I applied to this cute little tea pot. Fun! Here’s a close up. It’s only about 3″ square.
The Class is $55.00 and that will include lunch and Foam core for mounting your finished fish and cording or pin back to finish your small fish. Plus…I’ll add a bit of metal foil to add the pop need to create a fantasy fish.
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 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!
I’m thrilled to tell you I’ll be guest artist in June at Barbara McGuire and Ellen Prophater’s new fabulous Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center just outside Atlanta in Buford, GA.
The fun will begin on Friday night June 3, where I’ll be the guest of honor at an Artist Reception to kick off the week-end. It’s going to be a great time and I hope you can be there.
On Saturday and Sunday I’ll be delving further into two favorite techniques that I’ve developed using polymer clay. The first class on Saturday from, 11:00 to 5:00, will be Pen and Ink Polymer, using Polymer clay as your canvas you can soar as high as your imagination can take you.
Pen and Ink
You don’t have to “know how to draw” to have fun with this technique and create colorful results you’ll be proud to wear. Read more about it here.
The second class on Sunday, June 5th, from 12:00 to 4:00, will be Cane Mapped Mosaics. I’ve given away a 20 min. video cane mapped mosaics for free since the beginning of my blog. This class will bring us all together too explore the many possibilities with this technique and to take a closer look at color choices.
Cane Mapped Mosaics
Read more about this class here. I hope you can join Me and Barbara, Ellen, Sue and the rest of the ladies at Woman Creative the first weekend in June. To sign up for one or both of these classes visit Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center.
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