Polymer Clay Canes for Beginners

27 videos, step by step, beginner cane workshop beginner Cane Tutorial 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.

Online Workshops with Alice Stroppel

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[caption id="attachment_102" align="aligncenter" width="100" caption="Member IPCA"]Member IPCA[/caption]

Green Fish Bracelet – Cane Mapping Polymer Clay

 Green Fish - Alice Stroppel

I was very happy to use several very old canes on this fish. I find him really interesting. When I’m wearing him you see the middle part with all the greens and yellows.

When I wore it today I had several compliments and one lady was very surprised, as I turned my wrist, to see it was a fish. A fun piece to wear.

Faces on Bracelets – Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay

 pen and ink on polymer - Alice StroppelI took time out from cane mapping to finish this face bracelet. It’s pen and ink on polymer clay. I’ve had the bracelet covered and baked for  months so it was about time I finished it.

A Great Clay Day with Chrissie Baker

Chrissie Baker Alice Stroppel 2014

 

How lucky am I? Yet another day of playing with clay in my studio and this time with Chrissie Baker my internet clay buddy all the way from the UK. We made profile face canes and then created our bracelets.

Chrissie Baker Alice Stroppel profile Bracelets 2014

 

It was so  much fun, thank you Chrissie for wanting to spend the last day of your time in Florida with me. I hope you go home and get to work playing with clay. Canes can be fun, right?

And thank you too for this fun and funky crocheted vase your friend made, I love it. I’m thinking of adding some equally fun and funky pc flowers.

See you again soon Chrissie, I hope, if not in person, then here on the www.

gift from Chrissie Baker to Alice Stroppel

Corrected Arms and More Pen and Ink Bracelets

I’ve worked on the arms from the other day (photo above) you can compare it to the arms before (photo below).

They still aren’t perfect and the shading just doesn’t look as good in these photos as it does when the bracelet is on my wrist. But I find that looking at most pieces of work in a 4″ picture is not how you see it on the bracelet. The actual drawing is only 1″ x 1 1/2″ so a lot of things you see in the photo just don’t show up on the actual drawing.

I also worked on two other bracelets, this one is using one of the face patterns from my pdf. I still have the third side to finish.

This brightly colored face is totally different and was oh so much fun to do. More work needs to be done on this one too, I like to give the ink time to dry completely and rest for awhile before working on the next panel. If I don’t, the colors tend to run a bit even if I heat set them, so usually I’m working on more than one bracelet. That’s why when I cover bracelets with the panels and canes, I do a bunch so that they will all be baked and ready for me when I feel like drawing.

Don’t forget I’ll be teaching my Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay at Creative Journey Studios in Buford, GA on the 21st of April 2012. And on the 22nd I’ll be teaching my profile face cane class, so grab and friend and come stay at the B & B right down the road. It’s going to be a fun weekend for sure.

The I’m off to Lake Yale in FL to do demos at Fandango. Days and days of fabulous classes you won’t want to miss. There is still time to get a late room or day pass. May 3-7th 2012.

June 10th and 11th will find me in Davy, FL with the Southeast Florida Polymer Clay Guild, details to come.

I’ll also be teaching this class at Maureen Carlson’s Center for the Creative Arts in Jordon, MN on Sept. 23, 2012. this is another long weekend with three classes I’ll be teaching. Just imagine what a great time we are going to have at Maureen.

And the Arms- Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay

Okay just a quick post this morning, here’s the rest of the legs bracelet. I know, I know, these are arms……….but you can see that they go together can’t you? You can see the other side of the bracelet in this post.

Sometimes when I take a picture of an item, I can see the mistakes better than when I’m looking directly at it.  I need to correct the proportions on these arms and hands. Last night they looked pretty good, but this morning by light of day and the camera lens, I can see the mistakes. I’m still learning here too, I haven’t alway been bold enough to put my drawings out there, but have gotten over pleasing anyone but myself.

I draw directly on the baked clay, I don’t transfer a drawing. It would probably work better if I did, but I’m impatient and usually don’t do something twice. So I have to put it down and come back to give it a second look before I finish it up. This is a perfect example.

It’s just one of the things I’ll show you how to do in my Pen and Ink classes.

I’ll work on this again try to correct what I see wrong and repost it. You  can’t learn if you don’t try.

The Rest of the Bracelet, Pen and Ink on Polymer Clay

I’ve finished the bracelet I was working on the other day. Having three spaces to fill is alway a challenge. On the other hand it mean three blank canvases to have fun with.

I’m teaching this class next at Creative Journey Studios on April 22nd, 2012. I can’t wait.

So there you have the whole bracelet. I’m off now to start on another one, right after I finish filling out the survey to help standardize measurements for polymer clay. thanks to Sage, Maggie and Cynthia for putting this together. Read about it here, on Polymer Clay Daily, or go right to the survey here.

New Girlfriend Galore Bracelets

A gaggle of girlfriends

I sold the last of  my girlfriend galore bracelets at Fandango and needed to make more and here’s the new gaggle of girlfriends.

I was honored to be asked to donated something to the International Polymer Clay Association retreat this year and I’m sending one of these cuffs. I only wish I could go this year. I would love to meet all the other wonderful clayers that are going to be there. Maybe next time.

larger girlfriends galore bracelet

I’ve also made the largest GG bracelet yet,  showing in the photo above are all sides of this  1  1/2″ wide cuff. It really looks great on a large girl like me. This bracelet is listed in myEtsy Shop.

It’s hard for me to decide which size I like the best, I like them all I guess. Someday I have to save one for myself. Maybe it’s one of these because I’ve used the last of at least one of my face canes and so these really represent my faces over the last few years.  Kind of a road map of my journey.

The next group of bracelets will be welcoming some new faces because I’ll be making more this month. I can’t wait to see the new personalities that show up. That’s really how I feel about my face canes, each one kind of decides who they are going to be and sometimes I don’t have alot of say in the matter. Kind of fun.

More Girls and Bracelets

 pen and ink, polymer clayI decided to do a couple more girls on bracelets yesterday. This picture shows each side of one bracelet and on the right side of the picture, all of the side put together to show what it might look like if it were a flat drawing.

I just received an package in the mail containing a large set of markers and couldn’t wait to try them out. In fact, I’ll be doing more experimenting today.

I’ve always been the kind of person that has to have every color of……well…..whatever I’m interested in at the time. I own every color of embroidery floss from years ago, every color of premo, every color of crayon (just because I love the smell) and I’m sure I’ve thrown away more supplies because I bought every color and then didn’t use them before they dried up.

But I’m not a clothes horse, I don’t have a million pair of shoes, but I probably have a million different kinds of supplies. They make me happy, they make me feel like I could at anytime create something wonderful because I have everything I could ever need to create anything. Okay, that’s not really true, I don’t have ALL the supplies in the world, but I’m working on it.

pen and ink polymer clayThese bracelets are really fun to wear because from the front, when it’s on your wrist, a person can’t really tell what it is. It just looks like an interesting, colorful bracelet. But then they say something about it and you show them the whole drawing, they are amazed. It’s pretty cool actually.

Then when you tell them it’s polymer clay, pen and ink, they want to know more. Mostly they say they can’t draw and could never do it. It’s really not true, everyone can draw something even it it’s just shapes and trust me shapes can be very interesting. But these girls are very basic line drawings.

Anyway, this is the face for the second bracelet. They will both be for sale in my Etsy Shop by the end of the day. Thanks for checking in.

Pen and ink and polymer clay

Italian Inchies, New Etsy Listing and Etsy Treasury

I got very focused for the last couple of days and have  really accomplished quite a bit. On Wednesday I couldn’t get online at all and spent the whole day on the phone with my carrier. Yuck….but I’m back here and ready to go.

I have two finished black and white bracelets, one Zentangle, and 7 black and white waiting for pen and ink. I’ve listed this bracelet in my shop and will list the other two tomorrow.

I’ve also just finished 20 inchies for a Valentines inchies swap with Polymer Clay Italia, the first Italian polymer clay guild. I can’t wait to get 20 inchies back from this group. Actually it’s an international swap with Leila Bidler from Polymer Clay Italia as the sway mistress.

There are swappers from Italy, USA, Germany, Serbia, UK, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, exciting! I can’t show you mine yet, but I will after everyone has theirs, next month sometime.

Plus, I’m in another Treasury. I can’t believe it and I’m thrilled.

This Treasury was currated by artbymar, Maria Soto Robbins, and she’s from South Florida, Miami to be exact. You can see here tropically influenced artwork in her Etsy shop. Thanks Maria

Roosters in Pen and Ink – Polymer Clay Too

I must have lost my mind, I’m doing Roosters now, at least this one time.  This bracelet is one of two that I made the other day and they are both listed in my Etsy Shop.  This is the only rooster bracelet though.

I had fun I must say. But I truly don’t know where the rooster thing came from. I’ve been doing faces, lips and eyes, then Bam! chickens and rooster jump in my head.

Plus I still haven’t finished the necklace I started the other day. But I love that about what I’m doing, I get to do what and when I want. Can’t ask for more than that I guess.

I don’t now about where you are, but I know it’s getting colder here. Needs a hot beverage asap.