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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Alice In Wonderland

I was so happy that my “Alice in Wonderland”  tea set was featured on Polymer Clay Daily in the beginning of this month. But I was upset with myself that I haven’t finished it. I’d been working on it since before Christmas, but I bought my Studio and have been busy with all that brings with it.

Thanks to Cynthia Tinapple and PCD I’ve finished most of the characters. It will always be a work in progress I think. but here’s a look at it as it is now. I hope you enjoy it and get a smile or two.

You can see the tea set in person at Alice Stroppel’s Studio 215 in Sebring  FL .

you can get more information about Studio 215, classes and items for sale at the Studio’s blog. while you’re there, sign up for my newsletter, you’ll be the first to know what classes are being offered and what exciting instructors are coming to teach.

 

 

[youtube]https://youtu.be/abmSD5MmQBM[/youtube]

Alice and the Caterpillar

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‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’

‘One side of what? The other side of what?’ thought Alice to herself.

‘Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

 

caterpillar2w

I’ve finally had time to working a bit more on my Alice in Wonderland tea set and I’ve added the caterpillar with his hookah. There are so many more characters I want to add to the set so I need to get busy. Alice in Wonderland Caterpillar


The reason I’ve been too busy to work on Alice and her friends is that I took a trip to SanDiego to attend Sandy Camp (a well established polymer clay retreat) and to visit my friend Meisha Barbee. What fun I had and what a great group of clayers there are in California. More about that in my next post.

Character for this side?… maybe the Dormouse and the rabbit that was at the tea party.

caterpillar3w

 

If I Had a World of My Own

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?”  Lewis CarrollAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass

As you can see I’ve been working on Alice herself and here she is with the Mad Hatter. You’ll notice that I’ve moved the hatter and here’s why.

Alice and the Hatter Alice Stroppel

The other night after my post here and on Facebook, Ellen Prophater call me to share her thoughts on how to adhere my figures to the silver teapot. Thanks so much Ellen it’s nice to have a friend looking out for you.  She suggested I use Genesis Artist Colors Thick Medium-Extender. She uses it all the time and with great success.

Oh course I have some, I bought it from her, naturally.  Elleen and Sue Sutherland own Creative Journey Studio and carry almost everything you might want or need for claying. I’ve actually used it once or twice but didn’t really like the consistency of it and put it aside.  But to be fair I didn’t use it long enough to really judge but it’s hard to spread.

And she’s right, super glue was not a good choice for this project so I popped the Hatter off the teapot and reattached him using Genesis, it  worked very well. At least the bond is strong and solid.

Now you’re going to laugh, I had to tie the Hatter to the pot.

Hatter

I told you that you were going to laugh.

Because of the dip in the teapot the Mad Hatter just didn’t want to stay in place. With Genesis on his back he just slid all around. It’s a problem I have with any liquid clay and with Genesis obviously.

Because he was already baked and solid I could tie him down, obviously this wouldn’t work with uncured clay. That leads me back to my post from yesterday where I talked about sculpting the Hatter about three weeks ago and he wasn’t very pliable, he was hard to fit to the shape of the tea pot.

Oh and I decided to move him to the right side of the teapot and like him there better so it all worked out.

Yesterday I sculpted Alice and placed her on the teapot right away while she was still soft. She stuck pretty well and didn’t move around when I baked her. I didn’t use the Genesis on Alice before baking because it’s thick and hard to spread, I didn’t want to mess up my sculpting efforts by push to hard.

She’s stuck to the teapot pretty well without anything but just the same I’ll pop her off and use Genesis before I bake the teapot again.

Alice Flamingo Alice Stroppel

The flamingo makes me smile, being from Florida the flamingo is a favorite Alice Character of mine, not that there are any in my part of the state! Sandhill cranes yes, Flamingos no.

Alice group- Alice Stroppel

Here’s how the set is shaping up and you know that by the time I’m finish, I’ll have to add a few Alice crazy flowers. Thanks for following along.