Graffiti Art Beads and 3 Polymer Clay Flower Cane Tutorials

What can I say? Better and better and better? Cindy, just when I think you've got this site about perfect, you take it up a notch. As always, I am looking forward to the next opportunities to learn from you. Elizabeth

Your site is the best! I am a newbie and have learned so much from your tutorials. I said a loud "yes" when I saw that you would be doing the Gerbera Daisy which was on the top of my list for learning. Thanks again for all the time and hard work that goes into keeping us all so happy! I, too, can't wait until Fridays now.

Yeah, I'm with everyone who thinks this site's becoming the best clay resource ever! It's a great place to get inspiration and support and help.

I am in full agreement with everyone else. This site is the best. Woohoooooooooo… and graffati beads next. I can't wait til Fridays to see the newest technique. Cindy thank you for all you do and give to us pc groupies….

Ditto, This has fast become one of the few things I must do every morning. Coffee, email, Cindy's polymer clay site just to see what's new…. sometimes I don't even do the email… just coffee and Cindy to calm my hectic whirlwind. Cindy Lietz's talent, know-how and willingness to share it all, combined with this supportive, inquisitive group of artists, new and old makes an incredibly unique, enjoyable, need-to-have-in-my-life place.

I can't thank you all enough! Fabulous!!!

Terribly interested to actually see how someone else makes a flower cane… especially you Cindy. Incredibly excited about the graffiti beads… trying to figure it out before tomorrow but just can't seem to do it. I know that as soon as I see you do it, it will seem just so easy and I will smack my forehead and utter the proverbial "duh"….

Until tomorrow! :)
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FLOWER CANE! My heart skipped a beat when I read this! Nature and flowers are the biggest source of my inspiration. I have fiddled around with flower canes but have a hard time getting realistic effects in the petals. God bless you, Cindy Lietz. I can't wait!!

I'm here every day too Cindy and have to agree – your site is getting better and better.

I understand the interest in making rose shapes – but I'm starting to get overwhelmed with them. There are so many other flowers in the world that are just as beautiful. Would it be possible to look into some of those? What about Calla Lilies? They are stunning!

Wow! Cannot wait for all this new stuff! Thank you Cindy and Doug!!!!

I think I know how the graffiti beads are done as I've made something similar myself, but I'm dying to see if I'm right or wrong!

You guys sure know how to make a lady feel good! :-)

I hope you enjoy the video tomorrow!

@ aims… oh calla lilies!

I was right, yay!!

I have been here for quite a while now, and have not been disappointed yet Cindy. So anything you want to do, just makes being here better and better for me. I love every minute of it I can get. Even when Im very busy I try to peek in every day. Just to take a breath and suck in some of the atmosphere of creativity and comraderie here. Hopefully one day I will be able to participate more when I have my own work space done. Until then you all keep me stoked and ready to go the second I am able! Couldnt face a week without a friday tut and color recipes either. So dont ever stop! XOXO Jamie

Well, I tried the Graffiti Bead Technique last night. As you know I was very excited about it. Well I will tell you the trials I had with this technique. I kept digging in too deep I guess, I kept cutting off at least one letter on each word. I am gathering that I did not press hard enough on the clay with my stamp.Will try another batch today, I was able to get one successful bead. Thanks again Cindy for these wonderful tutorials. It is great to be able to clay along with the tutorial at your own pace.

I'll share with you the trick that I learned by trial and error [lots of error!!!] about getting good deep impressions in clay. First of all, make sure that your stamp has good clear clean lines. Then lay your clay stack down on one small ceramic tile [I use left over 6 inches tiles from my last renovation] until it sticks,spray the top surface of the clay stack with water, lay your deep stamp face down on it, then lay another same size tile on top of the stamp. Put the whole stack on the floor and stand on it! I know this seems to be a bit drastic, but it works every time!
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@Melinda: Yes Calla Lilies are coming soon!

@Silverleaf: You are getting pretty clever! :-)

@Jamie: Thank you so much! I appreciate your support, more than you know! Don't worry, we won't ever stop making tutorials and recipes. The ideas are endless!

@Nancy: This is weird, I could have sworn I already answered your question, but I see I have slipped into the Twilight Zone… LOL! Anyway, you do need to press your stamp in deeper if you don't want to slice too deep. Also you could try firming up the clay a bit in the fridge, try to keep your blade flat and saw back and forth when you cut. These little tricks, plus practice will help.

@Arlene: That is drastic! lol How hard is your clay? I have never had to press that hard. You do have to be careful when pressing that hard that you don't push your stamp through to the back of your stack, otherwise you will get holes in it. But if it works for you, that's fine. :-)

Arlene, I love that idea of the dual tile press. Cannot wait to try it. It distributes the weight and pressure evenly, plus the tiles could be chilled to cool clay in the summer and still make those gorgeous beads.

Another person asked in an earlier post how they could get a good leaf impression. I'll bet using your technique, that would be as easy as pie.

Maybe I'd add a sheet of that deli wrap paper between the leaf/clay and the tile though, just so things didn't stick. Cannot wait to try this!

For the even more impression challenged (me, I can never get those stamps imbedded evenly), maybe I'd haul out the flower press and try putting the tile/clay/tile in that and apply pressure by turning the wing nuts.

The number of times you have to turn the wing nuts to get a good impression might really help get consistant designs when you have a bunch of them to do.

Cindy – my stack is usually a little over 1/4 inch thick that I use the "step on it" method with. I do this when I need a consistent pressure and like Jocelyn said, this distributes the pressure evenly. I tried different things before trying to get to this point with less than successful results. Then I saw somebody either on tv or on one of my dvds put the stack on a tile then step on the stamp. She was using a wood block mounted stamp. Since I use unmounted stamps, I had to add something to spread the pressure and I had plenty of the left over tiles.

Jocelyn – when I use this method, I actually want the clay to stick to the lower tile. Generally I'm either working on either a mica shift or mokume gane. On both, you slice off the raised pieces on the top so you actually WANT it to be stuck down! I even put a piece of non-slip mat under the tile when I get ready to cut. I like using the smaller tile instead of the large one I use for my work surface so that I can easily turn it and trim from every direction.

I did think about something along the line of a flower press but before I went out and got one or made one, I saw the "step on it" method. It works beautifully for the – as you put it – "impression challenged" (love that! – I'm right there with you!) And a lot less hassle!

Arlene, I tried this last nite with a piece of scrap clay and the same type of backless stamp. Perfect results, thank you so much!

I was unclear about where I would place the non-stick deli sheet in the mix. I agree that you want the base level of clay to stick cleanly when impressing a leaf or other finely detailed flat object. Meant to use the deli paper on top of the leaf before the top tile, so the clay won't stick to the top tile and ruin the leaf impression.

Tried that too with some maple leaves I went and plucked off the trees very late at night (neighbors are used to me, lol), and the impressions were excellent.

Another stamper friend of mine lost patience with me and encouraged me to work on a lower work surface than the standard table height. Found this tip was valuable too, though it's kind of tough to come up with a table the right height. Ended up using a parson's end table elevating the surface with a couple of big fat books, and that improved my results as well.

I watched the video for the Gerbera cane again this morning, and I didn't do it like you did – but I really like the result. I'd watched all 3 videos several days before trying it out. I made the initial plug and shaped it like a petal (instead of slicing up the original plug), then stretched it out, cut it and staggered those already in the petal shape – then added that around the middle cane.

I always look forward to your videos!