Hammered Hoop Earrings with Mokume Gane Polymer Clay Beads [Q+A]

@Cindy L: Although I looked and listened (or so I thought!) to the video again to see what I was doing wrong I still missed the bit about holding the extruder with the opening pointing down. I have been holding mine horizontally! So thank you for clarifying this techique — which is such a GREAT technique and I will definitely try this one again now I know what I was doing wrong.

I was having the same problem with splitting and the also made a pendent out of the "mistakes". The first time i tried the technique all went great. But has been not so good since. I will holding the extruder opening down.
Anna-Des Moines Iowa- Where it is not snowing right this moment-yeah.

Beautiful bead, Susan, and Cindy, awesome earrings!

We must always make sure that we thoroughly clean our extruder after each and every use. Sometimes this is a pain, but it sure helps it all to work better.

I've been playing with the extruder flower can the last few days, coincidentally.

Thanks for the tip about pointing the extruder downwards! I'll try that next time.

I found that when you do get a split, if you stop straight away and cut off the cane right next to the die, you can start again as if from the beginning, by putting your finger over the end as Cindy does in the video. That way you'll only get a little bit of waste and a couple of shorter canes, rather than one short cane and a whole lot of waste.

Beautiful earrings, Cindy! I just love disk beads — they're so versatile. Yours are especially pretty and look great on the hoops. It's awesome being able to make your own findings, isn't it? You get a request (like you got from Willow,) and "Bam!" — done. (Well, except for her sensitive ears…)

Have you made Willow's hoops with Niobium yet? I love Niobium findings, but they can be pricey. I want to make my own, but I haven't had the $ to buy the wire yet. It's on my shopping list, though. I guess I'm also waiting to hear people say things like how easy it is to use, and how rewarding, inexpensive, etc. And, of course, I want to see a "Cindy" example! hehehe ;-0

The earrings are gorgeous Cindy. I know my daughters would love them – it's totally their style. They love hoops.

Hi Cindy, receive regards and hugs from Guadalajara, México. First of all I want to thank you for all the beautifull things you teach us.

My Brother is going to Atlanta Georgia next month and I want him to bring me some 20 gage wire like the one you use in your videos I can't find those here. you said that in any hardware stores we can find them but can you tell me a name? I want to look for them in internet so he can go easily with the address or buy in internet. I've beeing looking for it and haven't find them yet, Thank you so much.

Marcela

I would like to know if is possible to get the tutorials on DVD instead of through the link. I am also very interested in learning as much as possible about the millefoglie technique, is this in the tutorial? Thanks a million! Lina

@Lina Forti: Hi Lina, as of right now, the tutorials are not available as DVD's. Cindy has received requests for them lots of times, however she needs to know there's a great deal of interest before going through the expense of setting things up for distribution. She posted some notes about this in the comments section of this article [Sanding Polymer Clay Beads], which contains links to comments from others requesting DVD's, as well.

As for the technique you mentioned, I believe you meant 'millefiore', which means something like "1000 flowers". This is a popular technique; polymer clay flower canes are created, and then slices of them are added to beads. Cindy does have a tutorial from which you can learn about millefiore. Check out this article & the video preview: How to Make Polymer Clay Canes.

This video, as well as the ones that teach the basic canes, are part of Cindy's Fundamentals/Polymer Clay Basics Course. The basic polymer canes that are taught can be used in different ways to create millefiore flower canes. The 39-videos also cover polymer basics like conditioning, baking, finishing, storing clay, mixing colors, etc. It also has wonderful tips & tricks so that you can avoid making mistakes, and get started making beautiful beads sooner, and better.

Cindy also has weekly videos, which cover lots of cool canes, techniques, and projects. You have to be a member of the video library for those, but they are quite inexpensive (about $3 per month.) You can find out more about that here: Polymer Clay Video Library

If you'd like to see pictures, showing some of the amazing tutorials from previous months, you can check them out here: Polymer Clay Video Library Archives

They're sorted into "back issues." To get a better look at any of them, you can watch a video preview. Just look for the link that says "Click here:" in red, followed by the names of the four tutorials in that group of videos. Then click! There are some beautiful flower video tuts, and Cindy has started doing a different cane every month now.

Well, I hope I was able to help you with the information you needed. I also hope you're able to take advantage of the videos; they really are very helpful. Leave a comment if you have any other questions, and someone will be happy to help!

Just as feedback, I've played with the extruded flower cane a few times recently and holding the extruder upside down so the cane hangs straight really does help. I managed a really long cane with the extruder about 3/4 full with no splitting – towards the end the pieces weren't attached as securely to each other but a little squeeze sorted that out. Yay!

Thanks for these tips, Silverleaf. They will be a big help when I tackle this. I couldn't do it today. Ugghh! But when I do, all of these tips will help…

I think my problem was the way I was holding the extruder, as well as maybe having the cap too tight. However, I too discovered that the inner stripes are very usable!!