How to Slice Polymer Clay Canes For Making Fimo Beads and Jewelry
Some canes are made "unfinished" or without backgrounds which can pose difficulties when slicing them:
Q: "How to slice an unfinished cane such as a flower that has not had the final filler canes put around the edges. Should I be using fimo classic? I don't like it because it's so hard to condition. All the canes I make with polyclay seem to be easily distorted." ~Sue Neundorfer
A: The reason a cane most often has a background is to keep it from distorting when you reduce it and when it is being sliced. Without the background it becomes quite tricky to work with.
Often to make the cane appear as though it doesn't have a back ground, a translucent clay is used instead of an opaque one. However, there are cases when you want the shape of the bead or slice to be the same shape as the cane, and you don't want a background.
In that case, your hunch to use a firm clay like Fimo Classic is a good one. The firmer the clay the less it will distort. If you have trouble conditioning it, try using a food processor to mix it for you.
Read this article on Conditioning Polymer Clay with a Food Processor for more info.
Putting your cane into the fridge to cool and harden will help make the slicing process easier too. As will a sharp tissue blade and a light touch.
Another way to avoid distortion all together with these unfinished canes is to bake them first and then cut them after. This limits the use of the cane but it works well if you are making cane slice beads, charms or scrapbook embellishments which can be drilled after baking.
For more info on slicing baked canes you can go to this article:
Slicing Fimo Nail Art Canes
Today's Polymer Clay Q+A article focused on how to slice polymer clay canes for making fimo beads and jewelry. Specifically I talked about working with unfinished canes. Thanks again Sue for your great question! If anyone has follow-up questions about this topic, please use the comments section below.
Filed Under: 07: Cane Work by Comment. 
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Comments on How to Slice Polymer Clay Canes For Making Fimo Beads and Jewelry
8:10 pm
The best way to build a cane that does not have a background is to reduce each piece before assembly. That way it does not have to be reduced later, which is a much more difficult task!
Cindy's last post..Clay Flower Pendant Necklace Project with Vintage Glass Beads
12:25 pm
Thanks so much for being patient with me, I did get it working and watched the videos in Vol.1. I will try to make the lentil beads, it looks easy but, I will confess I will be purchasing some canes from Etsy. I do alot of Breast Cancer Jewelry and I wanted a cool bead to work with.
Now I know how to use the canes to put on a plain bead. I have a problem cutting the canes, I'm left handed and can not cut a straight line, is there something that I can use as a guide.
Thanks again, Mary
12:48 pm
Hi Mary,
I've transfered your email question about cane slicing over to the blog here. This is so that others can benefit from the information as well.
First of all, I am so glad to hear you were able to finally access the Lentil Bead Making videos in Volume-001. They are a very cool looking bead that are addictive (in a good way) to make.
In regards to finding information about slicing canes, now is a good time to teach you how to use the search box at the top of the page. There is already a bunch of free information published on this topic in various articles.
Use search keywords like:
Slicing Canes
Cane slice
Cane Making
Etc.
If you still have unanswered questions after reading through the existing articles, then by all means post a comment under the article that matches the topic best, and either myself or some other helpful member will chime in.
There is a comments section under every article at this blog. Often there is more information in these guest comments that in the articles themselves.
Posting a blog comment is easy to do.
1) Simply put your name in the Name Field;
2) Add your email to the Email Field;
3) Type your message in the big white box;
4) Finally, click on the "Submit Comment" button.
And if you want to receive an automated email when someone replies to your comment, then be sure to put a check mark in the little box under the "Submit Comment" button that says, "Notify me of followup comments via e-mail."
Easy as pie :-)
Talk soon,
Cindy