November 2, 2008
Kaleidoscope Cane, Pillow Beads for Making Cool Jewelry Projects
Just Because Kaleidescope Beads Look Complicated, Does Not Mean They Are All Difficult to Make:
The polymer clay kaleidoscope cane design on the pillow bead in this photo has a fairly complex pattern. To a non-polymer clay person, making something like this out of solid blocks of clay, would seem like an impossible task. But not for you…
Although these kaleidoscope canes appear complicated, they are actually fairly simple to create. In fact, this design was made using odds and ends and left-overs from other cane projects. If you look carefully, there are pieces of a gerbera daisy flower cane, a rose cane, and a bulls eye cane along with a lime green leaf cane and some black clay as an accent color.
What makes a kaleidoscope cane work is its triangular blocks of repeated patterns. You can pretty much take any patterned cane or collection of canes and shape them into triangular lengths. Then arrange these lengths together to form your kaleidoscope cane.
For the design to work however, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- When combining old canes to make kaleidoscope canes, make sure they are of all the same firmness otherwise the cane will not reduce evenly.
- 'Test drive' the pattern by laying the sections on a mirror to see how the mirror image will appear. Keep turning the sections and combining in different ways to get new patterns.
- Don't forget that the colors and patterns of the original canes will become more concentrated as they are reduced. To get a sense of how the cane might look after reduction, use a pair of binoculars facing the wrong way to see what the cane will look like super tiny.
- You may want to have canes with bolder images or brighter colors included in your kaleidoscope.
- Imperfect canes you made as a beginner can look fantastic in these types of 'combined' kaleidoscope canes… one more reason to never ever throw away polymer clay projects that didn't turn out quite as planned.
So tell me, are you interested in learning how to make polymer clay kaleidoscope canes? I can put together a video course on it if I get enough people interested. Let me know…
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Filed under 06: Bead Shapes, 07: Cane Work by Cindy Lietz
Comments on Kaleidoscope Cane, Pillow Beads for Making Cool Jewelry Projects »
Have you tried to create a kaleidoscope cane on your own? How did it turn out?
I made one recently and was okay with the results, the lines did not all line up so I am now trying to figure out what to do with this big cane i made. I like the colors and can not wait to try my next one !
Yes please do a video on kaleidoscope cane's.
@Tina: One thing you can do to minimize the mistakes in a cane is to reduce it, cut it into lengths and recombine them. Sort of make a kaleidoscope out of a kaleidoscope. Always check both ends to make sure they are lined up correctly and not twisted. Thank you for your comment!
@Cheryl: This is one of the canes I plan on making a video for, so stay tuned!
I recently made a Kaleidoscope cane and it turned out okay, but I also had some crooked lines, perhaps I didn't let it sit long enough. I'm not sure what else to use the cane for besides the pillow beads. Left over scrap clay from the cane was great to use for other type beads and I came out with some nice looking beads with array of colors. That is why I like playing with clay, nothing is ever wasted! But yes, I would like to see your technique, so I would be interested in seeing a video of that.
Perhaps you're right Lupe about it setting longer… the clay may have also been a little too soft or the canes were a little twisted before putting them together.
You can make lots of different style of beads other than the pillow bead shape with a kaleidoscope cane. Pretty much anything you would make with another cane you can make with one of these canes.
I am hoping to get a kaleidoscope cane video made soon… only so many hours in the day!
Thank you for your comments Lupe!
Hi, I would love for you to do a vid. on kaleidoscope cane. I tried a couple of times, each time they turned out just ok but they just didnt have that special look that makes them look complicated to make. Thank you for all you do for everyone. Im glad I found your site.
Lisa Taylor
EnchantedClayArt
ClayPlay Pals list owner
Hi Lisa! Thanks for your suggestion! I have thought about doing some videos on making kaleidoscope canes since they can be a little tricky to get to look right.
Hi Cindy
I would love to see the cane tut but I would also love to see one on the pilllow bead. I have tried numerous ways of making these but cannot get them to look right.
Hugs
Myra
I have been thinking of doing a pillow bead tute Myra. Thanks for the reminder!
Hi Cindy - kaleidoscope canes are my all-time favourite and I have experimented a few times. Because I'm mean (heh heh) I don't like wasting clay so am nervous of making up a large cane, but I understand that sometimes you have to start with a plate sized cane so that the design isnt lost when reduced. Because of that my designs end up tiny and much darker than I want, I havent tried lightening up the canes with white yet but it is something I will do.
I was wondering if there is a trick to blending all the different cane colours together, when I put my old canes into a kaleidoscope I find that the colours are almost too distant from eachother to make a harmonious combination.
Am I doing something obviously wrong? There is very little research material available on kaleidoscoping which is a shame as it really is my favourite.