Comments on: Making Polymer Clay Canes the Size of a Dinner Plate, Not My Style

By: Cindy Lietz@Making Polymer Clay Beads

Cindy Lietz@Making Polymer Clay Beads — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:22:00 +0000

@Kelly: Me too! It can be hard enough keeping the canes straight when putting them together so twisting them when they get reduced is even worse. Small cane are much easier to deal with in both respects.

@Shannon: I agree! I hate to be stuck with everything looking the same. Large leaf canes are awesome. They are probably the most versatile cane design you can have! Will have to make a note to add some more tutes on those. Maybe we’ll lure you back into cane making? :-)

By: Shannon

Shannon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:15:50 +0000

This is one of the things that most turned me off caning, it uses so much clay and then you have hundreds of items covered in the same design!

I love cane work by other artists, especially those translucent ones, they turn out gorgeous once baked! And leaves, I am always partial to large leaf canes.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:43:44 +0000

Oh I so agree Cindy!! I make my canes small as well… I hate seeing the whole pack of clay go ‘bye-bye’ in just one session. I also feel I have more control over reducing when the whole cane isn’t as large as my head. I get so frustrated when petals start to swirl and lose shape… I’m sure tons of folks will say they have better control with larger canes but for me smaller is the way to go!!

By: Cindy Lietz@Conditoning Polymer Clay

Cindy Lietz@Conditoning Polymer Clay — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:09:35 +0000

I am so glad you are a member here too. Thanks for letting everyone know your thoughts about the value of reading the blog posts. I put a lot of time and energy into creating them for you guys.

By: Helen Sperring (honeyclay)

Helen Sperring (honeyclay) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:32:24 +0000

Cindy, that was such a great post to read. I must have said, AHAaaaa, at least five times. Everything was so logical. When I saw the dogwood cane I started conditioning my clay, not realizing anything about size. Well, I conditioned three bars of each color. It took so long and after that I was too tired to do the cane. It really pays to read these blogs. I think they’re so informative. Well, anyhow, I did the dogwood cane and I love it. Thanks, Cindy. I did make one mistake. I forgot to cut a piece off before reducing. I wanted to make earrings and a charm to match. That doesn’t matter, though, because I have plenty of conditioned clay!!!!!!!!!! I have to say it again, I’m sooooo glad I’m a member here. LOVE IT LOVE IT, LOVE IT. Thanks Cindy, Honey

By: Cindy Lietz@Candy Cane Charm

Cindy Lietz@Candy Cane Charm — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 22:02:26 +0000

Thank you everyone! All excellent points. I agree that you can start out too small as well as too big especially in the length.

If you start too short and stubby there will be a lot of distortion in the overall cane by the time it is reduced, unless you are a genius reducer.

As well like Martha Aleo said, the really large canes are way too hard on the hands. And we need our hands more than any other fancy tool we can buy!

Cindy Lietz
Surrey BC, Canada
Where are you from?

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:51:34 +0000

I make my canes — which are usually geometric or abstract rather than botanical or biological! — “smallish” rather than “small”. I find that when they start out at least 4-5cm tall I can reduce them with very little distortion at the ends — in absolute terms as well as proportionally — compared to shorter starting points of 2-3cm in height. They’re usually close to 4cm in diameter when they start off too, so that’s quite a bit bigger than Cindy’s normal canes, although still a lot smaller than many others’.

By: Silverleaf

Silverleaf — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:52:24 +0000

I make small canes too. Often too small – I sometimes wish I’d made them a bit bigger because the finished cane is a bit small in diameter once I’ve made sure all the clay’s stuck together properly.

I notice it especially when I make complex canes like kaleidoscope canes because I forget how much will be wasted due to distortion at the ends each time.

By: Martha Aleo

Martha Aleo — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:15:15 +0000

Making a habit of reducing canes that start out the size of a dinner plate can lead to carpal tunnel and other repetitive motion injuries. Our bodies are our most useful tool and we need to take care of ourselves.

By: Ken H.

Ken H. — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:17:24 +0000

Thanks Cindy, I recently purchased a mold that makes two different sets of earrings and have been wanting to try them but wasn’t sure of what release would be needed.

Ken Hamilton
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA