Nature Inspired Polymer Clay Flower Canes, Johnny Jump-Up (Pansy)
"If I can learn
to make a cane anywhere near as beautiful
as this,then the world truly
is my oyster." ~Cindy-E
I went ahead and took the time to gather up some of the comments here at the blog, which reference the delightful little pansy flowers and Johnny Jump Ups that so many of us get see blossoming in our gardens every year…
I do love the idea of using nature as a palette and creating Skinner blends. My mom always told me that to match colors, "…ask the pansies. If God put it on a flower you can wear it too." Your pansy flower photo reminds me of her, and makes me want to work on more blends based on nature. ~TK
Looking at these pansy flowers, and knowing the art of polymer clay, I believe nature gave them to us as inspiration to create! ~Kody-K
Thanks for sharing so many great tips and ideas, Cindy. Every year I grow a border of Johnny-Jump-Ups in as many colors as I can find, for their sunny faces and great colors. I take pictures of them and pick and dry them etc., as they and Pansies are my favorite flowers. I am a caner but have trouble with the Pansies and Johnny Jump Ups & this article really helped me where you explained the steps of the different skinner blends. Thanks, again and hugs. ~Sue-C
Cindy, I love the colors in this pansy. Since moving from Tennessee to Florida I do miss growing pansies. I was wondering if you'd consider showing us how to make a pansy cane. Then maybe I could "grow" some here in Florida :-) ~Susan-D
Beautiful color palette Cindy! And boy would it be nice to see how a pansy flower cane would be made. ;) ~Kelly-L
I do love Pansy's I think they are one of the prettiest flowers in a garden. I would love to see you make a video of this cane. I am still having trouble using the translucent. I either use to much or not enough or something. ~Linda-G
Cindy, You have completely inspired me and boggled my mind all at the same time! Whoa!!! Is it really possible to make a cane like this beautiful Johnny-Jump-Up flower!?! Well, wonders never cease! If I can learn to make a cane anywhere near as beautiful as this, then the world truly is my oyster (hey, I could probably make an oyster too)! I know that I use a lot of exclamation points when I comment, but, Cindy… I am soooooo excited about all of this new found knowledge that I am receiving from you!!! I think you must be a polymer clay angel sent from above :) ~Cindy-E
I love flower canes. I have seen instructions for the pansy before. It's a daunting task for someone who is still making bullseye and jelly roll canes, but I'll get there. ~Kim-C
A pansy cane? Yippee! ~Linda-K
I have only begun to experiment with making canes during the day when I am at my table, but, Cindy, I must confess, I find myself making lots of canes when I am in my bed at night! For example, in my mind, I will see the Johnny-Jump-Up flower from one of your cane making pages. I lay there and imagine how I will build it, what colors I will use, and I imagine how I can make leaves like you have showed us, and other beauties, and I imagine how I can put all of these together into a piece of "polymer clay fabric" as I believe you may have called it, and make beautiful and stunning pendants! I lay in bed claying instead of sleeping!!! Girl, I do believe I am becoming a polymer clay addict!!! Tonight I will probably be thinking about how I can make NailArt Frooties, now that I know what THEY are :)
~Cindy-E
Cindy – Are you remembering the pansy cane? Some of us would really like to see that in your April line up.
~Carolyn-F
I can always count on **Carolyn-F to hold me to my word :-) I say this because on at least a couple of occasions, I commented that my Pansy Cane tutorial was slated for release in the April-2010, Vol-023 video lineup.
** In a recent email, Carolyn described herself as one of my polymer clay Mom's… which in the context of our discussion at the time, was a very sweet thing for her to say. I responded by letting her know that I feel blessed to have a more than a few protective mothers, all watching out for me – smiles.
So as long as the general consensus is still positive, I'll stay true to my word and include this Johnny Jump Up (Pansy) Tutorial in next month's April line up.
But rather than demonstrate how to make a regular pansy as many other instructors before me have already done, I thought it would be fun to model my cane after the cute little Johnny Jump-Ups instead. Similar, but also a little different too. You know me… always trying to be unique :-)
This is how the 4-part, April-2010, Volume-023 series would look:
(1) Bead Shapes: Hollow "Puffy" Beads [confirmed]
(2) Clay Techniques: Faux Jade [confirmed]
(3) Wire/Metal: Hammered Copper Bezel [confirmed]
(4) Cane Making: Johnny Jump-Up (Pansy) Cane [proposed]
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| ** Did You Know… Members with current subscriptions to the weekly tutorial videos are always entitled to a 10% discount when purchasing 6 or more back issue packages in a single transaction. If you are interested, let me know which back issues you would like and I will send further instructions on how to complete your order. |
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Filed Under: 07: Cane Work by Comment. 
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Comments on Nature Inspired Polymer Clay Flower Canes, Johnny Jump-Up (Pansy)
3:25 am
Cindy,
I vote yes for the flower cane. I don't cane much which is exactly the reason I need to have this base knowledge somewhere in my head. That cane is beautiful and it is the perfect time of year to do it. Thanks!
4:58 am
April showers, looks like a beautiful arrangement of polymer clay will reign! Yah, looking forward to all these special techniques. It bears repeating, Cindy you are the best. Thanks again for all you efforts to give us what we want.
5:11 am
I love Pansys and of course would love a cane tut. . Didn't realized they were also known as Johnny Jump Ups- how sweet. I already have the Pansy color pallet mixed and ready to go. did you use that in the cane above? looks like there is some blue in their too.
5:39 am
I'd love to see the Johnny Jump Up cane be the next cane making tutorial! My favorite idea for a cane of all those tossed out there in the past few weeks!
I was sorry to see cane making moved down to #4 on the list for April though… I like cane making as #1…
6:09 am
Cindy, you're the best! Yes, for me, and thanks, Carolyn, for nudging Cindy to include this tut for April.
6:31 am
Cindy, count me in. When I first moved to Arizona I planted pansy's and the quail ate them all so this would be perfect, the birds can't get to them.
6:40 am
I grow Pansy's every year in pots around the patio so to make them in clay would be great yes please Cindy
6:52 am
Me to. – Love to do this cane in April or today. I know I mentioned a sunflower can but I am more than happy to wait till a later time, maybe June. Whatever, Whenever you ever do a tute for us I can for certain say WOW I just Love that tute!!!
Thank you
Uuuuuugggggggs to all, Peggy
9:50 am
Yes from me too, pansies and violets are favourites of mine. I love the colours.
Do you guys have violet flavoured sweets over the pond? We get Parma Violets over here, which are kind of chalky and taste of, well, violets. I love them, but then I'm a big fan of edible flowers and such (I'm always cooking with lavender).
10:21 am
Yes please — what a delightful looking cane. I could make a great keyring with this for the gardener where I work!
10:43 am
Yes for me too! I love pansies and it's my moms favorite flower too along with roses. She paints them a lot.
11:07 am
Thanks, Cindy!
12:15 pm
@Silverleaf: Never heard of those candies, Silverleaf. If we have them here in the US, they're more of a gourmet/specialty item. I don't remember anything like that when I was in the UK; have they been around a long time? Anyway, my tastes don't really go in that direction much, anyway. But I think it's interesting — and I'd give any candy a try once!
I've never heard these called Johnny Jump-Ups, but they are absolutely adorable in cane form. Great idea, Cindy! This looks like it would make a fun video!
5:24 pm
I vote an emphatic yes!
6:05 pm
Jony Ju,p Ups or Violas same flower so sweet to see. Lots of color variations in them being seen in the nurserys. We expet you to be unique Cindy. I love that aspect of you. I vote yes on this video proposal.
6:36 pm
@Phaedrakat: Parma Violet candies have been around for over 60 years. They are a kid thing really, rather than a "grown up" luxury sweet, and come in little tiny rolls. They used to cost 5p when I was a kid. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parma_Violets
The little sweet violets I grow in my vegetable garden, as companion plants and occasional salad items, have started to grow again now the weather's warming up. Looking forward to being able to get working in the garden again!
2:13 am
@Silverleaf: Interesting, these candies look & are packaged like US candies called "Smarties." They've been around many years, & are also a kids' candy. They come out full-force for Halloween. The flavors are various fruity-types, vs. the floral scent of the Parma Violets. How fun! When I was there, I mostly ate chocolate, being so happy that the chocolate bars I found often had hazelnuts in them (not a "mainstream" choc. bar option here.) Good luck with your garden, now that the pretty weather's coming!
@Cindy: I thought about these cute little flower canes several times today — so adorable! It's almost like they have a sweet face – love it!
4:49 am
They look like pansies to me. I vote yes to anything Cindy offers to teach us. The feed back that I get from projects I make with her tutorials is amazing. Keep them coming Cindy!
10:33 am
Thanks guys for your positive votes on my little Johnny Jump-up Cane! As you probably figured out, the Johnny Jump-Up Color Palette will be used in the making of this cane. (That is the reason why the cane got bumped to the last segment in the volume, so that you would have all the recipes by the time the video came out.)
I think for the tutorial I will add a little more purple to the outside of the canes, more in line with the photo of the Johnny Jump-Up in the palette photo (click the link by my name to go see). But it will be pretty much the same otherwise. Isn't that the best thing about flowers and flower canes, no two have to be exactly alike!
Looking forward to teaching you this technique. It's going to be a lot of fun!