Polymer Clay Tutorial | Ghost Cane Lesson on Video | Beginner Level

Been dying to see this done, mine are far from "ghost-like" which means I have a lot to learn! Cannot wait for Friday….

I think a big factor in the success (or otherwise) of this technique is the transparency of the translucent clay, particularly when you're not completely covering the underlying base clay, or when you're layering slices of the "ghost cane" to create a three-dimensional effect.

Transparency seems to vary a lot between brands, although I don't believe any are truly transparent.

While I love my Kato polylcay, for translucent I also use Premo Frost (Premo bleached translucent) because it is definitely more transparent than Kato translucent (the old formulation, anyway; I still have stocks of that so I haven't tried new formulation Kato translucent yet). However, Premo Frost is also definitely yellower than Kato translucent and more sensitive to temperature, so I don't use just one or the other: I pick the one that suits what I'm doing (for what I see in the preview video that'd be Premo Frost unless I was overlaying white or nearly-white clay), and sometimes mix them when I want a combination of characteristics.

I'd be interested to hear what other people have found with different brands of translucent clay!

(I haven't done an "every brand available" comparison yet… although that's on my "to do" list.)
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@Jocelyn: I think you'll like it!

@Sue: I wrote about some of the brands of translucent if you want to check it out, click the link by my name. The brand in the video is Premo translucent, not frost. Premo Frost isn't always easy to find for people, so I like to make canes in the videos with either Premo translucent or Fimo Translucent. The Fimo is quite a bit whiter than the more yellow Premo but I find they both work nicely if they are thin enough.

I like it – reminds me a little of some of Donna Kato's work. Not that I'm a fan of all her stuff… but… well… I'll stop talking now! I like it anyway. ;)

I use Fimo trans myself, mostly because it's easy to get over here in comparison with Premo. I did try Sculpey III once when I couldn't find any Fimo but it wasn't very translucent at all and it's a peachy colour rather than white like the Fimo trans.

I buy more trans than any other colour, it's just so useful!

Thanks Silverleaf! I think Donna may have been one of the first people to do this style of cane but I'm not positive since so many people do it now.

I buy a ton of translucent clay too. Probably more than any other color as well. I bought every package they had of both the Fimo and the Premo when Michaels had their sale last week. I find I use both brands depending on the look I want. Fimo is whiter and Premo is more yellow. If it is thin enough, it doesn't make a huge difference though.

Hi Cindy,

I read all the messages you send and I'm sure you get tired of hearing this over and over, but I can't express how much I like getting my e-mail saying that another one of your videos is ready for viewing. I received the one about making the clasps, and I thought "no-no-no I want you to teach me polymer clay, not metal work"… but as usual, I watched it and it contained extra information I had not thought of and hadn't learned in the class I took. I thought the same about the texture video… "I don't use those and don't like them" but after watching, I got all these other ideas that I could do.

I checked out the Tim Holtz site mentioned somewhere in your site and got new ideas about stenciling and inks!

The Baking Tips you offer are completely priceless! I have had the same issues as others… soft clay, cracking, and scorching… and you have covered all kinds of ways to prevent that. I made these totally great "fat sunbathers" that would float in water, but when I put them in the oven… needless to say they burned. The irony was not lost… but I was so disappointed after taking all the time to make them, that I haven't gone back to try them again. Now that I have had all your tips and tricks, I am re-motivated to give it another shot!

Thanks so much for making these tutorials…they are definitely worth the money!

Kim Elliott

Comment on Ghost canes. First of all, let me say that I haven't done canes before. I've seen these ghost canes on other people's work and wished I knew how to do them. I watched your video three times.

Are you supposed to roll the cane into the bead completely before shaping it so that it is then a part of the bead? Doesn't it get out of shape?

I realize this is probably a basic part of canes that I have missed and hope it doesn't sound too dumb to ask.

First of all Freda, no question is a dumb question. If you don't know the answer to something and you don't ask any questions, then that's dumb. If you can't find the answer already discussed somewhere here at the blog, never be afraid to ask me any questions you have. It is my job to help as best as I can.

In the Ghost Cane video, I only showed how to make the cane not how to add it to a bead, since I have already taught that process in another video. So that is probably why you feel like you are missing some information.

The link by my name will take you to an article with some tips on how to add cane slices to your polymer clay beads. There is also a short preview video of the technique should you need to learn from a video.

Should you have any more questions after looking at this info, don't hesitate to ask.