Polymer Clay Tutorial | Tribal Cane Design | Bohemian Jewelry

Love the way these videos are introduced, pre-prep style, over the last few months. Very motivating. Friday is a big day around here, lol.

I agree with Jocelyn–it's so great to have everything ready on Friday so we can just jump in and try the lesson right away.

One of these days I am getting a new extruder! I used my plunger-type last week for Jupiter beads and it definitely gave me a work-out. But, I had a thought when I was trying to convince myself to go do homework: when you are out of ideas for new products, ask your mom/friend/child… sometimes they come up with things that are so obviously a good idea that you just won't think of them. I was thinking candleholders, Mom pipes up with eyeglass chains. Okay, now I really need to get my lighting homework done so I can clay sometime this week.

Hi Cindy and all, First Happy New Year, I am lagging behind a bit and havent got my Year underway just yet. Had a B/day that got in the way. so now I am a year older, just as the year starts, I'd better get going. I am amazed at the people who have already started their creating. Love the idea of the next Video with the Tribal Cane looking forward to that.
Also love the idea of canes from Cindy. that would be something.
I am still way back in Book beads just love them and have made quite a few as gifts.
So now onto theis new decade to learn more interesting things from our Polymer Clay Tutor of the Millenium as you say.
Bye
E.XXX

Cindy – I posted this in the wrong place in another post, so here it is again where it should have been posted in the first place:

It is great knowing what colors of clay to have available for the video, however, it might be good to know approximately how much of each. I'd like to condition my clay ahead of time so I can work right along with you, but I don't want to condition a whole block of each color unless that is what is needed to match what you do.

Hi Cindy, having just watched the video on the Tribal cane, you had my head spinning, but to see it come out the way it did was brilliant, and worth all the work, cant wait to see what I can come up with from that experience. thanks once again for your clear and consise way of teaching. BTW , I would love to see more than your hands while you are teaching, I have no critisism about the way you present the video, but feel we are watching a friend and would love to see your pretty face .
Great
Bye
E.

AWESOME VIDEO – I don't know what time zone you are in but it is 3:35 am here in USA, Iowa and you have your tutorial up and running. Do you ever sleep young lady? I sleep in 2-3 hr sections because of my illness so I get on the computer a lot at night. You slammed it out of the ball park once again. Let me tell you I am so thankful for my husbands Christmas gift (my laptop) because I definately need you in my craft room with me on this one. No running back and forth to opposite ends of the house to use computer in my husbands den. So this weekend its you and me Cindy side by side. I would rather have you here in person but this is the next best thing.
Sending you my kindest thanks, Peggy

Hi Cindy.Happy New Year for you !
Thanks for this tutorial. I loved loved loved it!!!The cane looks very complex and yet very easy to do .I have recently bought the Makins extruder and it is a totaly essencial tool for polymer clayers.
Have a wonderful week end.
Monica

Hi Cindy, I just became a member and watched your video on the tribal cane making. I used the extruder before and could not clean it properly so my light colors of clay always had some dark color mixed in.
What I do now is I take a baking sheet and clip of a piece of paper that just fit's the roll that goes in to the extruder. Than I place it in the extruder and get to work. In that way my extruder keeps very clean and I do not have to worry about the colors.
Just my two cents here.
Have a nice clay day
Schakel (Netherlands)

Cindy, another great video!!! Can't wait to get my studio back (college age granddaughter here and semester starts later this month). You have used a beautiful color combo for this cane and it will fit nicely as it has a Southwest look about it. Thanks again.

Cindy, that was awesome. I love those beads you made. I'm thinking turquoise, raw umber, ecru and alizarin crimson with the black. You get my mind going and I can't get it to stop.
Thanks again for a great video.

I can't wait to try these beautiful tribal beads! What a fun day I am going to have!

Excellent cane, the possibilities with this tribal design are endless!

Cindy do you video record under a brand name like OTT lighting? That crimson sure looks brown to me on the tape, and since I just got a package of it, here, I am sure looking at more red tones.

I love this tribal cane. Yesterday I looked for a quilt pattern that I could cane & never found one I liked. This is it! I didn't see it as a quilt pattern until I watched you put it together. After trying this one, I'm going to look over my dyes for more ideas. My head is spinning with ideas, but I've already listed something else to try today (alcohol inks with transl clay). Tomorrow I'll make this cane which gives me a day to come up with some colors. Since I'm new to this craft, I feel I'm way behind in trying things out.

Thanks everyone for your great feedback on the video! Glad you liked it!

@Jocelyn: The problem you're having with seeing the colors right on your screen could have something to do with your monitor. I know that the color I see on my screen looks totally different than it does on Doug's or the kids screen. Unfortunately there is not much we can do about that. If you click the link by my name I have written a comment about this is more detail, that will give you more info on the challenges with technology and color.

@Schakel: Thank you so much for adding your 2 cents! It is actually worth far more than that, to fill this site with valuable tips and tricks from the community. So keep it up. We all love it!

Love the cane! I tried it this afternoon! :)

Hi Cindy,

Do you have a tutorial anywhere that shows how to reduce a cane properly? I've not done a cane before like this.. my extruder is useless and I think I will have to invest in a Makins as it looks SO much easier… therefore I would be more inclined to give it a go!

Great to see this coming together and as one lady said earlier, patchworks etc now have the possibility of a whole new world!

Thanks, Love Michelle

Cindy – When I click on Salmon Pearls I get Black Suede … Hmmm!

Thanks Cindy for the information about the Salmon Pearls recipe link. BTW this weeks is an awesome tut. Due to life's happenings I'll have to wait
for tomorrow to dive in. Oh, boy!

Cindy – This cane is really cool! What I do is watch the entire video before I even start. This gives me a good idea about the whats and whys of the components and how they will eventually be fit together.

I do have one concern, and maybe it is because I am so new to PC, but with all your cane videos you show other beads that you have made with the cane, but you do not show (or tell) how you made the other beads. This leaves me in the dark. How do you make those beads?

Thanks Carolyn!

You don't have to worry so much about making the beads just yet. But making the cane in the tutorial will teach you the nuances of how to make canes.

All of the "show and tell" examples I include at the beginning of each tutorial, are just ideas that you can use or not use. These videos get archived in your personal library account, so you can refer to them over and over again for future inspiration.

Since you now own the course and all the back issues, you will find out that I have already taught how to make most of the beads I talk about as samples. I have shown how to add cane slices to a bead, how to make cube beads, tube beads, round beads and football beads.

In the videos you have, I have wrapped clay cane slices around all sorts of different styled beads. In fact, coming up in next week's Heart Shaped Bead Tutorial, I will show you how to add cane slices to a heart bead that will give you lots of ideas for using your Tribal Cane.

Like I said the other day, "Make the bead (or cane in this case) and the purpose will come. This is how you practice and learn about the material at hand. One step at a time. Once you've made the cane and then look around again at the videos you already have, you will see, you won't be in the dark anymore! :-)

Cindy – What video teaches us how to reduce square canes?

Cindy,

I guess I just had to conquer my fear of making a mess of the cane by reducing it with the squeeze, pull, tug, squish method. I had thought there was some other method when reducing square canes, but I guess not. Here is the result. Not bad for a beginner if I must say so myself!

Cindy, you are a large part of a totally new phase in my life and I thank you for that. Below is a picture of my clay station.

Hi Cindy ,
thanks for the answer re seeing more of you
yes that was a good explanation of the why and how you do your videos. I am satisfied with that. i did maybe see that at the beginning of my time here and had forgotten and was just sitting here watching and thinking how nice it would be to see you occasionally in the video.
You are so right as to how people look when they present themselves in Tutorial videos, I have seen that.
I'm off to make some Tribal Canes
see you later
love
E. XX

@Carolyn: I am so proud of you I can hardly stand it! You did an excellent job! Not only did you get on it right away, you faced your fears and did it anyways. I bet you learned a ton from the experience! Your clay station looks awesome btw. Looks like you have all kinds of wire working and leather stamps? for you to make lots of wonderful jewelry. I am so glad to be part of your new journey. You are really an inspiration!

@Elizabeth: Thanks for your comment. I am glad you now see the challenges of having to 'put my face into' the shots. I will do the odd video with more than just my hands in it, but that will be more for the commentary type video rather than the tutorial type. Let us know how your tribal cane goes. Have fun with it! :-)

Hi Carolyn you did wonders love your cane.
I have yet to get to it
love
E.

Cindy – Know that your hands and your work surface are most important. The other day I watched a video where the demonstrator worked 'in the air' so that her face could be seen … bad job! You do such a great job with your videos – even to being careful that your left hand doesn't get in the way of the photo. Sometimes it is cute watching you contortion that hand around! And, Elizabeth, we do get to see her face on these blogs … though I think she's changed hair color since this shot was taken!

Carolyn! What an adorable warm cozy nook for clay you have set up! Great job on cane reduction too, if that's one of your first tries.

Hi Cindy,

I anxiously wait for Fridays to come, to see what new wonderful video tutorials you have waiting for us. Each week you amaze me with something completely new and challenging. I have really enjoyed your tutorials on tribal canes and beads. I just can’t say thanks enough to you Cindy for your wonderful style of teaching us this craft. Thanks again, Nancy

Cindy – I've really got the bug now!

Not only did the Tribal Cane turn out well, but just look at what I made just with scrap ends from making that cane. This is the reason that I have so few scraps for bead cores and Jupiter beads. I just keep making things until the scraps are all used up. Some of these I plan to use for those key fobs – hopefully to appeal to men – but, hey, we'll sell to anyone who wants to buy! I'm having a grand time experimenting with PYM II also. That is one FANTASTIC product! Even being snow bound with nothing to do but play with clay and PYM II, there just aren't enough hours in the day! Anyway, just thought you'd like to see my "Waste Not, Want Not" collection. Carolyn