How To Slice Round Polymer Canes Without Distortion

awesome tip i will be using this!!!

That´s great idea, thank you for sharing this tip! It will be very helpful

Most of my canes — and everything else! :D — are made with Kato of the super-firm older formulations, so I rarely have distortion when slicing them. But I have used the cradle idea with Premo canes and have found that it works well.

However, my favourite way to avoid distorting canes when slicing them is to stick them in the fridge for a while first until they’re nice and cold and ultra-firm. It’s not only round canes where distortion is an issue… if you want to fit slices of square canes, hexagonal canes, triangular canes, etc., together nicely, it really helps if they keep their shape. And if you’ll be applying them spaced apart on some other surface, just let the slices come back to room temperature first so that you can meld the edges nicely with the other surface.

I totally agree about using a really sharp blade. All the “clay blades” I’ve ever tried have been fairly blunt in my opinion, even straight out of the packet, so for cane slicing I use tissue blades instead. The difference in sharpness is really noticeable. I also wipe them with isopropyl alcohol every few slices to keep them nice and clean so they don’t drag on the clay while they cut.

I love it!! thank you and I will use it from now on!!

thank you, I just tried it and it works yah!!!!!!!!!!

Yes I have had problems getting perfect round circles and will use this new technique.

Cindy I’ve been away for quite awhile and haven’t been doing any claying but hoping to get back to it! Great video and very helpful as I always distorted canes when cutting them! Thanks!

Yup! And you create a handy little “pick-up tab” with each slice.

Will have to try this.

Ohhh, that is so smart. Will have to try this next time. :)

Thank you cindy. This is one of those ‘duh’ moments; like all great ideas it’s so simple! Yes, I will be using this from now on, quicker than the freezer!
Marion

Hi Cindy,

I’ve never seen the “cradle” idea before, and I thought I had seen it all!
I too like to “chill” my canes before slicing, but I make it a little more convenient by
setting a “freezer pack” (like you put in your picnic cooler) at my workspace. Resting the
cane on the freezer pack hardens it up in just a few minutes for easier slicing.

Also, a reminder for those having trouble with slicing triangular or rectangle canes; be sure to
turn the cane each time you make a slice. It won’t distort as much as you are balancing out
the pressure applied.

Off I go to try the cradle technique!

Thanks

Thanks for this great tutorial. What a creative solution!

I wanted to share my technique for resharpening my tissue blades.

I use a flat rectangular granite stone; I got it to sharpen my good sewing scissors.

I hold my blade at an angle, about 45 degrees, to the stone and drag it backwards across the stone. My stone is about 3″ so I have to do this several times to sharpen the whole length of my blade. Then I turn my blade and do this again for the other side of the cutting edge.

I know that tissue blades are items that were first designed for pathologists to slice tissue to examine it (hence the name). I remembered a (very weird) pathologist I knew who carried his flat granite blade sharpener around in a leather case on his belt, even to church! That made me think of my own block of granite.

I will not be attaching it to my belt!

AWESOME tip! I will definitely be using this method! Way to go, Cindy!!

I also think play dough would work so will try this too. Thanks Cindy sometimes the neatest tips are so simple for us simple souls,,,,,,,cheers xx………..

Cheyrl B. I hear the frustration in your voice on cane reducing. Don’t give up dear lady, because eventually you will get it. It’s practice, practice, practice, watched many videos and one thing Cindy said, she thought it was much easier to reduce a cane right after putting it together because if you have used all the same clay in the same consistancy the inside should move along at the same pace as the outside. I have learned to slow down and really enjoy the process of cane building. I now have a 3 step process I use. Step one, I mix all my colors and prepare the clay. Step 2, I make all the sections required for the cane. Step 3, The cane is assembled and then reduced. Good luck doll, hope this helps.

Another tip! Cane reduction is rhythm, so put on some beloved tunes and go with the flow.

I try to access the site but keep getting ” page not found ” plus I am slow to respond on my end as the machine keeps freezing up and I only have so much patience to re-boot a few times before I find something else to do, we crfeative people do like our instant gratification, lol.

Doug,
thanks for the info I finally did get into the page and it was a big help

I hope you and Cindy both know how much I and I am sure everyone appreciate the way you both reply so quickly and patiently to questions and problems to help us do the best that we possibly can in our endeavours to become artisans and not just people who ” play with clay ” Because of these tutorials I have gotten my first real commission for a brooch from a neighbors daughter who saw some of my flowers. My daughter wears some of my things and has gotten requests for pictures of my jewelery. It would be a help to have a tutorial of the best way to stage and photograph our pieces using a basic digital camera which is what I think most of us have. I am reluctant to put anything on the facebook page yet because I am not very good at promoting myself, (which would also make a great video ),maybe I am not alone in having some really good pieces but don’t have the confidence to put them ” out there ” or the know how. Any help along these lines would be a tremendous help.

Yes, Cindy that is just the thing I needed for some circular discs I am making. Now if I can just find enough scrap clay, lol. But because it doesn’t need to be baked, I can use the cradle over and over again.

The square/rectangular canes sometimes get distorted too, with the drag of a not-so-sharp blade. I usually turn my square canes a quarter turn every time I slice them to try to keep their shapes uniform. Unfortunately, when I line them up after (if I am making a row of identical slices for example) I have to figure out where the pattern is and which direction the parts of it are facing. Sometimes they get turned around or over and it’s But that’s a whole other topic!

Thanks again for a great tip!

Hello, All!

Great tutorial, Cindy! Yes, I have had trouble with squishing the bottoms. I use tissue blades, but that still happens and I had found no solution for it other that working the edges out as you showed on the video. I will certainly use this method next time and I also like the way you begin your slice. I can see how it would start the cut properly without distortion.

I gave it a good look, and no luck, but, the technique has been widely adopted all over the world by poly clay folks, and he’s probably imaged. If you Google “polymer clay eggs” you will see pages of gorgeous eggs.

Another amazing spot is: lauraseggs.com/

Also go to photoshop.com and search “polymer clay eggs”

Bring a cuppa, dazzling displays of amazingly creative work.

Cheryl B.
if your having trouble with your computer giving you a “page not found” error, and you have a router, you might try rebooting your router or if you have windows 7 let it do it for you. Also if you are having problems with your computer freezing up, a recent windows update is causing some problems like that on some win7 computers. I had both and luckily my son was able to show me what to do. We also found the windows update that was causing the problem and we were able to delete it. I don’t know if that is your problem but if it continues, you might want to look into it. Hope this helps.

I just got done making a Cheater Chrysanthemum Cane and used this new tip on slicing it. It was so easy and cut the slices so evenly and about the same thickness each time. I don’t think I will ever go back to doing it the old way. Wow guys, this really works.
Jocelyn, where can I find out about “the egg man” who slices his canes for goose eggs? Does he do this while the cane is warm?
I want to try this technique. Blog me doll.

Oh poo, I was hoping to see his work. Perhaps he is claying in heaven now.
I don’t have a tute for my cheater cane. but I can tell you how I put it together. 1- 2.5″ x 10″ strip of white on #5
1-(same) strip of pearl on #5
1- (same) strip of blush on #5
lay each strip on top of one another, with white on bottom, use scraps of clay and shred them with a small hand shredder and sprinkle them on top of strips until top is covered well. Cover with 1 strip of translucent at #7. Take your brayer and roll it over the stack several times and then run it through on #1. You will have a long strip, cut in half and roll each section into a jellyroll. Take a credit card and sink it into the jellyroll almost to the center. Do this 7 more times so you have 8 sections. At this point you can reduce it . You can use any colors for the shredded clay and each one will turn out different. They are so easy and so pretty. I am making a really pretty heart necklace with mine and will post it on FB when I finish it. It is fun just experimenting with different colors in the stack. I was just looking for ways to use up some of my huge pile of scrap clay. You would be surprised at how many ideas you can get just from going back and watching some of Cindys old videos. So go have fun and try one. :)

Dixie Ann you did an amazing job on describing your technique I could picture each step in my mind’s eye as I read along
thanks so much for sharing :)

What a great tip…I don’t really cane very often because I find premo too mushy for it now.

I am wondering something.. Have you tried baking that cradle and then sticking the cane out as much as you wish to cut it? Does it still work?

Please disregard the spelling errors, it is very early here and I have not yet finished my first cup of tea.
I guess losing 115 lbs did resolve a lot of my health problems, the worst sleep apnea in the world, I would shake the house with my snoring and stop breathing over 500 times an hour, apparently it kept me from getting any deep sleep at all and this went on for over 5 yrs,high blood pressure, cholesterol in the 400’s, helped with the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue still if I do too much I will ” crash ” for a few days ” but nothing will give you back the old grey matter that seems to dwindle with time.
learning the polymer clay techniques is really good for keeping your mind active and exercised and for the most part my memory is not leaking out as much as it was before I got better. Too many ideas and too little time.
Andrea did I read somewhere that you do Dragons? My favorite mystical creature, do you have a link to your site? I would love to see them.

Cindy, at some point, having you add tutes that cover mosaicing with clay and amber (with insects!) will be a treat.

Until then, found this one….

Very funky prehistory type amber take on this blog. The ancients loved it, when rubbed on hair it created stand up static electricity, and it warmed to body temperature quickly, In some cultures, amber and copal beads are huge and generational dowry. They are experts at using metal to hold the bits together or strengthen.

Polishing remains could be remelted at the fire, a glue, and because copal and amber are trees/pines, if you heat a pin and place it in the bead hole and sniff, the real “smoke” will smell like pine, so you know if it’s real from plastic.

:)!

Hi Donna, yes you can freeze polymer clay to firm it up. It definitely helps when slicing soft canes!

Yes I have had trouble slicing canes. I am excited to try this technique. Thank you

Good luck Daisy! You may also want to pop your cane into the fridge to firm it up too. Let us know how it goes!