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“Canes, canes and
more canes for me!
I’d love to know how
to make a…”~Laura-B
Several of you have been expressing interest in polymer clay cane designs that are more graphic or geometric, and less pretty in nature. I can understand wanting a balance since I like both styles as well.
Hi Cindy. It must be extremely difficult to balance such a wide variety of reader interests! … It’s always interesting to see new approaches and consider how they fit with your own style. Canes are OK occasionally — it goes in phases with me — but mainly abstract and geometric designs. I personally don’t like floral or “pretty” stuff, although I’m in the minority there! But I’d second Alexa’s comment about snowflakes: they’re very cool as ghost canes and the possibilities are endless. … Thanks for encouraging reader input. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with! ~Sue-F
Canes, canes and more canes for me! I’d love to know how to make a rose cane, how to get started on planning and making kaleidoscope canes and face canes, for sure! ~Laura-B
I love the idea of combining a variety of things each month … although slightly partial to the kaleidoscope canes … It’s all inspiring though – the pretty and the practical! ~DJ
Hi, I would love for you to do a video on kaleidoscope canes. I tried a couple of times, each time they turned out just OK but they just didn’t have that special look that makes them look complicated to make. Thank you for all you do for everyone. I’m glad I found your site. ~Lisa-T
Now to get a bit of a consensus from everyone. Please tell me what polymer clay cane designs you would like me film next for the members video tutorial library?
Here is a short list of ideas:
- kaleidoscope canes
- flower canes (realistic)
- flower canes (graphic)
- patterned canes (polka dot, plaid, striped, zig zagged, etc.)
- faux stone canes (turquoise, bone, coral, etc.)
- tribal cane designs
- animal print canes
- picture canes (snowman, bird, butterfly, pirate, fruit, spider canes, etc)
- fimo nail art canes
- extruder canes (like the rainbow quilt cane pictured above, flower mod cane as discussed in yesterday’s post, gingham, etc.)
- ghost canes
- face canes
- mokume gane canes
- cookie cutter canes
There are many, many other canes as well. So if you don’t see your favorite in the list above, you can add it to list by commenting below.
This site and the tutorials I teach are geared toward what you want to see. So make your voice known and tell me what kind of polymer clay cane designs you would like to see, in order of priority. Thanks so much.
Tribal Cane Designs sounds like it would open up a vast amount of designs so that is my first vote, followed by Faux Stone Canes and
Cookie Cutter Canes. But as always Cindy wherever the most interest lies will be of interest. Thanks for asking.
1. Tribal
2. Animal print
3. Ghost
I too would love to learn the tribal cane, but also how to do a face cane and the kaleidoscope cane which I have tried several times without total success. Like Joyce, I will relish whatever cane tutorials you decide to offer.
BTW I am doing a craft show this week-end and did not have time to log on yesterday. All I can say is WOW! I really missed something beautiful and just wanted to add my thanks for featuring it and also the link to the French site. No time to explore the Russian site yet but I will do that soon. I can’t wait to get back in my craft room next week to try this.
Tribal, animal print FOR SURE, faux stone! You’re the best!
You know, I am thinking that we may need 2 videos a week. One for the cool clay techniques and one for jewelry (wire working etc). That way we wouldn’t have as long a wait for all the cool stuff. Yeah, I think that is a great solution. :)
Here would be my top 5:
extruder
patterned
kaleidoscope
faux stone
Not sure what Cookie Cutter or Tribal canes are, so I’ll put them down on my tute request list as well, just to find out what they are all about, LOL.
Can’t wait to see any! Thanks Cindy!
Tribal, Extruder, Patterned get my votes!!
my choice is the delicate looking flower canes i think they look good with wire-work as well but any canes will do me, the more the better
My picks:
kaleidoscope; extruder – mod flower; tribal; bird & pirate picture canes; mokume gane; cookie cutter; faux stone; animal print
Floral graphic, kaleidoscope, and I’d like more ideas about what to do with my extruder! Thanks, Cindy!
Great idea Maria! I’d like to see more with an extruder, I haven’t seen any books on this topic which seems a strange omission. It’s up for grabs Cindy!
It would also be great to see a Tiger cane, to make the ‘hat-trick’ along with your Zebra and Leopard skin canes.
But any canes would be fantastic! Thank you Cindy, your work is awesome! And TGFF (thank God for Friday!).
Marion
I have to choose? I’m going to have to think about it Cindy.
I was thinking if you just did them in alphabetical order??????
Canes are fabulous and I love them all….. however top of my list is that extruder flower cane from yesterday…. yeah, I had to try it because… well because I just needed to and I definately had a few snags… I solved most of them but I would like to see how you solved them…. you always have fabulous ideas and are so good at that problem solving!
All of ’em..! I think you’re going to be busy for a long, long time Cindy… :)
~Lisa
I’d like to see:
1. extruder canes
2. picture canes
3. ghost canes
But I love ALL your videos, so whatever you put up sounds great to me! I agree with Sarahwww, two videos a week would be great! :D We just can’t get enough of you, Cindy!
Kaleidoscopes, extruder canes, any type flower, and faux stones are my favorites!
My vote is:
Picture Canes, especially the bird and butterfly
Flower Canes, Realistic
Basically I love anything that has to do with nature, animals, flowers etc.
I think Aims idea of alphabetical order is perfect!!!
Thanks for asking for and listening to our requests, Cindy!
The ones that top my list are:
Kaleidoscope
Extruder
Face
Tribal
Flower
Faux stone
Ghost
although I’ll be happy to see them coming in any order!
Have you ever done a tutorial on Faux Bargello? It fascinates me. I’ve found a tutorial or two, but it just seems like there should be a more clear way to do this. Hugs, Sue C
All of the above……I am really a cane clutz and enjoy your spin on doing them on your videos, I know…practice, practice, and more practice ;-)
Cindy,
I am hooked on Polymer Clay and your website. I have purchased almost all of your video lessons and have learned sooooooo much. I would LOVE to have a tutorial for precise hole piercing. I have created alot of square or rectangle shaped ‘bracelet’ beads, but have a problem with the holes not meeting uniformly. As a result of this problem, I have a bracelet that is a huge disappointment and I get discouraged. But, I get over it and ‘clay’ again. Maybe if I get some more tutoring on this technique, I would have success.
Here are a few from the list that I’d like to see:
tribal
flower (realistic)
faux stone
picture canes
rainbow quilt
ghost
kaleidoscope
Thanks a bunch Cindy! Very excited for the upcoming videos!
Hi Cindy. My choice is kaleidoscope canes, extruder canes and picture canes, but I would really like to learn all of them. Thank You for giving us a choice, Honey, Beautiful, Sunny, West Palm Beach, Florida
Wow this feedback is fantastic everyone!
Today I received permission from Galina (in Russia), to create a tutorial video for you guys, based on her Extruder Flower Cane Cane technique mentioned in my Nov. 14 blog post.
So I’ve decided to do that one in December. As far as January, I am working on some tribal cane ideas for that month. Will look over the rest of the preferences for the following canes after that, so stay tuned.
@Cyndig: You would benefit greatly from taking the Polymer Clay Bead Making for Beginners Course. There are 39 videos on everything you need to know on making excellent quality beads, including one on piercing them properly. Click the link by my name for more info on that.
Thank you everyone for all your wonderful comments. I appreciate them a lot!
1. Tribal
2. Faux Stone
3. Ghost (w/white edging)
Any would be interesting but with my interest in learning more about mens style, these would be most useful.
I think you should just put then in a hat and draw one out each week. No matter what you show you know we will all love it. You are just too good Cindy.
Thanks for asking us.
kaleidoscope canes and i can learn from watching any caning technique-
all the best
cara
Hi Cindy,
I would like to see a few different things too. My list:
~animal prints
~picture canes (cat, dog, bird, lion)
~I’m curious about ‘cookie cutter canes’ too
Thanks for your videos and articles. I am enjoying them.
Hello Cindy,
How about leaves..different kinds :)
I really love the videos, I learned a lot…
Hi Cindy, I would be interested in kaleidoscope, face, flower and more ghost canes. I LOVE all of your videos!!!!
Hi Cindy,
I would really like a “signature” cane. I have been trying to make a stamp with my “logo-signature” and it just is not small enough to use on the back of a piece. So, I have been thinking about using a cane that can be reduced with my initials or logo. Would this be of interest to anyone?
Do you think that a Ghost cane could be adapted to this purpose?
Otherwise I like the tribal cane idea best.
B
P.S.
I looked at Galina’s website and an so happy that you are going to do this video. I was really intrigued by this process and started looking for the special extruder disk, but don’t know where to find them. The method of doing the process without the special disk really intersts me. I want to try it soon.
Thanks Cindy, for all your experimentation on our behalf. You are the greatest!
I really would love to see
ghost canes
mokume gane canes
picture canes (snowman, bird, butterfly, pirate, fruit, spider canes, etc)
And using cookie cutters to make canes? Now that sounds like something I might be able to do :-)
I love all canes – here’s my list
flower canes – realistic and graphic
patterned
picture
extruder
face
mokume gane
cookie cutter
Thanks everyone! Your feedback helps so much with the planning process!
@Tina, Stephanie and others: There is a tutorial on simple Ghost canes in Volume-012-4 in the library back issues that you may be interested in.
@Che: There are 4 videos on making simple leaf canes that you may be interested in. Click the link by my name for more info.
Oooh, Cindy, it’s a dream of mine – leopard print canes. Maybe zebra and tiger too? Since I haven’t yet made even my first cane this might be a tad ambitious (!) but I’d love to see it, and have it ready for when my ability catches up with my enthusiasm! Everything you do is wonderful anyway.
all the best from Down Under. Mary
@Mary, I saw lots of requests for animal canes on another page.
Just wanted you to know there are others who feel the same. Since Cindy treats comments like “votes”, that means there are at least five now for Zebra, Leopard, Tiger, etc. canes. I hope that means we’ll see these tut’s soon. That would be cool!
Phaedrakat, thank you for that link and for taking the time & trouble to send it. The momentum is building, we’ll soon have jungle cats rampant. Wowee! Thanks to Cindy too, our guide and mentor, in anticipation.
Not neglecting other beauties, in my wanderings I did find this tute for a poly giraffe pattern: sunnisan.com/crafts/giraffeskin.html — and some of you clever Clayers will be able to give that a go. All this is so new to me and is so much fun I can hardly stand it. Mary
Rampant jungle cats, huh? Ooh, so dangerous! Thanks for the giraffe link, that looks like fun! Actually, it’s all fun, isn’t it? I just love polymer clay. Figuring out all the different ways to create (there are often several ways to make the same thing.) Watching one of Cindy’s great video tutorials, and then using it to create something of your own is an amazing feeling. It’s so nice when people share information and help each other out. This website is a great place for that sort of thing. So many helpful people here (of course, Cindy is our teacher, and she’s taught us to clay & share with each other!)
It’s really great to read your enthusiastic comments — you’re getting me excited about claying all over again! If you are practicing your video lessons, you’ll be doing canes in no time. Once you try a simple cane, and see how it goes, you’ll probably be hooked. Don’t forget that the more you clay, the better you’ll be! Have fun!
Thanks again, Phaedrakat, for your generous encouragement. Is this the greatest site or what? This coming weekend I take the leap and attempt my first poly … well, something. A simple cane, a bead or two. All my knowledge is theoretical, now it’s time for the hands on stuff. Aaarrghh! It could all end in tears but it’s thrilling. Phaedrakat, did you ever see the movie, “Phaedra”, with Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, made in the 60s, re-run on telly sometimes? Ancient Greek story, but a perennial theme. Great stuff. Roll on Friday! (well it’ll be Saturday here in Oz but never mind.) Mary
@Mary: Wow, sounds like you’re going to have quite a good time! However it goes, it will be fun, ‘cuz that’s just the way with polymer clay. (I made a rhyme!) Yes, this is a fantastic site. I love the wonderful sense of community, as well as all of the inspiration and great videos and tips by Cindy. It’s got it all!
I haven’t seen the movie you mentioned, but I’ll look out for it (I’ll do an auto-record on my DVR.) I know there’s a play (and a book) about Phaedra. I find Greek mythology to be very interesting, although that’s not how my username came about (it was actually a misunderstanding of a song lyric — a long story.)
Anyway, good luck with your first poly-“thing”, and enjoy your leap into “hands-on.” If anything goes wrong, don’t cry — consider it a learning experience. Mistakes can happen, even when you have lots of “theoretical” know-how; it IS different when you actually have the clay front of you. But come back here if you need help, and let us all know how it goes!