Vid #53: Very Simple To make… Yet Oh So Versatile To Use In So Many Other Polymer Clay Creations:
The most basic skinner blend cane is essentially a jelly roll cane made from one layer of color blended clay. In comparison, a standard jelly roll cane is made using multiple layers of clay, each layer being a different color.
If you start to roll your skinner blend at the dark edge of the clay, then the resulting jelly roll cane will be dark in the center and light around the outside. On the other hand, if you start rolling from the light edge of the skinner sheet, then the cane will end up with a light center and a darker outside surface.
In future posts, I’ll talk about how to use slices from these skinner blend canes to make beautiful flower canes.
>> Polymer Clay Tutorials <<
The full version of the “Skinner Canes“ preview video shown above, is available for purchase at my Polymer Clay Bead Making Videos Library in the Volume-002 Back Issue Package.
In this “Skinner Blend Canes” video tutorial I demonstrate how to roll a couple different kinds of skinner blend canes. Very useful information that will come in handy for many of your future bead and jewelry making projects.
Sometimes when one of your colors in your Skinner Blend is more dominant, most of the blend will be tinted that color. For example if you make a Skinner blend of Alizarin Crimson and White, the blend will be mostly red fading to a smaller portion of pink and an even tinier amount of white.
To balance the colors better in your Skinner Blend Cane add a log of white to the center before rolling (white in the center, red on the outside) or wrap the cane in white after rolling (red in the center, white on the outside).
Cindy Lietz’s last blog post..Phthalate-Free Premo Polymer Clay – A Blessing or a Curse
Skinner blends have always been a mystery to me because they don’t always turn out as I plan. Now I see it may be that one color dominates over the other. Thanks Cindy for the suggestion of adding more of the lighter color, that will really help. U rock!
You’re welcome Katina! One way to find out if a color is dominant is to take a tiny pinch of each color (equal parts) and mix together. If your mix mostly looks like one of the colors, that color is dominant!
Cindy Lietz’s last blog post..Premo Clay Flower Pendant Necklace Project with Vintage Glass Beads
Thanks so much for the video seeing it help very much
I would love to see an example using the finished projects. I have learned how to do so many new techniques, thanks for your tutorials!
Thank you for the lesson :) I too would love to see how you use this Skinner Blend Jelly Roll in making a flower cane or any other canes.
:) Cindy Erickson
Cindy and Denby, how to use the Skinner Blend Cane for making flower canes, etc. will be in the cane courses coming up so stay tuned!
Make sure you master this technique because you will be using it often, if you want to do any polymer clay canework!
You are very welcome Diane!
Thanks again Cindy! I see that if you manipulate the cane roll slowly at first, you can get a tighter beginning. Every time I would roll up, I had a little hole in the center. It should have dawned on me to tighten.
Also thanks for your answer to covering wood. One or two days after I asked you about this, I watched a Carol Duvall episode where she had a polymer artist on who was covering wood to make clocks. She said that you brush on any all purpose glue, like you said, so the clay would adhere to it. It’s funny how coincidence came into play again. Anyway I want to let you know that your tutorials are so helpful.
Also I read more of your Q&As and saw where you explain about the diff. in the kind of clay. I see if I would just take the time and read everything,. my answers would be met. Mary Ellen
You’re welcome Mary Ellen! Thank you so much for your comments!
Thanks so much for sending me the URL for this video. I am planning to begin making polymer beads sometime this fall (after I complete several other projects around the house).
I plan to spend more time on your website as I have time.
Kay
You’re welcome Kay! Fall is the perfect time to start the new hobby of making polymer clay beads! Just in time to make a few Christmas Presents!
Let me know if you need any help.
Hey, Cindy — I watched your way of doing Skinner blends, with tear drop pieces of clay and — wow. I don’t think I’ll EVER cut triangles again! This is so much easier and I can see much more clearly how the colors will blend. Thanks.
Music to my ears Jacqui. Thanks so much for the feedback!!!