{"id":463,"date":"2008-09-16T17:56:44","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T00:56:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=463"},"modified":"2008-09-16T17:56:44","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T00:56:44","slug":"six-polymer-clay-cane-tips-for-making-beads-and-jewelry-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/six-polymer-clay-cane-tips-for-making-beads-and-jewelry-projects\/463\/","title":{"rendered":"Six Polymer Clay Cane Tips for Making Beads and Jewelry Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Polymer<\/p>\n

Size, Consistency, Color, Contrast, Temperature and Shape:
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1)<\/span> <\/strong>Start with smaller projects. Some people like to make enormous canes as big as a dinner plate and then reduce them into miles and miles of finger<\/span> sized canes. This is great if you are a pro and plan on selling your stuff. I would much rather have lots of different kinds of canes rather than tons of the same design. Plus it isn’t such a waste if one of your projects does not turn out as planned!<\/span><\/p>\n

2)<\/span><\/strong> Make sure all the different colors of clay are the same consistency. Soft clays will ‘move’ easily when you are reducing the canes and hard clays will not. So mixing different softness in the same cane will cause lots of distortion. For example, if you are making a face cane using firm Fimo clay for the eyes and squishy Sculpey clay for the mouth… when the cane is reduced, you’ll probably end up with a large twisted mouth and tiny beady eyes!<\/span><\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/span> Firmer clay is harder to work with but results in better canes with less distortion. Lines also stay crisper without blurring into the color next to them. To learn about clay selection, read these 2 articles:
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