Saturday 19 October 2013

Polymer clay - making simple canes

A while ago, I said I would post about making simple canes with polymer clay and I thought I had better get on with it!  (It is quite a long post, due to the number of photos, but I'll split it into hopefully manageable chunks).  Firstly, polymer clay is a non-toxic material, made of tiny particles of PVC, pigment and a plasticizer.  It needs to be baked at a cool temperature to harden.  You can use a domestic oven to bake it in, but use a baking tray just for your clay and cover it with foil when baking to ensure the material doesn't get onto the oven.  Although it is non-toxic, you need to have tools that you keep just for clay work - don't use the same tools for cooking and clay.  Above is a basic selection of useful/essential tools.  From the top left: a clay roller (for getting lovely thin sheets of clay), an acrylic sheet (for rolling/flattening), a cutter, an acrylic roller, cutting blades (extremely sharp), and some polymer clay.  The materials are sitting on a ceramic tile which is an ideal surface to work on.
 There are lots of brands of clay out there, but I use Premo by Sculpey (ranging from around £1.95 to £2.50 for a block like the one above (about 57g).  This brand is marked into four pieces, which is helpful when you only need some of the block.
 The first thing to do is to condition the clay by rolling it in your hands and warming it up.  It will become more malleable and easier to work with. 
 How do you know when it is conditioned?  The piece above has broken into two when folded over, so is not ready yet.
 Now it's ready - it is smooth and folds nicely.
 (I changed to black clay here, so that you can see it against the background.) It is being rolled out before being put through the clay roller.
 Here it is on the thickest setting, on my roller, number 1.
 Here it is after being rolled on number 5.
When you put the clay into the roller, make sure any fold is put in first, otherwise  air bubbles could be trapped in the clay.
 A sausage of pearl clay is wrapped in a thin layer of black clay.
 It just gets rolled up and the clay is cut with a bevelled edge to join together.
 The bulls-eye cane (that's the official name of this type of cane) is rolled to reduce the size and then cut into small lengths.
 I made another cane with gold in the middle and this has the black and white canes placed around it.
 It is rolled to smooth the surface and make sure the clay is all stuck together.
 It is then reduced by rolling it with a piece of acrylic.
Then slices are cut from it and can be used to make a pendant...

12 comments:

  1. Brilliant Ellie! At first glance I thought you were making liquorice rolls (one of my favourite sweets) but when I actually read the post I realised what you were doing. Brilliant idea, very effective.

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    1. Thanks, Anne. They do look very like liquorice! In fact, you could make a fabulous liquorice allsort bracelet/earrings/necklace set out of polymer clay, which would be great fun! These are some of the simplest canes to make and I love the way they can be combined to make a flower shape.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  2. I did enjoy watching the process, thank you. They look very interesting.

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    1. Thank you, Toffeeapple. It is a very therapeutic process and I really enjoy making canes. I am fascinated by the way polymer clay can be used in so many different ways.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  3. That is so very interesting Ellie, and you've demonstrated and explained it so well, thank you! I'm off to look at part 2 now!
    Hugs, Joy x

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    1. Thanks, Joy. I really enjoy using polymer clay as it is so versatile.
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  4. Loved the lesson, thanks Ellie, although it's not something I have time for right now, maybe later.
    Joy xx

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    1. Thanks, Joy. Time to do these creative things is always in short supply, isn't it? Other things have a habit of getting in the way!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  5. So interesting thank you Ellie. It sure looks like heaps of fun!! Xo

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    1. Dear Hannapat
      Thank you. It is indeed heaps of fun and many hours can slip by quite unnoticed once I am in making mode!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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  6. Oh so pretty to see how you make those yummy looking rolls!
    So nice to see how it's done! Love from Mirjam.

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    1. Thank you, Mirjam. It is really easy to do, as you can see! Once you can make the basics, there's no end to the designs which can be created. I am so glad I decided to give polymer clay a try!
      Best wishes
      Ellie

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