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Have you ever seen those brightly colored polymer clay canes and thought you could never make them yourself? Canes can be made quite easily if you'll just start at the beginning. The canes described in these projects are the most basic foundational techniques. If you take your time and try these easy steps, you'll find that you can master these simple patterns. Then when you combine these simple patterns together, you'll have a quilt-like display of colors and designs.
Once you've constructed several canes, you can use them to make beads for jewelry projects. You can also use slices from your canes to cover home decorating items. Any item that can withstand the curing temperature of polymer clay (only 275 Degrees F for 20 minutes) can be covered with your wonderful patterns. Items include paper mache frames and boxes, wooden shapes like drawer pulls or finials, glass jars or bottles, and empty metal cans. The possibilities are endless!
Each cane that is featured here has been worked into a square cane - when you view it from the cross-section, it is a square. Making each of your simple canes the same square shape, makes it easier to use them together later in a complex pattern.
Sculpey III is the perfect polymer clay for beginning cane making. Sculpey III is soft and smooth and it's easy to condition and shape. The colors are awesome and inspiring! Sculpey III is also very easy to slice with polymer clay slicing blades. Once baked, Sculpey III is perfect for thick beads and decorative items that aren't to be handled often. After you've mastered these techniques with Sculpey III, you may want to begin working with Premo Sculpey for items that require more strength and durability.
Follow these links to some great cane projects!
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