{"id":1323,"date":"2011-11-09T12:50:04","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T17:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gearbunny.net\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2011-11-09T12:50:04","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T17:50:04","slug":"making-a-large-polymer-clay-face-cane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/jewelry\/making-a-large-polymer-clay-face-cane\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a Large Polymer Clay Face Cane"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Generally I approach polymer clay from a sculpting perspective.\u00a0 A lot of what I make is three dimensional.\u00a0 But another long tradition in polymer clay is making millefiore canes.\u00a0 This technique is drawn from Italian glassblowing, where rods of glass are fused together so that cutting across the tube reveals a two dimensional picture.\u00a0 The same can be done with clay.\u00a0 I\u2019d made simple canes in the past like spirals, bullseyes, and stripes.\u00a0 Even though I&#8217;d admired complicated canes in magazines, I had shied away from more complex cane-making for way too long for fear that it would be too difficult.\u00a0 Last night I changed all that by tackling my first real cane.<\/p>\n<p>Before you start, make sure you have:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A large clean work area<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>All your tools laid out<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>A reference photo to work from and refer back to<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Plenty of clay.\u00a0 If you run out of a color in the middle of the night when the stores and closed and it\u2019s too late to buy more, you\u2019re gonna be screaming at yourself!\u00a0 (I found this out the hard way)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0About two days, and patience \ud83d\ude42<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My subject?\u00a0 Boston Terrier, of course! \u00a0I started with the eyes.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"making a polymer clay cane eyeball eye for dog\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00070.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"348\" \/><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Then I got a bit carried away and forgot to take photos of several steps.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the face fleshed out.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Boston Terrier polymer clane large face cane\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00053.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"348\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Boston terrier puppy by gearbunny face clay cane\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00055-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"434\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The tongue.\u00a0 I wish I had done some shading on it, or something to make it look a little more realistic.\u00a0 It kind of looks like puppy\u2019s holding a pink tennis ball in her mouth!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"polymer clay millefiore dog boston terrier bulldog cane\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00057.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"348\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Ah, those perky Boston ears.\u00a0 This is where I closely avoided running out of clay.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"polymer clay boston terrier puppy dog face cane millefiore\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00058.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"432\" height=\"345\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Adding the blue background.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to pack in any areas of negative space (like between the ears) so the design doesn\u2019t get distorted when you reduce it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"blocking in polymer clay face cane background negative space\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00060.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"434\" height=\"347\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The whole cane is filled in and complete.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"reducing a polymer clay cane by hand by gearbunny tutorial\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00063.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"541\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This next step was the hardest for me \u2013 waiting!\u00a0 The clay must rest before you begin reducing it, or the outer layers which are softest from being worked most recently will distort, while the cooler clay inside doesn\u2019t move as quickly.\u00a0 I\u2019ve ruined canes by reducing too quickly before, so I was determined to be patient this time.\u00a0 I let puppy sit about ten hours.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m back!\u00a0 Reducing is done by gripping the middle of the cane, squeezing it to the desired size, and slowly working outwards in an even manner.\u00a0 I tried to watch the ends very closely so they wouldn\u2019t bulge out, which creates a lot of waste.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Reducing a polymer clay cane gearbunny tutorial dog pet boston terrier dozer\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00065.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"437\" height=\"349\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The first cut is so exciting!\u00a0 What will we get?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"first cut into polymer clay face cane it's a surprise\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00066.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"348\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Before and after:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"POlymer clay boston terrier cane before and after cutting\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00068.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"325\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m really pleased with how this cane turned out.\u00a0 The tongue got a little better after reducing, and basically I\u2019m just happy it\u2019s recognizable as a Boston!\u00a0 Patience is the key here \u2013 a note to all my fellow Aries \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a sneak peak at a project I\u2019m working on using my new Boston Terrier cane.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"Polymer clay altoids tin Boston terrier dog lover pets polymer clay gift\" src=\"http:\/\/i11.photobucket.com\/albums\/a192\/omnipink\/DSC00069.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"435\" height=\"348\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hope you enjoyed my process!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>~ Allison ~<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Generally I approach polymer clay from a sculpting perspective.\u00a0 A lot of what I make is three dimensional.\u00a0 But another long tradition in polymer clay is making millefiore canes.\u00a0 This technique is drawn from Italian glassblowing, where rods of glass are fused together so that cutting across the tube reveals a two dimensional picture.\u00a0 The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[74,270,44,50],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1325,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitalemily.com\/gearbunny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}