First steps... part 2
I know, I know… this post is way overdue.
I spent a couple of lovely weeks with my family over Christmas, and then came straight back from holidays right into the chaos of work. My mind was still somewhere in holiday mode—not exactly the best mindset for writing anything.
So yes… a bit of classic procrastination on my part. But hey, better late than never, right?
Picking up from where I left off...
After arranging the little rolls into the pattern I liked, I started gently squeezing them together, little by little, to form a solid cane.
It was around this point I had realised why in the original video I watched, they had used a different type of clay to wrap the blended roll. They’d used a pearl or metallic white clay, which gave their design a really nice finish. In my version, the plain white clay I used ended up blending too much, and parts of the cane kind of turned into a white “blob.”
It’s not a disaster—it still looks nice! But next time, I definitely want to experiment. If I don’t have pearl or metallic clay on hand, I’ll try mixing regular white clay with some mica powder or even bright/white eyeshadow. That little bit of shimmer should help it stand out more and add a pretty, polished effect.
Once the cane was ready and shaped just how I wanted, I started slicing it into pieces and arranging them into designs. This part is totally up to your imagination—there are no rules!
For my first project, I kept it simple and started with rectangular shapes.
Here’s what I ended up with—a few different arrangements and shapes to play with. I sliced the cane quite thinly and then added the slices onto another layer of clay. Some pieces have a blue clay backing, while others are just a double layer of sliced cane.
One of my favourite pieces was a big teardrop pendant, which I made by stacking slices of the cane on a ball of clay and then shaping it into the teardrop form. I used the same technique for a long oval shape, which is why the pattern looks a bit more stretched out.
After running the leftover scraps through the pasta machine again, I discovered some interesting new patterns. I turned those into a couple of earrings. With a bit more blending through the pasta machine, I also created two octagonal pendants.
It’s amazing how many different looks you can get just by slicing, stacking, and reworking the clay!
The plan was to make just two parts, but I’ve decided to go for Part 3 as well! The next post will be all about my experience with covering polymer clay with UV resin—the glossy finish, the challenges, and everything in between.
Hope to see you in the next post! 😊
