Waste Not! ALice Stroppel's Brilliantly simple (and simply brilliant) cane technique

You hear all the time about things 'going viral' on the web--and few places demonstrate this better than the polymer clay community. Case in point? Polymer Clay Daily--THE weblog of the polymer clay world, recently featured a link to the website of well-known polymer artist Alice Stroppel.

Alice has been doing face canes for years--almost everyone who works in PC is familiar with her work--but she also came up with a simple technique for using leftover canes--ends, failed pieces in a unique and innovative way; she demonstrated this at a recent retreat to her table mate--seemingly as a casual afterthought--and once the genie was out of the bottle, it travelled over the world with the speed of light.

In and of itself, the technique is so simple that most artists (like myself) are scratching their heads and saying, "why didn't I think of that?!",

whilst busily working away making the beautiful canes that she invented. Most polymer clay is fun--it's why we love it, and stay with it--but this technique is PC fun on steroids.

It has all the elements we love--Frugality (we hate to throw those old canes away, if there were only some good way to reuse them..) Beauty (just take a look) Ease of construction (The canes are ridiculously easy and fast to make) And above all, the sheer Serendipity of it--you never know what you're going to get, but odds are seriously in your favor it'll be great.

Alice, of course, could have reserved this knowledge and sold it in the form of tutorials, which most of us would gladly pay for; but instead, she chose to generously share it with the rest of the PC world for free. And this is one of the things that makes the PC world such a great place to be--a generous, sharing, supportive community of artists all encouraging and inspiring each other.

How cool is that.

I'll be teaching the Stroppel Cane technique at the November meeting of the Austin Polymer Clay Guild on Saturday, November 5th at 2pm at the Ralph Yarborough Library, 2200 E Hancock Drive. Please check our yahoo group and facebook page for details and supply lists.

Namaste,

Randee

Julie Picarello Workshop

I don't know how longs it's been since the Austin Guild hosted a visiting Artist workshop, but it must have been too long!

This last weekend, some very fortunate members of the guild were able to attend two amazing days of instruction with JuliePicarello of Yellow House designs, and follow her down the lazy river of polymer clay.
Though she had considerable difficulty arriving--after months of drought, wouldn't you know it, an errant thunderstorm over Dallas caused her plane to divert to Oklahoma city, and she didn't get to her hotel in Dallas until 3a.m.--She arrived bright and chipper at the classroom space and went to work.
Now I must confess that I have only taken one polymer clay class in my life, years ago, and really had no idea what to expect; but whatever expectations I had or lacked, she blew them all out of the water. Not only is she an incredibly knowledgeable, organized and lucid teacher, she is also one of the nicest people you'll ever want to meet. Up close and personal, her work is stunning, flawless in execution and finish, and her teaching style is incredibly easy to follow. Even the least experienced of us was able to complete work worthy of boast. (One of the cooler aspects of Julie's take on colors--everyone mixed up their own blends following her basic process--was that almost everyone in the room, consciously or not, ended up making tiles that matched what they were wearing).

The workshop went step by step through her signature technique, "Lazy River Mokume Gane", and all long the way she filled us in with dozens of tips and tricks on how to get perfectly smooth and rounded tiles, how to cut one's clay for absolutely precise joins, how to texture clay with the simplest of materials; on the second day, she focused on finishing the work, and for those of us new to drilling, showed us the niftiest tricks for getting your work drilled clean and straight--which is not nearly as easy as it looks! She also shared some information that many of us didn't know--that for example, no polymer clay is fully cured until it reaches 300 degrees, despite what the manfacturer recommends-- the lower temperatures cited on the package are to protect the colors from changing--who knew?!

Most importantly, however, for two days, as she guided us through all the steps to making beautiful work, she was unfailingly gracious, kind, and encouraging. She made even brand new clayers feel wonderful about their efforts, and all without a hint of insincerity--when she told you your work was lovely, you believed it because it was true. She empowered everyone in that room, gave them the confidence to go forth and try new techniques--and that is what great instruction is all about; striking the sparks that catch into creative fire, long after the teacher has gone her way.

The shy Artist

I have a friend--I'll not mention names, because she's a self-effacing sort. This despite the fact that her work is manifestly brilliant, meticulously crafted and just sings with a unique voice.

She hardly ever publishes her work--for that matter, when she brings it to meetings she simply slides it onto the show and tell table without comment, leaving it for the rest of us to discover and squeal over.

I've noticed that this --for the lack of a better term--reluctance, to promote one's work-- is not unique to this lady; several polymer artists I know, and whose work I greatly respect, share the same trait. For some reason, we feel we have no right to claim that our work is in fact 'real' art; that we should be legitimately proud of it.

And I wonder; do other artists in other fields suffer from the same inability to promote their work? Is it because the field of polymer clay is overwhelmingly women, who tend to be diffident about seeking recognition? Would we feel any different about displaying our work if it were from longer established medium, like sculpture, painting, photography? It's a puzzle to me--because the work is so good, so exciting, and in a new field like polymer clay, all of us have the potential to be the new Picassos, Vermeers, and Monets.

Polymer clay is still the undiscovered country--and everyone of us who work in it the pioneers. There are some upsides to this hiding the light beneath the bushel--as a group, polymer clay artists tend to be the most supportive and sharing people I've ever encountered---if jealousies and rivalries exist, they are handled with the utmost civility--I've not witnessed the kind of turf wars made famous by Renaissance painters, or modern photographers. I've not heard many artists dissing the work of others--even in their most unguarded moments.

These things are all to the good--but maybe we could all allow ourselves the luxury of a bit more pride--a sense that we are in fact legitimate artists doing new and wonderful things--and blazing the trails for those we hope will follow.

Namaste

July meeting- Pinch Petals

This month we had a fun little project. We learned how to make pinch petals. We started out by making a nice pastel rainbow blend. Taking a slice off of a rainbow skinner blend, we stepped it down with a block of translucent. It's amazing how little of the original blend you need to tint the translucent.
the next step in the process is to roll the blend into a snake, with the color blend running from head to tail. Notice how in this example the color is not thoroughly blended? It should make for some interesting petals!
Can't wait to see how these all turn out! I'm hoping next month for show and tell we will have many pinch petals leis to ohh and ahh over!

Yore Cheatin' Heart Gradient Blend

All of us owe a debt to Judith Skinner that we can never repay: She originated the idea for a seamless airbrushed-looking color blend that is the basis of almost every worthwhile technique involving color. Her method, available anywhere on the net for free, has inspired countless variations; Here is one:

I like to find shortcuts to everything--and I hate to measure; I'm just having too much fun creating. This is true for the basic gradient blend as well-- the version I call, 'yore cheatin' heart'.
This method is exactly what it sounds like--a cheat; (And I'm sure the idea did not originate with me) but it's a good cheat. Rather than sheet, cut and measure triangles of clay, I simply take the colors I like best--in this case, the holy trinity of Red, Yellow and Blue, and condition them thoroughly--not really necessary, but it's always nice to warm up a bit, and there are few things more therapeutic than mindlessly cranking clay through a pasta machine. Once soft, I roll them into fat logs of the same length, and lay them out into a pattern I want; in this case, light in the center, so that I will get some nice secondary colors on each side as the blend develops.

I flatten these logs until they are a comfortable thickness to go through the pasta machine set on the widest setting without straining; never saw the benefit of blowing out those gears!

This sheet then goes through the pasta machine ONCE. This is where I pause for reflection--or possibly just a fresh water bottle :). I fold the big striped sheet from bottom to top, like colors together, but with a tweak: I offset the colors just slightly by angling the top of the sheet over the one beneath. I find that this just makes the blend go a bit faster--honestly, it probably only saves a few passes through the pasta machine--it would all end up as the same blend anyway, but as I said, I like to cheat just a little.

I send this folded sheet through the pasta machine, then settle down for the long haul; no more offsetting, I simply roll, fold and send through again on the same setting, over and over again, until the colors do what they do best--the clay, of course, expands lengthwise as it goes through the machine, but it also expands sideways--and would indefinitely, if not for the constricting sides of the machine; this is what creates the seamless blend. Formulas vary--a lot depends on the saturation of the colors, etc, but generally about 20 to 25 passes yields a good blend.

Sometimes, especially when I have light colors in the center of the blend, I find that it's a bit dark--and here is where polymer clay is so wonderful: I can simply add a pure color to the process by sandwiching it into the blend where needed; after a few passes, it shows through.

Once the blend is satisfying--the hardest part of polymer clay (all together now!) is knowing when to stop; I just pick a place. Then it's a simple matter of lengthening the blend by folding it one more time, and turning it one quarter turn so that the fold is on the side--still on the thickest (widest) setting of the pasta machine, and roll it through; this not only gives me more sheet to work with, it also 'polishes' the blend and gives it that perfect airbrushed look.

Where it goes from here depends upon the use I intend for it; If I'm making a plug for caning, it gets accordion folded and squared into a block; if I'm making a bold jellyroll spiral cane, I'll leave it as is; if I'm going for the gradient bulls eye cane, then I'll sheet it down to a medium thin setting.

Whatever use I find for it, There are few things more satisfying than contemplating a perfect rainbow blend; may you have as much fun with yours.

Namaste, Randee

Basics of polymer clay—exerpt from upcomingclass/tutorial

Not all clays are suitable for all purposes. Sculpey III, soft, easy to work, and readily available in a huge variety of colors, has its uses—but not for jewelry; it simply isn't strong enough. (The one exception to this is the translucent clay, which is one of the most transparent of the block clays and is a staple in every experienced clayer's repertoire—both in its own right and as an additive—more on that later). Most 'house brands" of clay—Michael's A&C has an entire line—are so similar to SculpeyIII that you should leave them to the kiddos.

For most jewelry applications, especially for beginners, the clay of choice is either Premo or Fimo Soft. Other clays on the market include Fimo Classic, Kato, Pardo, and Cernit—which are all wonderful products, but are somewhat problematic for beginners as they are more difficult to work—try those later. When you are starting out in polymer clay, you want to enjoy the process—not spend hours trying to coax a stiff block of clay into a useful form. (I have seen newbie students reduced to tears trying to condition a block of Fimo classic they bought by mistake. When you are learning to drive, it's just not helpful to start off at the Indie 500). For me, the clay I use the most is Premo, because of its strength, work properties and most importantly, it comes in a true artist's palette—the deeply saturated colors are perfect for blending into other colors—just like paint—and literally any shade or hue can be created from them. Its mica colors are also some of the most dramatic on the market. Can you mix different brands of clay? The jury is out on that one. Some artists recoil at the thought, some embrace the notion—but I confess that I do, have been doing it for years, and nothing bad has happened as a result. One theory holds that so long as the clay is THOROUGHLY mixed, and you cure to the specs of the highest temperature clay in the mix, you can add clays to each other without incurring charges of heresy. To store your clay, ordinary plastic food bags or any plastic container marked recycle 1 through 5 is perfect.

As a general rule, properly cured polymer clay is remarkably strong—remember that it's just another form of the PVC pipes in your home (ever tried to break one of those?) and most of the time it will endure for years—still, you should keep the principles of good jewelry design in mind when forming your shapes. While polymer clay is infinitely suitable to organic branching forms, keep in mind that anything that can catch and snag can also break, no matter how strong it is. It you intend to wear it, shape it accordingly; form follows function.
Conditioning your clay:

All polymer clay requires this—kneading and working until it is soft and pliable. Think of your block of clay like a box of cereal—certain components of it, the plasticizers that make it so strong, for example—migrate and settle during shipping and storage. They need to be redistributed in order to make your clay strong and flexible, and there are several ways to do it:

First, just use your hands and a roller (do this on a NON-porous surface—ceramic tiles are great)

Slice your clay into slabs and roll with a tool (a brayer, rolling pin or metal pipe) until it softens a bit, then begin working it with your hands into logs or snakes that you twist and combine until you can bend the whole lot in half without breaking.

Alternatively—and this is the preferred method, use your pasta machine:
Note—always clean your machine with baby wipes before you begin and after every color change, and roll your clay into slabs thin enough to go through your pasta machine on the thickest setting—where the rollers are the farthest apart—without straining. There's no benefit to blowing out the gears on your machine!

Send your slabs of clay through on the thickest setting to soften and even them out, then begin combining them two by two until you have combined the entire lot into one slab; fold this slab bottom to top and send it through the rollers fold first.

Now—and this is one of my favorite discoveries—as the sheet comes out of the rollers, fold it again, and send it through with the fold to the side.

Why the turn? Because when you turn it, it changes the direction of distribution—in plain English, it conditions the clay twice as fast as sending it through in the same direction all the time. Doesn't matter which side the fold goes through (I'm a lefty, so this is my preference). The only way you should avoid sending your clay through the machine is for the fold to be at the top—and the embarrassing sounds that it makes as those air bubbles burst if you do, will remind youJ.

When conditioning your clay, remember to work with the lightest colors first, and finish with the darkest ones—for the purposes of this lesson, the order is White, Yellow, Blue, Red, and Black—yes, I know that blue is darker than red, but red—well, just look at your hands after you've kneaded it a bit—it stains like crazy! All reds do. It disappears on the black, whereas on the blue…….

And clean your rollers after significant color changes! Really press hard against the scraper plates at the bottom—that's where all the scrap accumulates.

Sometimes your clay flakes and sticks to the rollers—what to do? Ignore it. Yes, ignore it. Don't spend 10 minutes cleaning it off only to have it happen again on the next pass—just fold the flaky side to the inside and keep rolling—SLOWLY and GENTLY. By the time the clay has conditioned into a nice pliable sheet, all the clay stuck to the rollers will have vanished; really really.

And while we're on the subject, a little safety tip from me to you: Never roll your clay backwards!!! Always move those rollers forward like an organ grinder. Why? Because if you roll the clay backwards into your machine, it will disappear right under the guard plate, never to be seen again—and eventually, it will gum up your machine until you can't move it, at which point your only alternative it to take your machine apart and clean it—and believe me, you'd rather take algebra again than do that. J

Scrap Clay

Each month at the Austin Polymer Clay Guild meeting, we enjoy a project presentation by one of the guild members.  For one of the first meetings I attended, I was instructed to bring some “scrap” clay.  I was new to working with polymer clay and I had no scrap clay like the others.  Did that mean I had to use “good” clay? At about seventy five cents an ounce, I couldn’t imagine the harm.  And I wondered, how do you end up with scrap clay?

After a year of trying to make all the wonderful things I saw on the internet, flower canes, mokume gane, etc. and experiencing several failed attempts, I watched as my stash of “didn’t quite work out” grew into a pretty sizable hunk of scrap clay.  And there’s all those little bits we cut off the ends of canes and sheets.  Now I see the problem, not how do you get scrap clay, but how do you get rid of it?

First, don’t hide it away like some ugly step-child --see it as a challenge and not as evidence of your shortcomings.  See it with a fresh perspective.  The really nice thing about scrap clay is that it’s already messed up and you can’t mess it up any more than it already is, so play!  Here’s a few suggestions:

1.        Mush all the dark clays together until it’s a solid, sort of a purple grey, color.  Shape it into an Easter Island man (or woman!), give them hair, make them smiling or singing, or playing golf, whatever.  Roll the whole thing in sand before baking and vollah, you have a lovely “stone” garden statue.

2.       Mush it all together like in #1 and then thin it slightly with some liquid clay.  Roll it into medium width sheets and spread it on a planter.  Now, run a sheet of any other color clay, slice up some small squares as tiles and imbed these in the clay on the planter. Once covered, bake it.  If this is too large for your small craft oven, you can bake it in a roasting bag in your regular oven.  Now you have a beautiful mosaic planter.  Oh and don’t forget, you can cover you tiles with emobossing powder or glitter.

3.       Scrap clay can be used to test various glazes and varnishes to see which are easier to use, produce the most uniform and smooth finish.  Simply make a few disks, bake them, paste them to a piece of cardboard and then try all your different glazes.  Just make sure you label each one.

4.       Take similar colors of scrap clay and mix them together.  Now use this new color as though it was new clay.  Those dreary, grey greens can make wonderful leaf colors.  Or how about that hideous orange, maybe it’s a terra cotta?

5.       Use it to make molds for pendants or your own unique texture sheets or stamp pads.  Just spray your model with water and spread the clay on the model to make the mold.

6.       Make your own wall art by collaging many colors together or how about a big sun/moon face that you can hang outdoors.  Polymer clay is really durable outside and won’t lose it’s color in the sun.

7.       Make a 3/8 inch to ½ inch sheet by rolling several sheets at the thickest setting on your pasta machine and stacking them together.  Cut several rectangles from this sheet about 3 by 5 inch.  Use this piece as a canvas and some scrap clay to form any vegetables or flowers you may have in your garden.  You can even extrude a small snake of black to write the name of your flower or vegetable.  You can make rust proof ground stakes from cutting up old tomato cages.  After your clay is cured, drill a small hole into the bottom edge to accommodate the metal stake you just cut. Use some epoxy to glue your stake into the hole you drilled.  Now you have a lovely garden marker.

There’s an uninhibited joy in scrap clay that can’t be found in a pristine block of Moss Green.  There are no preconceptions of what it should represent like “moss” or “something green.” So drag that box out from the bottom of the closet and look again.  You see, what I have really learned after this year is that there really is no such thing as scrap clay, there is only the clay, you, and your creative spirit.

Happy claying.

Namaste

Cherry Taylor