Thursday, March 28, 2013

Kaleidoscope Canes and Buttons

I love the effect of kaleidoscopes and we decided to transform them into buttons.  We make them in several sizes with the large one shown on the left measuring 2 inches.



I am not one for making large canes and prefer making smaller ones.  I know there is a saying that you can never have enough of a good cane but I would rather have lots of new designs than a ton of the same pattern to use over a long time.  It keeps things fresh and new as well as making each pattern a "limited edition original".  To make our kaleidoscopes, I like to use left over cane pieces and color blends from my bargello and quilt patterns and coordinate them in a selected color scheme.

There was a lot of discussion lately on a polymer clay forum about how to slice canes that are straight and not wonky.  Like with any polymer clay technique I have developed or learned, I have discovered that to improve your skill it takes practice.  I messed up quite a bit at first trying to slice my canes and today I do most of it free hand without the use of any tool other than my tissue blade.  I just had to practice -- a lot.





1 comment:

bluelapis said...

Carolyn and Dave. I agree on your philosophy of making many small canes rather than a few huge ones that hang around forever. And I like to have the variety to work with as well. And I often use most of my scraps from making canes to make more canes lol, so the whole batch matches. Your idea for buttons is great. I might have to give some a try. Ive never made them before. But it would be neat to match buttons to my jewelry!