Get Caning!
July 13, 2013
Technique tutorials, Tips and Tricks
So my request earlier this week to have people send in caning links for this week’s theme resulted in more questions from people just getting into it. Since there were so many queries, I thought I ought to take a moment to address the basic question these emails had in common … how does one get started or work on moving on from the basics? (For those of you who are quite advanced, this list and links might be helpful as a list for your website [I imagine you get these questions too!] or to recommend before a caning class to get your students to work on the basics.)
So here’s what I would recommend if you are starting out caning …
1. Take a class. So much of what goes into caning, especially reducing, is rather difficult to explain without hands on demonstrations. Check with local guilds, bead stores, the IPCA website, and The Polymer Arts resource list to see what is going on near you. A keyword search using your state/country, “polymer” and “classes” or “workshops” might bring up a few things as well.
2. Get a book. A book with a lot of detail and variety of projects to try your hand at could get you far. Some of the better ones I know of are Sue Heaser’s Polymer Clay Jewellery for Beginners: Book 1 – Millefiori Canes,
Donna Kato’s The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques and Patricia Kimle’s Exploring Canework in Polymer Clay: Color, Pattern, Surface Design.
3. Search the internet for caning tutorials. This will give you a broad variety of techniques and approaches to explore. If you’re a self-starter and really motivated, this is usually the least expensive option as many of the beginning cane tutorials are free. Once you get more advanced, you may want to invest in some of the tutorials sold on Etsy and CraftArtEdu.
One of your fellow readers, Meg Newberg, sent along this link of free cane tutorials which she also regularly posts on her very active Facebook page, Polymer Clay Workshop. Here is a post photo from her Facebook page a few months back that I thought was just a beautiful collection of kaleidoscope canes with nicely chosen color schemes that she was working on.
As I am admittedly not the caning expert and so many of you are, please do add your thoughts in the comment section if you have further ideas for those new to caning. Many thanks!
An Optical Education
November 26, 2012
Inspirational Art
ST Art Clay’s photostream on Flickr is a rather amazing educational journey. This artist (whose name I have not been able to discover but would love to have on here, should anyone know it) looks to have taken classes with all the big names and obviously paid attention in class! She credits all her pieces to the original artist she learned the techniques from.For instance, this pendant’s mokume gane approach is credited to Melanie Muir. Melanie’s influence is obvious if you are a fan of her work but what our avid new polymer artist here does is translate what she learns into some really incredible optically active textures.
The ordered application of the impressed circles is almost hynotic. Browse through St Art Clay’s Flickr stream for her externally well-finished versions of Cormier Cutting Edge necklaces, Picarillo pendants, Dumont hollow beads, and McCaw canes.
Although the influence of the master artist’s are obvious, I like the direction that one can see is starting to be pushed in the collection of work. I am a big proponent of finding one’s own voice as an artist but I also see nothing wrong with learning technique and skills through copying the approach of another’s work. As long as you take it and start to apply your own interests and visions. This needs to be done not only out of respect for the artist you learn from but also for your own growth. The fact that ST Art Clay consistently pushes the work towards an optically enticing and visually active surface treatment shows this is one artist that is already well on her way to digging her own voice out of the many voices she’s been assimilating.
Amazing Cane
November 19, 2012
Inspirational Art, Technique tutorials
There are many amazing, detailed canes out there by some incredibly talented artists. But there are some that just amaze and stay with you. When I saw this caned butterfly by Jane Zhao it was simply hard to believe it was a cane.
The details are really quite incredible … well thought out and executed. The best part is, I found this on CraftArtEdu … as a class. So if you’re intrigued, you can check out the class which promises many a tip and trick for great canes, here on CraftArtEdu.
So my request earlier this week to have people send in caning links for this week’s theme resulted in more questions from people just getting into it. Since there were so many queries, I thought I ought to take a moment to address the basic question these emails had in common … how does one get started or work on moving on from the basics? (For those of you who are quite advanced, this list and links might be helpful as a list for your website [I imagine you get these questions too!] or to recommend before a caning class to get your students to work on the basics.)
So here’s what I would recommend if you are starting out caning …
1. Take a class. So much of what goes into caning, especially reducing, is rather difficult to explain without hands on demonstrations. Check with local guilds, bead stores, the IPCA website, and The Polymer Arts resource list to see what is going on near you. A keyword search using your state/country, “polymer” and “classes” or “workshops” might bring up a few things as well.
2. Get a book. A book with a lot of detail and variety of projects to try your hand at could get you far. Some of the better ones I know of are Sue Heaser’s Polymer Clay Jewellery for Beginners: Book 1 – Millefiori Canes,
Donna Kato’s The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques and Patricia Kimle’s Exploring Canework in Polymer Clay: Color, Pattern, Surface Design.
3. Search the internet for caning tutorials. This will give you a broad variety of techniques and approaches to explore. If you’re a self-starter and really motivated, this is usually the least expensive option as many of the beginning cane tutorials are free. Once you get more advanced, you may want to invest in some of the tutorials sold on Etsy and CraftArtEdu.
One of your fellow readers, Meg Newberg, sent along this link of free cane tutorials which she also regularly posts on her very active Facebook page, Polymer Clay Workshop. Here is a post photo from her Facebook page a few months back that I thought was just a beautiful collection of kaleidoscope canes with nicely chosen color schemes that she was working on.
As I am admittedly not the caning expert and so many of you are, please do add your thoughts in the comment section if you have further ideas for those new to caning. Many thanks!
ST Art Clay’s photostream on Flickr is a rather amazing educational journey. This artist (whose name I have not been able to discover but would love to have on here, should anyone know it) looks to have taken classes with all the big names and obviously paid attention in class! She credits all her pieces to the original artist she learned the techniques from.For instance, this pendant’s mokume gane approach is credited to Melanie Muir. Melanie’s influence is obvious if you are a fan of her work but what our avid new polymer artist here does is translate what she learns into some really incredible optically active textures.
The ordered application of the impressed circles is almost hynotic. Browse through St Art Clay’s Flickr stream for her externally well-finished versions of Cormier Cutting Edge necklaces, Picarillo pendants, Dumont hollow beads, and McCaw canes.
Although the influence of the master artist’s are obvious, I like the direction that one can see is starting to be pushed in the collection of work. I am a big proponent of finding one’s own voice as an artist but I also see nothing wrong with learning technique and skills through copying the approach of another’s work. As long as you take it and start to apply your own interests and visions. This needs to be done not only out of respect for the artist you learn from but also for your own growth. The fact that ST Art Clay consistently pushes the work towards an optically enticing and visually active surface treatment shows this is one artist that is already well on her way to digging her own voice out of the many voices she’s been assimilating.
Read MoreThere are many amazing, detailed canes out there by some incredibly talented artists. But there are some that just amaze and stay with you. When I saw this caned butterfly by Jane Zhao it was simply hard to believe it was a cane.
The details are really quite incredible … well thought out and executed. The best part is, I found this on CraftArtEdu … as a class. So if you’re intrigued, you can check out the class which promises many a tip and trick for great canes, here on CraftArtEdu.
Read More