# Some new clay canes, soon to be on kits.



## CreativeCanes (Feb 24, 2017)

Been working on getting more details in my canes lately and I have some other new idea's I am wanting to try, but bit by bit and day by day. 
My new monarch butterfly, skull and a work in progress a dolphin cane that hopefully will be finished in the next day or two. I am going to make a video for packing the dolphin cane and maybe partials on reduction, I did alter the top fin a little after I took this photo as I felt it was too big.
Looking forward to making some new blanks with these and get them on some different kits. 
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend all.


----------



## magpens (Feb 25, 2017)

Beautiful work, Melanie !!!! . I love the dolphin and the butterfly (not into skulls !!)

... those two are superbly nice !!


----------



## BeeAMaker (Feb 25, 2017)

SO COOL!!
I'd really like to learn how to do that. I have a general Idea, much like candy. Not sure I have the time or patience for it. Awesome work.


----------



## CREID (Feb 25, 2017)

You do beautiful work. Looking forward to your videos.


----------



## Jim15 (Feb 25, 2017)

Those are great.


----------



## Dale Lynch (Feb 25, 2017)

Hard work and talent going in to making those,I like them,excited to see the results.


----------



## CreativeCanes (Feb 25, 2017)

magpens said:


> Beautiful work, Melanie !!!! . I love the dolphin and the butterfly (not into skulls !!)
> 
> ... those two are superbly nice !!



Thank you Mal. 
I am not into the skulls so much myself, but it was a highly requested cane, so I make what is wanted (all with in time).
Half of it has sold already and I just made it last week. Glad I kept about half of it for myself so I can make blanks and pens with .


----------



## CreativeCanes (Feb 25, 2017)

BeeAMaker said:


> SO COOL!!
> I'd really like to learn how to do that. I have a general Idea, much like candy. Not sure I have the time or patience for it. Awesome work.



Thanks so much 
I do have a beginner tutorial for cane making that may help if you are interested. It's a long video but a lot of helpful info in there, it was my first video so it's not the greatest but if you are wanting to learn it will help. (What is needed is in the description) You can find it here : Beginners Guide to Cane Making
Canes do take A LOT of patience, my dolphin cane I started on Wednesday partial day working on it like mixing clay and blending the colors, full day Thurs and Fri and I have the body complete, a lot of details won't be seen until the first cut.


----------



## CreativeCanes (Feb 25, 2017)

CREID said:


> You do beautiful work. Looking forward to your videos.



Thank you so much Curt. 



Jim15 said:


> Those are great.



Thank you Jim. 



Spanx said:


> Hard work and talent going in to making those,I like them,excited to see the results.



Thank you Dale, I appreciate that.  I am always trying to make more detailed ones as I go along. 

Thanks for the love guys much appreciated. :good:


----------



## Brian G (Feb 25, 2017)

They look fantastic.  I like seeing the pre-reduced size because it gives me a perspective of how large they are before they are reduced.

I'm betting the PSI Skull kit matched with the skull cane would be a hit.


----------



## CreativeCanes (Feb 26, 2017)

Brian G said:


> They look fantastic.  I like seeing the pre-reduced size because it gives me a perspective of how large they are before they are reduced.
> 
> I'm betting the PSI Skull kit matched with the skull cane would be a hit.



Thank you Brian. They are certainly a labor of love.

Those kits should look great with the skull cane. I will for sure try them out.


----------



## PapaTim (Feb 28, 2017)

I'm in awe of the creativity and skill some people have working with clay. I tried it a couple of times but couldn't even make gumby.


----------



## CREID (Mar 1, 2017)

PapaTim said:


> I'm in awe of the creativity and skill some people have working with clay. I tried it a couple of times but couldn't even make gumby.


Not many can say they remember Gumby.


----------



## Bob Kardell (Mar 7, 2017)

Can I ask a question about canes....I have tried this and I too cannot make a gumby, but when I have tried this the white - around the butterfly for instance - covers up whatever is beneath it.  Do you trim the white around the butterfly before you use it?

The are very well done!  



Sent from my iPad using Penturners.org mobile app


----------



## CreativeCanes (Mar 9, 2017)

PapaTim said:


> I'm in awe of the creativity and skill some people have working with clay. I tried it a couple of times but couldn't even make gumby.



Thank you so much Tim, it's a labor of love sometimes as I am increasing the difficulty of my cane work. The more you work with clay the easier it becomes.  I do feel blessed that I am able to create what I do and am thankful everyday to be able to do this daily.





CREID said:


> PapaTim said:
> 
> 
> > I'm in awe of the creativity and skill some people have working with clay. I tried it a couple of times but couldn't even make gumby.
> ...



Hehe, I think I am one of the ones who are old enough to remember. Don't know if I should giggle or frown at my own statement lol.



Bob Kardell said:


> Can I ask a question about canes....I have tried this and I too cannot make a gumby, but when I have tried this the white - around the butterfly for instance - covers up whatever is beneath it.  Do you trim the white around the butterfly before you use it?
> 
> The are very well done!
> 
> ...



Thank you Bob.
Would be happy to help with some advice. 
Are you working with pre-made bought canes or are you creating them yourself? 

When purchasing canes, make sure it tells you in the listing what the background color is, is it actually a white or is it a translucent background? The white will not become translucent after curing, but the translucent will be somewhat see through, the thinner you can get each slice of cane work the less you will notice the border. On some of my canes I do trim a little extra off if there is some to trim but then I pinch the translucent edge as thin as I can with out tearing the slice, working with a really thin sharp blade will help to get nice even thin slices. Most of the "clay" blades are too thick for my liking and can cause drag when trying to slice through a cane, causing thick spots and un-even slices. That's why I decided to purchase my own blades that are perfect for cane slicing. When you layer or place a slice of cane work, make sure you blend the edges of the slice into the background so the seam is flawless between slice and background. If you are after perfection do this with each and every slice as rolling on your work surface to "even" it out can cause cane distortion, so I really don't recommend rolling it until you are completed with all the layering.
Once you have your tube ready, cure it at the right temp and as soon as it's done baking quickly dunk it in some ice water and this will help the translucent become a little more clear.
If you look closely at this pen blank of mine (pic), you can see the borders of some of the canes, but from a normal distance they aren't really noticeable, so the thinner you get each slice the better in the end result. 
Hope this helps some.


----------



## CreativeCanes (Mar 9, 2017)

Here is my final dolphin cane. 
Hope you all like the progression pictures. 
Excited to make some beachy themed blanks with this one.


----------



## Terredax (Mar 9, 2017)

That is interesting. Thanks for showing the before and after photos of the dolphin. I often wondered how the detail was achieved, especially in such a small piece. Now, after seeing the photos, I have a better understanding.

It must take an artful eye to get the colors placed accordingly, to make them come out in the end. It appears that it requires a large amount of clay to begin with.

How long will the finished cane end up, once it's reduced to the small diameter?
How thick are the slices that get applied to a pen?

I would like to see a realistic tiger or tiger face. I'm guessing it would be an extreme challenge, considering most tiger items are a little pathetic looking.
I understand the difficulty in realism, I often sketch and tigers and have scrolled them in the past. Replicating a tiger in clay would probably be near impossible to achieve...let alone making it look correct.

If anyone is up to the challenge, I would absolutely by several.


----------



## BeeAMaker (Mar 9, 2017)

Simply amazing!

For a beginner, I'm thinking maybe an emoji cane might be fairly simple, no? No blending ,just solid colors.

How hard do you think it would be to make my MakerHive logo (without the words) in a cane?


----------



## Bob Kardell (Mar 10, 2017)

Those look incredible!  And thank you for the advice and explanation!  

Do you sell your or just make them for your own use?

Do you ever make shamrocks?

Thank you again - that is amazing!


Sent from my iPhone using Penturners.org mobile app


----------



## CreativeCanes (Mar 13, 2017)

Terredax said:


> That is interesting. Thanks for showing the before and after photos of the dolphin. I often wondered how the detail was achieved, especially in such a small piece. Now, after seeing the photos, I have a better understanding.
> 
> It must take an artful eye to get the colors placed accordingly, to make them come out in the end. It appears that it requires a large amount of clay to begin with.
> 
> ...



Thank you John 
Yes for sure, smaller canes are harder to get precise detail with, so sometimes the larger the better, but also a lot harder to reduce.

If I reduced it all down to my normal size of about 1/2 and inch, It may have ended up longer then my height (5'4") but I cut it in half once it was at a workable size and reduced half of it only so far (3 different sizes). The slices I put on pens are paper thin, one wrong move with a slice and it can tear easily as I try to get it as thin as possible.

Tiger face seems like a challenge and I will take it on one day, along with a wolf head. I try to limit my large canes to one every month or so as it's a lot of work involved to make and reduce such large canes. 





BeeAMaker said:


> Simply amazing!
> 
> For a beginner, I'm thinking maybe an emoji cane might be fairly simple, no? No blending ,just solid colors.
> 
> How hard do you think it would be to make my MakerHive logo (without the words) in a cane?




Thank you so much.  
An emoji cane is a little more difficult then it seems, especially for a beginner as they have lines (mouth) that can be a little harder to keep aligned when reducing. My suggestions for a beginner cane is a kaleidoscope cane, as there is really no rhyme or reason to them unless that is what you are seeking. Less detail is sometimes more in a kaleidoscope cane which is what can make them a nice easy cane to start with. Check out some Youtube vids for some nice and easy K-Canes. 

The hive drawing (cane) could be made with an extruder that shapes the clay for you and wrap a thin layer of black around the hexagon and stack into the hive shape, the gear around the outer edge would be a little more tricky.





Bob Kardell said:


> Those look incredible!  And thank you for the advice and explanation!
> 
> Do you sell your or just make them for your own use?
> 
> ...



Thank you so much Bob. I enjoy helping others to learn about it all.  
I sell most of my cane work in raw form for others to use, but I also keep a bunch for myself for pens and other creations.
Some canes I make solely for myself if I have a specific project, some of the canes I used on the pen I entered in the polyclay contest on here, were made just for myself for that reason, but most are for sale in my shop.

I was going to have a shamrock made for this St patty's day, but I hadn't been feeling too well and fell behind on how fast I was able to get my dolphin cane done. (Found out I have a vitamin D deficiency which slowed me down) But it is on my list of to do canes.


----------



## CREID (Mar 13, 2017)

I hadn't thought it was possible to be low on vitamin D until my doctor told me years ago that it is actually very common and I think he said the standards may be low but don't quote me on that it was years ago. I also learned that since I live in Washington state that for half the year it is not possible to get enough Vitamin D from the sun if you live north of approximately the Oregon California border. It is something my doctor checks all the time and I think Vitamin D helps with my diabetes.


----------



## CreativeCanes (Mar 13, 2017)

CREID said:


> I hadn't thought it was possible to be low on vitamin D until my doctor told me years ago that it is actually very common and I think he said the standards may be low but don't quote me on that it was years ago. I also learned that since I live in Washington state that for half the year it is not possible to get enough Vitamin D from the sun if you live north of approximately the Oregon California border. It is something my doctor checks all the time and I think Vitamin D helps with my diabetes.



I didn't realize it myself, I knew you could be low but didn't realize the severity of the issues that go along with it when you are. 
I am not one to go to a Doc unless something is really off and I was struggling, falling asleep at random times and couldn't wake up, I ached all over like I had a constant flu, felt drunk and woozy constantly (I rarely drink, maybe have two drinks a year).
I couldn't walk with out exhaustion, reducing my dolphin cane took everything in me and took several tries to get the energy enough to get it done, so I knew something wasn't right.
When the Doc called me, she said "You have extremely low vitamin D, the optimal range if anywhere from 50 to 70, normal is anywhere from 20 to 50 and you are at 7"  so she prescribed me a high dose of Vit D for 12 weeks 100,000 units per week, she will reassess after the 12 weeks. I think coming from a country (Australia) where sun is abundant to a state where it's really cold for 6 months out of a year (Minnesota), really messed me up. But I also had 3 skin cancer issues burnt off 3 years ago, so I have been in hiding and covering up since. I guess I am damned if I do and damned if I don't kind of thing here. But at least it's an easy fix and I will be good as gold again soon. Just need to take my vitamins I guess lol. Will be out in the garden again soon once spring hits, we just got another few inches of snow yesterday, so spring is taking it's sweet time. 
Glad to hear your's is under control and it helps your diabetes.


----------

