EASY FLOWER CANES

I used to wine about I don't like to make cane. I think it is because I was afraid to make mistake and made some not so perfect cane that I can't stand to look at. This flower cane method is easy (for me) and I get the same result every time. My friend, Jackie, sent me a box of scrap clay. I sort through it and found a small stack of white layers clay between brown clay. I played with it and came up with the idea of using skinner blend log instead of white clay. And here it is.

1. Roll out a sheet of skinner blend. There are many combination you can choose from. Keep one end white and other end dark. For example; white- yellow,-orange, or, white-pink,-red or white-fuchsia-purple. Since the dark color will be in the middle of the cane, make the sheet with more light color than dark. My log is about 1/2" dia. and 6" long.

2 Cover the log with Brown or Black thin sheet of clay

3. Press the log down and even the size. Keep it within 1" wide, until you can put it through the pasta machine at the thickest setting. (I am using Imperia and it might be a tad bigger than most). Cut in 1/2 and stack on top of each other. Cut into 3" pieces and cut in 1/2 lengthwise.

4. Roll a tiny snake with Brown clay, fill the gap on the top of each section with it (see the picture). This will help round up the top of the petals.

5. Squeeze the other end together, then start to put each petal section together. Fill the gap of each section with a tiny snake clay like before

6. Stack the petal sections into a round, donut shape, fill the middle with some left over cane. I like the simple jelly roll with lots of color. Gently squeeze the flower cane so all the sections came together. That's all. Now you have a cute and easy flower cane.

I used these canes for many different way and I will show you how to use these cane to make cute earrings soon. Thanks for watching. Any question or comments are greatly appreciated.