Blended Flower Polymer Clay Cane Tutorial

In this tutorial I'll be showing you how to make a blended flower polymer clay cane based on a Skinner Blend Ikat cane. This is a really simple but very effective cane that you can change up to suit all sorts of design ideas.

We will be using this flower cane in part two - the Thousand Flowers Collar Necklace.

You will need the following supplies:

White translucent, White, Wisteria, Purple and Periwinkle Premo polymer clay
A tissue blade
A pasta machine
An acrylic roller

How to Make a Blended Flower Polymer Clay Cane

The Petals

To start you’ll need three colors of polymer clay to create a three part skinner blend with. I'm using Wisteria, Purple and Periwinkle Premo.

See my 3 part Skinner Blend tutorial for instructions if you haven't made one before.
Run your Skinner Blend through on the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Then fold it in half and in half again, roll into a cylinder shape and then condense it.
Flatten out with your roller and roll through your pasta machine on the thickest setting, then the middle setting to lengthen the blend.
Trim up the edges.
Roll out a sheet of white polymer clay on the thinnest setting of your pasta machine and trim the ends.
Cut your blend and your white sheet into equal strips of around 1.5cm wide.
Lay your strips on top of one another alternating between the white and blend with the white offset from the blend as shown on the video. Continue until your Skinner Blend is all used up.
Trim away the edges.
Use your roller to form your stack into an even rectangle.
Reduce to a small square log.
Pinch the white side into a point using your fingers and your roller until you have a triangular cane.
Trim away the ends, then cut into nine equal length sections.
Place the sections together in three batches of three.
Take each batch and slowly shape it to form the white side into another point.
Trim up the edges.
Place the resulting triangles into a batch of three and repeat the process of forming a point. This is now your petal cane.
Cut into six pieces.
On the video I show how to put these pieces together to form a beautiful kaleidoscope cane.

Putting the Flower Together

Mold the tops of the triangles into a rounded shape like a petal.
Place three sections together to make two halves of a flower.
Roll out your white translucent into thin snakes. Make sure it is nice and soft. Use the snakes to carefully pack around the edges of the flower petals. See the video.
Place the two halves together and pack the remaining areas.
Roll out a sheet of white translucent and use it to wrap the cane.
Reduce it to a diameter of about 1cm. See the video for the correct procedure.
Cut off a piece of the cane and then reduce further. Repeat as many times as you like for as many sizes as you want.

On the video I show the process in much more detail, so be sure to check that out. We will be using this cane to make the beautiful thousand flowers collar necklace.