These are very brief instructions. A detailed example (step-by-step with pictures) of how to create a skinner blend can be seen in our tutorial, Terry’s Peony Cane, found in our Tutorials.
- Roll out your clay.
- Condition and soften your clay colors well. Two or more colors are used to blend together.
- Roll out your clay on #1 for an Atlas pasta machine or to 1/8″ with an acrylic roller.
- Cut each color into a long, thin triangle.
- Place two colors side by side, with points flipped opposite one another.
- Press together at seams. Variations:
- Stack 2 clay sheets on top of each other, and cut diagonally across the stack. Reassemble stack with opposite colors for each layer (i.e., black/white on bottom, white/black on top). Make sure side colors match but top colors cross bottom ones.
- Roll a single color sheet and position with the length horizontally on your surface. Cut into triangles but don’t separate. Roll thin logs of color and place between the cut edges. Roll as in step 2.
- Roll 3 or more colors into triangles and press together side-by-side with points flipped. Roll as in step 2.
- Blend the colors. It’s easier to do this process with a pasta machine, but it is possible without one. Fold the clay in half from bottom to top. Roll this folded sheet through the pasta machine on #1 or by roller until clay is the same thickness originally.
- Repeat this folding and rolling approximately 20 times, each time beginning at the fold and rolling toward the ends.
