This tutorial is dedicated to a friend, Terry. She came up with the idea of creating a peony cane, and I asked if she would mind if I gave it a try, too. This is my version of the flower.
TOOLS
Kato® NuBlade
Amaco® Acrylic rod
Bamboo Skewer
Pasta machine
Ruler
Work surface
MATERIALS
Polymer clay in the following colors
2 oz. Fimo® Soft color, any flower color you choose
2 oz. Fimo® Soft White
4 oz. Fimo® Soft Translucent
Hint: This cane can be made with many variations of color, as long as there is good contrast between the three colors you choose.
Step 1: Cut the flower color and white color of clay into slices and then roll them into large sheets. Begin with the white clay, and stand the clay block on it’s edge. Slice the block into thirds, each section approximately 1/8″ thick (Fig 1). Set your pasta machine to it’s widest setting and roll one of the white slices through it, one section at a time. Stack two flattened sections together and run them through the pasta machine. Add the other flattened section and roll the whole thing together, until the white clay is one large sheet (Fig. 2). Repeat this step with the blue clay.
Step 2: Make a blended sheet of clay using the white and blue colors . Trim the two sheets of clay into a 4-inch square (Fig. 3). Set the excess aside for use later in this project. Lay the two sheets side by side. Cut each square in half, diagonally (Fig. 4). Put one triangle from each color together to form a square, and press them together where they join each other (Fig. 5). Put the other blue triangle on top of the square, rotating the triangle 1/4 turn (Fig. 6). Add the remaining white triangle and press them together where they join (Fig. 7).
Pick up the stack and rotate it to the left a quarter turn. The white layers should be facing west and the blue layers facing east. Run it through the pasta machine at the thickest setting (Fig. 8 ). Fold the sheet in half from bottom to top (Fig. 9). Press the fold closed (Fig. 10). Run through the pasta machine again, with the fold going through the rollers first. Repeat the folding and passing through the pasta machine approximately 20 times, until there are no streaks of color and the blend is even (Fig. 11).
Step 3: Form the sheet into a blended roll. Fold the sheet of clay into thirds, beginning at the bottom, folding the bottom edge to the center (Fig. 12). Fold the top edge down over the other half (Fig. 13). Press from the center out toward the ends of the folded sheet, sealing out any air. Pick up the folded sheet and rotate it a quarter turn to the left. Put the light end of the folded sheet into the pasta machine at it’s thickest setting (Fig. 14). This will create a long ribbon of clay. Do not fold the clay ribbon at all. Set the machine to the middle thickness, and run the clay ribbon through the machine again.
You will end up with a very long ribbon of clay (Fig. 15). Lay the ribbon of clay straight, with the darker end facing you and trim the end (Fig. 16). Begin rolling the clay ribbon up into a roll (Fig. 17), keeping the roll tight and straight until you have rolled the entire ribbon up(Fig. 18). Turn the roll on one end and press it against your work surface to even it up. Roll the excess white clay (that you had cut away from the square in Step 2) into a ball. Flatten the ball until it is 1/8 inch in diameter and run it through the pasta machine at the thickest setting. Fold the strip in half lengthwise, and press the fold closed. Put the strip through the pasta machine again, with the narrow end first. Trim this strip to the width of your blended roll, and wrap it around the roll once (Fig. 19) and trim where the two ends meet (Fig. 20).
Step 4: Cut the blended roll into wedges and recombine. Stand your blended roll on end once more. Use your blade to cut straight down through the center of the blend (Fig. 21). (Sometimes wiggling or gently sawing the blade as you move down through the clay makes the cut smoother). Lay each half on it’s rounded side and cut in half (Fig. 22). Cut each of the wedges in half (Fig. 23). You should end up with 8 wedges (Fig. 24).
Pick up one of the wedges and using both hands, press the point toward the rounded side while at the same time pressing up with each white edge of the wedge (Fig. 25). Repeat this pressing all down the length of the wedge, which will get a bit longer than it originally was (Fig. 26). Repeat with the other 7 wedges (Fig. 27). Lay the wedges side-by-side on your work surface, so that the color is facing all the same direction (Fig. 28). Begin squeezing this row together at the middle, keeping the wedges from buckling (Fig. 29). Continue to squeeze the row just until it is taller than it is wide (Fig. 30).
Then give the row a quarter-turn (Fig. 31) and press along the length of the row with the palm of your hand until the row is squared (Fig. 32). Continue pressing and turning this square row until the row is about 13 inches long (Fig. 33). Trim the ends until you see the white stripes, approximately ½ inch from each end. Cut the row into 4 sections, each about 3 inches long (Fig. 34).
Lay the sections side-by-side (Fig. 35). The pattern should look like Fig. 36. Press that row into a square by squeezing the sides, then rotating a quarter turn and press with your palm along the length of the row until the end is square; but do not let it get longer than 2-3 inches. To keep it approximately that length while you are squaring it up, stand the row on it’s end and press as you are doing the quarter turns (Fig. 37). Trim the ends and take a look– you now have a striped square cane (Fig. 38
Step 5: Round out the cane and cut the petal sections. Pinch the corners of the blue side toward the center, creating a peak, all along the length of the cane (Fig. 39). The point doesn’t have to be sharp. Flip the cane over and do the same thing with the white side (Fig. 40). Press the peaks in toward the center if they stand out very much, and then gently begin rolling the cane back and forth on your work surface (Fig. 41). Continue rolling the cane as it gets longer, keeping the diameter even. You want to use the flat of your palm at this stage, not your fingertips; and you want to roll evenly, so watch the cane to make sure the lines don’t get twisted. (If they begin to twist, just stop rolling, gently twist the cane so the lines are relatively straight again, and go back to rolling. The key is not to roll too fast, and to roll with your palms horizontal to your work surface.) Continue rolling until the cane is approximately 8 inches long.
Trim one end, and cut 3 pieces that are 1 inch long each (Fig. 42). Set them aside for the next step. Go back to rolling out the cane, until it is 8 inches long, and cut 4 pieces that are 1 inch long. Set these aside also. Roll the cane again to just over 8 inches, trim the ends, and cut 8 pieces that are 1 inch. You should have 15 pieces of graduating size (Fig. 43). (Note: you can alter the diameter, length, and number of these pieces to change the look of your next peony cane.)
Step 6: Form the sections into petals, and the petals into a flower. Gather up the excess blue clay from Step 2 and roll it into a ball. Flatten the ball until it is 1/8 inch thick and pass it through the thickest setting on your pasta machine. Fold it lengthwise and pass it through again, narrow end first. Reset your machine to a thin setting, and pass the blue clay through it again, narrow end first. You should now have a thin strip similar to the ribbon you made in Step 2. Set this aside for use later in this step. Press one of the smallest pieces onto your acrylic rod, blue side down, forming the piece to the rod (Fig. 44, Fig. 45). Take your wooden skewer and press into the clay lengthwise, creating an indentation in the center of the piece. You will want to press it in at least halfway through the thickness to make a deep indentation. Repeat the indentation on either side of the center, to make a total of three dents in the clay (Fig. 46). Cut a 1 inch wide section from the blue strip, and press it to the long edge of the clay on your acrylic rod. Use your tool to guide the strip into the indentations (Fig. 47). Work slowly so you don’t trap air between the pieces of clay, and you don’t stretch the blue strip too much (Fig. 48). Trim the excess blue away from the cane piece with your blade and set the rod aside, careful not to lay it down on the clay attached to it.
Use the excess blue from the sheet you had rolled to roll a thin roll of clay (Fig. 49).
It should be thin enough in diameter to fit into the indentation you made with your tool (Fig. 50). Fill each of the indentations with thin rolls of blue clay. Then carefully peel the petal off the acrylic rod (Fig. 51).
Roll the petal up lengthwise (Fig. 52). It should look similar to Fig. 53. Repeat this step to make another petal, and attach one side of it to the rolled-up one (Fig. 54). Make a third petal and overlap it slightly atop the second one (Fig. 55). Continue making petals and wrapping them around the others, slightly overlapping each one (Fig. 56), but do not use the three largest ones. (Note: Be very careful about air spaces between the petals. Make sure you press each petal against the previous ones so that no air pockets form in your cane. These are very difficult to press out after the cane is formed.) After all the small and medium pieces are in the cane, you should have three large ones left. Press one of these to your rod and make the indentations, but you can make more than three if you desire. I did 5, but that is my personal preference. Cover the piece with a blue strip as before, but instead of making thin blue rolls of clay and inserting those into the spaces, you will now add a strip of translucent clay (Fig. 57).
Put thin rolls of translucent into the indentations (Fig. 58). Peel the petal off the acrylic rod and put around the flower cane so that it covers approximately 1/3 the distance around the cane. Stretch it slightly if necessary. Repeat with the other two large sections, and completely encircle the cane with them (Fig. 59). Using the rest of your translucent strip, wrap the cane with it. You may need more of your translucent to do this, but you probably will not use the entire 4 ounces.
Step 7: Reduce the cane into useable sections. Grasp the cane around the middle with your thumb and forefinger. Squeeze just a bit, and then rotate the cane a little and squeeze again. Repeat this squeezing and rotating until the cane takes on an hourglass shape and the squeezed diameter is about 1 inch (Fig. 60). Work that squeezing toward one of the ends– the cane gets longer and thinner, and the ends bulge out. Work slowly, don’t press too deeply, but continue squeezing until the entire length of the cane is about an inch in diameter. Roll it gently on your work surface with the palms of your hands to smooth out the cane. Do a rolling cut with your blade, by slowly rolling the cane on your work surface as you gently press your blade down through it (Fig. 61). Take a look at your peony (Fig. 62)– congratulations!
Peony Cane © 2005-2007 by C. A. Therien. All rights reserved.
