Making A Flower Cane

[thegirlygirl233]

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MAKEING THOSE?! THEY ARE SOOOO PRETTY!

[CharleneTherien]

@thegirlygirl233 *laugh* Thank you very much! Um, I started making polymer clay canes in 2003. I originally didn't want to make canes at all! I was teaching at a local Michael's craft store, and had this husband-wife team that was attending my classes. They begged me to teach them how to make canes, and that's what got me started. It's an addiction, hahaha. I've made... (lemme check).... 821 canes in the last 9 years. And that doesn't include the repeat canes. 

[BlueberrryCharms]

So how long do you bake it for? Do you cut your pieces first or bake first?

[CharleneTherien]

@BlueberrryCharms I use a special 'recipe' for the canes I intend for baking, so that the end result is a very flexible slice. Baking is done according to manufacturer's recommendations, 30 minutes per 1/4 inch of thickness. I slice my canes after they are baked. I've got a youtube video showing how I slice a nail art cane; just visit my channel and you'll be able to find the video.

[kroxx131998]

Can you use other types of clay also?

[CharleneTherien]

@kroxx131998 You could use any of the oven bake polymer clays brands, such as Fimo, Premo, Cernit, and Kato, The air-dry clays such as Makins Clay, aren't designed to stay soft, and would ruin your cane. Hope this helps!

[Skidder1369]

sorry but even thou u made it huge if i made it smaller would that have any effect??

[CharleneTherien]

@Skidder1369 Sure, you could use the same process to make it smaller! Let me know how it goes. :)

[HWMekdara]

why do you bake it.

[CharleneTherien]

@HWMekdara I baked this flower cane to use it for nail art. Slices of this flower design can be used like nail art stickers. If I didn't bake it, then the design could be used to decorate anything that was heat-safe up to 275 degrees farenheit. So glass, metal, and some plastics like Bic Stic pens. I use slices of my raw canes (unbaked canes) to make beads, to cover Altoid tins, to decorate the handles of crochet hooks, etcetera.

[MissCraftyChris]

So they are baked in the end?

How do they stay soft & pliable?

There are alot of tutorials on how the designs are made but I'm interested in info on the finishing/baking process.

[CharleneTherien]

@MissCraftyChris On this video, we were making Nail Art canes. Those are fimo canes that get reduced to 1/4 inch diameter and baked. We use a special "recipe" for Nail Art canes, so that they are firm yet flexible. Check out my slicing video (here on my YouTube channel) to see how the Nail Art canes are sliced.

[MissCraftyChris]

So they are baked in the end?

How do they stay soft & pliable?

There are alot of tutorials on how the designs are made but I'm interested in info on the finishing/baking process.

[CharleneTherien]

@MissCraftyChris Sure, I can help you with the finishing and baking process. I have some free tutorials on my website, catherienarts (dot) com. Look for the Polymer Clay Basics section. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to drop me an email - I always answer!

[AllThatMakeup18]

thats amazing how it started off huge and you got it to that, im gobsmacked, great job!!!

[BillyBobThe8th]

you funny

[starburs]

That's such a pretty flower! How would you make a cane that wasn't circular? like how it was before you packed it with the translucent clay?

[CharleneTherien]

@starburs Well, there is a way to make a cane without packing it with translucent clay. There is a tutorial (I believe you can find it on Etsy) for making a backgroundless cane. I don't own the rights to that information so I can't share that with you. But I know the tutorial is inexpensive and includes step-by-step instructions for not only making the cane but also eliminating the background. Hope that answers your question!

[BalayleeNails]

Um could u do this in a smaller scale...

[CharleneTherien]

@BalayleeNails Yes, it can certainly be done on a smaller scale! You could do this with as little as 2 ounces of clay.

[RunwayCats]

ur amazing !

[CharleneTherien]

@RunwayCats Thanks! :)

[UrshySlovenia]

that's great :) i had no idea how to do that

[CharleneTherien]

@UrshySlovenia Glad you liked it!

[Bingo1059]

My hagma (Yes, I mean Hagma I don't like her at all!) makes VERY intricate designs like this. Like people, owls, and such. They are usually very ugly, But I always wondered how she did it. This video was very interesting, and It was also shocking to see what a cane looks like when it's actually pretty. She did a great job!

[CharleneTherien]

@Bingo1059 I'm glad you liked the video and we will make more of these!

[HerMajestyTheLlama]

Well shoot. That is beautiful. Please do more of these :)

[CharleneTherien]

@HerMajestyTheLlama Thank you - I'll make sure to pass your compliments on to my daughter. I usually tell her whenever someone makes a comment on our cane video and she's always grateful that someone took time out of their day to leave a comment. We were talking about the video and both agreed that we should make more of them.

[CharleneTherien]

@MegaClayGirl That's my daughter. She was 21 when that video was made.

[Kiakoala818]

THAT ROCKS

[CharleneTherien]

@Kiakoala818 I'm glad you liked it!

[iluvag4ever]

woah..beautiful!!!

[CharleneTherien]

@iluvag4ever Thank you, very much!

[mysbeautiful1]

can you pleassee make more vids like this

[CharleneTherien]

@mysbeautiful1 Thank you! We do plan on making more instructional videos on how to make polymer clay canes.

[cutiepiesmile123]

You make your own canes?!?!?!??!?!??

[CharleneTherien]

@cutiepiesmile123 Yes, we do make our own canes. You can see them by going to our website, at catherienarts (dot) com.

[MissLizWolf]

thats so amazing<3

[CharleneTherien]

@MissLizWolf Thank you! We plan on making more videos.

[SkittlezAK]

=0 Thats alot of clay...

[CharleneTherien]

@SkittlezAK LOL, yes, it certainly is. We make large canes like that for our wholesale clients, so that they have enough stock on hand to sell to their retail customers.

[CharleneTherien]

Hi Epic Mickey, yes that is polymer clay! and it is easy to make a cane like that but smaller. If you visit my website you can learn more about making canes. My website is catherienarts (dot) com

[epicmickeymouse123]

is that polymer clay is it as easy to make smaller

[SuperShellTurtle]

how do u make it so it wont squish but its pliable x..x

[CharleneTherien]

@SuperShellTurtle The key thing for making the cane pliable but not squishy is the quality of the clay you use. Sculpey III is great for it's variety of colors and it's softness - but for making canes, it does tend to squish. However, if you mix Sculpey III with another brand of clay - like Fimo Soft, or Fimo Classic, or Premo... then you get the great colors Sculpey offers with the firmness of the Fimo or Premo. Give that mixture a try and let me know how it goes.

[4Firehott]

wow i see how much canes you made on your table i dont think i can afford that much clay

[CharleneTherien]

@4Firehott LOL, you can make your canes MUCH smaller - they don't have to be that big. The steps are the same, even if you only use one 2-oz package of clay per color (blue and green) and two packages of translucent (for packing the cane round).

[ducTape99]

That's beautiful! What did you use it for?

[CharleneTherien]

@ducTape99 We made the cane as part of a wholesale order for a beauty distributor.

[17roxursox1]

how much clay did that take you??????? must be alot

[CharleneTherien]

@17roxursox1 Oh and this was about 3.5 pounds of clay!

[krissykristen01]

it's rolling and rolling and rolling and rolling :P

[CharleneTherien]

@krissykristen01 hee hee, yeah my daughter has quite a sense of humor! :)

[pipsqeaukG6]

thats actually amazing 

[CharleneTherien]

@pipsqeaukG6 Glad you liked it. The same process (adjusted for "ingredients") is used to make christmas candy and holiday cookies that have images in them.

[DOLLiii3]

that is beautiful

great job

[CharleneTherien]

@DOLLiii3 Thank you!  We really enjoy making canes. :)

[CreativeCrafty]

You better watch that clay... I'm gonna steal it..... :D lolol

[CharleneTherien]

@CreativeCrafty LOL, thanks Creative Crafty! We're glad you like it.

[Janthie78]

How many canes do you get from this big block?

[CharleneTherien]

@Janthie78 About 600, Janthie. We were working on a big order for a wholesale customer who had ordered 9,000 canes for his beauty supply store.

[ShBeaver2]

wow you look just like me /panic lol

[debstan1]

wow i never realised how much work goes into these i new it wasnt easy but for the price these are sold its very cheap considering the work and time

[CharleneTherien]

@debstan1 That's a good observation, Deb. Yes, for the price we sell these at, they are very affordable when you consider the labor costs. Especially for a complicated cane like a hummingbird. That one takes me 12 hours just to create the cane; and then another hour to reduce it to our standard sizes and get it cut. This flower cane in the video took Margo about four hours to create, from start to finish; where I began filming it, she'd already been working on it for an hour .

[ReneeEsler89]

Wow. Is all i have to say to this. Its crazy and ur obviously good at it. Well done to you.

[CharleneTherien]

@ReneeEsler89 Thank you, Renee. I'm glad you liked it! :)

[leenstlouis]

funny, youre making canes and the guy in the back is playing wow. those are my two past times.

[CharleneTherien]

@leenstlouis ha ha ha! Yeah, that's my son playing WOW. We used to have my clay studio in the living room of the house. Everyone's computers were there and so it was always really busy. We've since moved my studio into the basement (both to give me more room, and to allow the family to have the living room and dining room back. We still have people playing WOW on a regular basis.

[TheJuicyLove08]

@CharleneTherien WOW! ALL That clay must cost you a fortune. i agree it takes TIIMEEE! to create a cane like this! do you have a shop any where?

[CharleneTherien]

@TheJuicyLove08 Yes, I have multiple online shops and I occasionally do shows. You can find all my online shops by going to my website, at catherienarts (dot) com. Thanks for asking!

[CygnusClayBakery]

Ok start reduceing BOOM!! :O

[CharleneTherien]

@CygnusClayBakery Hahaha - shocking, isn't it! Slam that cane on the floor and get it moving! But, it's really the best way to get a big cane like that to reduce, and all thanks to Jana Roberts Benson. A cane that size really only takes about 15 minutes of slamming and stretching to get it from six inches diameter to one inch diameter. That would be almost impossible with the traditional squeezing hourglass technique.

[AmazingCrafts]

This is adorable! Great tutorial!

[CharleneTherien]

@AmazingCrafts Thank you! I'm really glad you liked it. 

[k3llyvi3tcuti3]

Woahh...That must take a longg time..

[CharleneTherien]

@k3llyvi3tcuti3 Yes, it takes about three hours to make a simple 5-petal cane this size. But we don't always make them this big! Oftentimes our canes are about half this size, and so that tends to take longer. Depending on the level of difficulty, canes can take as little as an hour for a simple leaf cane, or as long as ten hours, for a hummingbird cane.

[CharleneTherien]

@CharleneTherien Whoops, I meant that canes half this size tend to take less time, not take longer!

[CharleneTherien]

@k3llyvi3tcuti3 Yes, a cane that size takes anywhere from four to twelve hours to complete, depending on the complexity of the picture inside the cane. This flower cane takes about four hours.

[hubbywubby2]

Cool

[kitty3309]

Holy crap! That is crazy!  :D

[CharleneTherien]

@kitty3309 LOL! I hope it's crazy in a *good* way.

[kitty3309]

@CharleneTherien Oh yes! I can`t believe how huge it is! XD

[Navitrolla]

its so cool. im gonna try that one :D

[CharleneTherien]

@Navitrolla I hope it comes out great for you!

[ILuvIjustine345]

Really nice but why did you make it SO big?? :L

[CharleneTherien]

@ILuvIjustine345 Great question! It's so big because we were filling a wholesale order from a customer overseas in Germany. He wanted 900 nail art canes in this design. It's better to make one big cane, so that all the smaller pieces are consistent in color and design, than to make 300 smaller canes that don't match. :)

[ILuvIjustine345]

@CharleneTherien wow..... any idea why he wanted 900?? :L

[CharleneTherien]

@ILuvIjustine345 Yes, he is a wholesale customer. He ordered 9,000 nail art canes; this design was just one of them. It was a huge order and took 11 people to complete it.

[ILuvIjustine345]

@CharleneTherien WOW, thats alot :O hope it went well :)

[CharleneTherien]

@ILuvIjustine345 Oh yeah, it went great! And it showed me that I could handle huge wholesale orders, even though I'm a fairly small business. :) You can see more canes like what he ordered by visiting the website: fimonailartcanes [dot] com.

[TheHugMuffin]

@CharleneTherien Wow!! So he wanted ten different canes!? 900 slices each! Wow!! Can't figure out how many nails that would take! Beautiful cane, by the way.

[CharleneTherien]

@TheHugMuffin He's a beauty supply distributor, so he sells the fimo to beauty shops and nail technicians who buy nail art from him. I sell it to him in bulk, and then he sells it to them at retail.

Thanks for your compliment! Would you like to see more of our fimo nail art? You can visit my website and see the Nail Art Gallery there, too: fimonailartcanes [dot] com.

[ezedanny]

oh my gosh!!! thanks for this video, since i meet this fimo mania, i was like: "how the heck they do it???" , i can't even imagine!

[CharleneTherien]

@ezedanny I'm glad you liked it! And of course, you would make your canes MUCH smaller. So instead of using about 1 pound of clay per color, you would use maybe 1 ounce.

[fashionjewelrybox]

awesome! how do you bake it???

[CharleneTherien]

@fashionjewelrybox I bake the canes at 275 degrees fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

[Helenbaybeeex3]

That is very pretty and u did it great

[CharleneTherien]

@Helenbaybeeex3 Thanks, Helen! This is one of our family's favorite videos. It was the first one we ever made, and even though it looked "home made", it still brings a smile to my face when I hear my daughter say, "And rolling, and rolling, and I'm going to be rolling this the rest of my life..." Heehee. :D

[Zavkara]

Wow, that looks so good.

I've seen so many different canes being made but never to this scale (at the start) it's so large. It does look amazing, but ouch, Expensive.

[CharleneTherien]

@Zavkara Right, Zavkara, it's one BIG cane. And canes don't need to be made this large, at all. Because we sell our canes at wholesale prices, we save both time and money by making them very large to begin with. A cane that size can result in 600 smaller pieces when it's all reduced.

[bunnygirle26]

wow this is lovely. Thanks for this vid it has been very helpful.

[CharleneTherien]

@bunnygirle26 I'm glad you liked it!

[SynestheticSoul]

Wow! That's amazing. I want to make canes too but I'm gonna need A LOT more clay than what I have! Haha. Thanks for the video!

[CharleneTherien]

@SynestheticSoul Ha ha, no you don't need that much clay! If you use about 4 - 6 ounces of clay, that's a very good size where you can get enough detail into the Skinner Blends to make the cane interesting, and yet not making it so large that it will take you ten years to use.

[TeenPranksters]

should make sushi pieces...... is it hard the canes like eraser hard or soft like you can smash it(by accident of course)

[CharleneTherien]

@TeenPranksters I've seen someone who makes sushi canes and they look pretty realistic. (I love sushi, by the way).

These canes are stiff like a pencil eraser, and about the same level of difficulty if you were shaving slices off the eraser, too. Good analogy!

[doghappy101]

that is really good! i wish i could it perfect like that

thank you :D

[CharleneTherien]

@doghappy101 Just keep practicing, Doghappy. You'll get there.

I heard once that it takes about 5 years of consistent cane making to get to the point where your results are reliably good. I would say that's fairly accurate for most people. To date, I've made almost 800 canes in the last 7 years, and I would say my canework didn't really get predictable until around 2007 or so. Keep on keeping on, and learn from every cane you make.

[XpressYourStyle]

Wooooww! so much hard workk . 

[CharleneTherien]

@XpressYourStyle Yeah it does take a lot of work to make big canes like that, but smaller canes usually aren't that difficult, if they have the same level of complexity as this flower. Give it a try... :)

[CharleneTherien]

@DreamBubble101 Hi Dreambubble, nope you don't need to bake them. But there are some rules you should follow, so take a look at the advice I wrote to SassyDarlings and Pollyfnd.

[molkofolk]

Omg i didnt know that there is so much work to get a little fimo slice...respect

[CharleneTherien]

@molkofolk Thanks so much! It's the reason we made the video; so that our clients and customers could get an idea of what the process was. We show the video when we exhibit at shows, and it really helps people to get a grasp on the technique.

[CharleneTherien]

@molkofolk Heehee. Yeah, it can be a pretty lengthy process, but that's why handcrafted fimo canes are so expensive; it's not that the materials cost so much, it's the labor that usually is the issue.

[ezedanny]

@molkofolk lol i'm almost getting blind cutting these... lol

[pollyfnd]

@DreamBubble101 yes u can and u need to bake them first

[CharleneTherien]

@pollyfnd Actually, you don't need to bake them first. Raw polymer clay can be used very effectively in nail art, as long as two important rules are followed: 1, the raw fimo needs to be super thin; and 2, the raw polymer needs to be generously encased in gel or acrylic enhancement. If you want to get a free PDF demo of using raw fimo in nail art, just drop me a note through youtube.

[petmagnetetal]

you should make more polymer clay videos!

i would love to see more projects!

[CharleneTherien]

@petmagnetetal Thanks so much! And yes, we do plan on making more videos. I love doing them. I just don't have the time right now. But more will be coming - so subscribe to my youtube channel, so you get notified when another video gets posted.

[SassyDarlings]

hey i'm surprised that's how you make flower fimo canes. i was always wondering how to make a small fimo canes...... btw what if you can't bake a fimo. what method can you use???

[CharleneTherien]

@SassyDarlings I use raw fimo for nail art all the time! You can download a free demo that is a PDF file by contacting me via message here on youtube. I can give you the link to it. It shows how to use the raw fimo with nail art. It was an article I published in the May issue of Nails Magazine.

[TheMontanaMuse]

I'm making flower cane pendants. How much did you use clay wise? That's amazing! Can you show us how to do a rose?

[CharleneTherien]

@TheMontanaMuse -- Congrats on making flower cane pendants. Aren't they fun? And to answer your question: we used about 3 pounds of clay to make that video. I do have more videos planned, but my schedule is pretty tight right now, so we aren't actively working on one. But they will be coming, so I recommend subscribing to my videos so you can see the next time one is posted.

[munkie10111]

o  my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sunshinerainbowbrat]

How did u do That?????????????????

[CharleneTherien]

LOL! Thanks for the comment, sunshine. It takes a lot of practice. Just like learning to play a musical instrument, learning how to make canes means doing it, again and again. Give it a try! (But use about a fifth of the amount of clay we used!)

[sunshinerainbowbrat]

what type of clay do you suggest to make miniature charms

[CharleneTherien]

For miniature charms I would recommend a clay that has a lot of strength after baking. So Fimo is a very good clay for this. Kato is a good choice, too. If you buy the new formula of Kato, it is softer and easier to work with than the older formula. Good luck on making your charms!

[almantaite]

wow thats a huge amount of clay lol. do you use it all ?

[mama2aDramaPrincess]

Wow. Looks like a lot of work! But comeout super cute.

[MsShanarun]

Thanks for posting. A great visual to learning about reducing -fun to watch the process. :)

[loidaeg]

wow!!! just wow!!! great job =) that is one big cane! biggest one i've seen =D I am curious though...how do you keep your white clay clean? I saw you on the floor pounding that thing. I always get little hairs or stuff that's floating through the air on my whites. It sucks. lol And what kind of clay were you using here?

[CharleneTherien]

Hi Loidaeg,

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the video!

Keeping the white clay clean: That's a really hard thing to do. Now, we did have a piece of tempered glass that Margo was banging the cane onto. She wasn't smacking it right onto the carpet -- that would be a huge mess!

We use a combination of clays, primarily fimo and premo. Thanks again for your comment on our video.

[loidaeg]

yeah i noticed the glass she was using =) if i did that though I'd get little hairs that float in the air stuck onto my white clay. lol thanks for the reply =)

[MicrowavedTofu]

holy crap how many beads did that make?!

[CharleneTherien]

We sell our canes in our website, etsy, and ebay stores, so I don't know how many beads exactly it would make. It would depend on how many slices were on each bead, and how big the bead was, and so on.

[Fordeadlysin]

omg thats a lot of clay xD

[CharleneTherien]

hahaha, yes it is. Thanks!

[Raych1974]

Wow! That's amazing. I don't know if I have the attention span or the hand strength to do that. I've just recently starting experimenting with clay. I didn't realize how much hand strength you needed to do this stuff.

How much clay was that? You probably don't buy the little squares at Hobby Lobby, do you? LOL

[CharleneTherien]

Hi Raych,

This was approximately 5 pounds of clay, and no we don't buy it at Hobby Lobby. We order it from Munro Crafts.

[CharleneTherien]

Thanks, Mystherie!

[tzujic]

a biiig cane hahahah nice work

[TheRainDropWorld]

i subbed you! i love the work!

[CatTherien]

Hi RainDrop,

Thanks for subscribing to our videos. I hope our videos inspire you!

[TheRainDropWorld]

it does inspire me!

[ItsCassie7411]

oooh kinda like making candy

[CharleneTherien]

Right, it's the same technique, essentially.

[CharleneTherien]

Thanks, BRG. We love making canes.

[brg1769]

wow!! im amazed!!

[strawberryme08]

This is AMAZING to see! I had NO clue it all started that big! Great job!

[CuteYummy4]

yea.. they allso make the candy with the letters in it.....the same way

[LaLaObeRoT]

What's the guy in the backgrounf playing ? Quake ?

[MrsG36]

How long do you bake the cane for?

[Wagsue]

Wow that was great! I would love to see how you do a butterfly too? x

[SweetAngelGirl]

Beautiful cane by the way :)

[CharleneTherien]

Thank you! I'll let Margo know of your compliment.

[SweetAngelGirl]

how can you afford all that clay?? doesn't it cost around $5 per small packet?

[Song2Cure]

wow that is alot of clay i do not have that much can i make it smaller??????????

[CharleneTherien]

Sure, you can make it any size you wish.