Brief explanation to make a PC Tube

[ronin2024]

Everytime I see your work I see a piece of Art. I am always amazed on what you produce.

I think a video tutorial from you would be awesome!!! :biggrin:

 

[rkimery]

Thank you, but what did you think of my quick tut?

Toni, it works! Thanks.

 

[Charlie_W]

Toni, It was great seeing your live demo at MAPG! We bought several of your beautiful blanks. Now to get to turning them.

 

[Lashaby]

PC turns quite well on the lathe, you just need to have a light hand.

 

[Skie_M]

I hope this is posted in the right place:biggrin:

I would like to explain alittle about how my pens are made, since I dont have the tutorial yet to post. BEWARE I have an interesting way of writing tutorials

1. I dont turn.
2. I dont use blanks.
3. I dont use CA

Now that you know that I will explain briefly how I make my "TUBES".

Equipement: Polymer clay for a base layer, pasta machine or roller, pre-made canes or canes you made(this post is not going to teach you how to make a cane!!) a sharp blade, oven, sandpaper and muselin buffing wheel and your choice of gloss/finish

***Baking Polymer Clay does give off plasticizer residue/fumes they are not toxic(thats what all the literature says), but it is recommended that you either cover your piece that you are baking in the oven with a tinfoil tent or a large baking dish(you know for making loafs(ask your wives)) OR you can purchase a toaster or convection oven and use that just for polymer clay. sorry i forgot to mention that..i have to use a toaster oven as the ovens in New Zealand are sooo small, no thanksgiving turkeys in there, lucky if a chicken will fit. For those of you that have baked in your home oven it has not been enough for you to worry about..again my apologizes

I use a sheet of pc (polymer clay) to cover the tube, pc needs to be conditioned before you use it. To condition the clay you can roll it on a tile to get it soft and pliable or you can run it through the pasta machine till you dont see any cracks. (if this step is not done your clay will crack or worse all the work you have done will crumble off the tube)

Once conditioned run the clay through the pasta machine, a thin sheet. Wrap this sheet around the tube, cuting it where they join, smooth out the seam.

I take a cane, you can see photos of them in my etsy shop (http://www.toninz.etsy.com) and cut slices off using a sharpe blade, Thomas Scientific Blade(they can be purchased online,they are as sharp as(kiwi lingo)) I do this with all the canes I am going to use for my design. hint: slice them as thin as possible!!

Apply these slices onto the tube(which has a pc sheet wrapped around it, this acts like glue!!) if you place a slice on the tube and want to move it good luck it will rip!! so think first before you start putting on the slices.

After you have put a few on, roll on a large tile,ie..the ones you use to tile your kitchen floor, plain white is perfect you dont want one that has indentations!! APPLY LIGHT PRESSURE when rolling; be gentle guys. Then apply more slices, roll again, continue to add slices and roll till you have covered the tube.

While rolling the tube clay will begin to move to the ends, use your blade to slice off the clay that is not adhered to the tube.

When you are done rolling and its smooth. Place the tube on a flat tile standing upright. Bake it in the oven acccording to the manufacturers directions(all pc artist that write tutorials are supposed to say that) for 30-40minutes. The tube will look like the first picture.

The second picture shows you the inner view of the tube, hopefully this photo explains ALOT!! Clay on the outside, metal tube on the inside.

Once cooled,start sanding that baby with 600 or 800 grit, be careful you dont want to sand off the millefiori, so sand till you have it nice and smooth, move onto the next grit, same thing as above be careful, keep sanding till you are at 2,000 grit. You are now done sanding. do you still have your fingerprints??

Buff it on a muselin wheel or your jeans( I dont, but you can) and coat it with CA or whatever gloss you have, I use floor polish to seal in the shine. Should shine like glass before you even apply this coating.

Assemble your pen and viola you are done!! Now you have some insight on how to make a polymer clay tube ala Toni.

I promise I will get a better tutorial with step by step photos ASAP.

Looks like a nice basic tutorial, I hope you don't mind if I add a few other modern details provided by another world-class polymer clay artist...


Canes
Click here to learn how to make some basic flower canes. Once you have the cane, you slice vertically to get a cross section of the end of the cane that has your entire design. You want the slice to be as thin as possible so that you can layer them over your base coat of polyclay without making your tube so thick that it won't bake properly.

If your polyclay is thicker than about 1/4 of an inch, it can develop cracks when baked. You can bake your polyclay more than once, but every trip to the oven means that the chances of developing "moonies" which are air bubbles under the surface, increases.

To make it easier to slice, you can refrigerate your canes, as that will make them a little stiffer and less prone to deform. Also, as you slice them, first, make a scoring cut where you intend to slice, and then rock the blade back and forth in a sawing motion, ROLLING THE CANE AS YOU CUT THROUGH IT. Use gentle pressure and you should end up with a perfect thin slice. Lay this on your project in whatever orientation strikes your fancy, and go cut some more... You will have various canes to work with that include multiple types of flowers, leaves, clouds, insects, ect ...

When rolling out your canes to smaller sizes, if you don't have a large smooth ceramic tile, then a leftover chunk of hard surface countertop material like quartz or granite should suffice .... or a spare piece of window glass with sanded-safe edges.


Clay Mix
Generally, most PC artists use a single type of clay in multiple colors to make their works, and it seems the same is true of Toni's work, but there's just no one perfect clay out there. Some clays work extremely well, but are brittle when baked ... some clays are harder to work, but become very strong and resilient when baked. To get to a happy medium, MIX YOUR CLAY. For example, a nice mix for all-round use is about 1/3 Premo, 1/3 ProSculpt, 1/3 Super Sculpey, and add about 1/12th Cernit to the mix. If you can't find Cernit, you could try adding Fimo or Kato to the mix. You don't need a lot, it's one of those clays that are super soft to work, and result in a much stronger resilient clay in the end, and those are properties you want in spades.


Cleanliness
Clay is a very sticky substance - to say, that a LOT of things will stick to clay when you don't want it to. Keep a spare ball of clay near your work area, and remember that it's your "dirty" clay. Every so often, you'll want to roll that ball around in your hands to pick up any lint, hair, or stray fibers that you may be picking up from your surroundings.

Better that it goes into the "dirty" clay than into the top layers of your masterpiece. Any time that you are going to be making something where you need a base coat layer, you could use the dirty clay for that, as long as it's not visible from the top.

Remember to wash your hands before returning to your work table, too, and if you see any lint or hair or other foreign object in your clay, take the time to remove it right away while it's still near the surface and you can see it. Picking it out after you've baked it means you've got a void below the surface and it's much harder to fix.


Dried Out Clay?
If you leave your PC projects laying about in the open air, they will dry out and become brittle. Keep them in zip-lock bags if you can, or some other sealed storage units. If they do dry out a bit, spritz a small amount of water into the bag and seal it and leave it for a few hours ... the water will be absorbed into the polyclay.


Baking
With these clays, a good all-round rule of thumb is to bake for 30 minutes, covered, at around 270 degrees (which is fairly close to the median temp for these clays). You should let it cool SLOWLY. If it's so hot that you can barely touch it without burning, leave it be ... while it's still hot it's going to be pliable, but cooling too fast will make it brittle. DO NOT FORCE COOL IT IN WATER OR THE FRIDGE.

Using a rack system that suspends your tubes (or other projects) in the air works good, but you can also "pre-bake" and then do a full bake with your project resting on a more solid surface. To pre-bake, you will heat your project with a heat gun to give it a tough outer "skin" .... do not assume that this will fully cure your polyclay. You're only drying the outer layers out and giving it a very thin skin to protect it from deformation. This layer is brittle and should be handled carefully.


Sanding/Smoothing
Since you put such thin layers on the outside, sanding aggressively will destroy all your hard work .... be careful and only sand where you must. It may be a better idea to just do a finish sanding and then build up over top your work with CA to your bushing size and then do your final sand/polish. If you find that sanding seems to result in a rougher appearance than you want, you can sand with a bit of baby oil. Just a few drops can make a world of difference in smoothing out your sanding job. DO NOT USE BABY OIL BEFORE YOU HAVE BAKED YOUR CLAY. It will turn into goop... goop is not pretty.


Finishing
Polyclay, after baking, can still be painted. If you need to do any kind of touch-up work, you can use special paints, like Genesis Heat-Set Paints. This can be used to add subtle color shifts and changes and can then be baked into your work.

To protect all that hard work from everyday life, like spills and stains, you'll want to add something waterproof and clear. CA finish or some kind of wax finish that adds a hard surface with lustre and shine can really make your work stand out.



I still think we need a polyclay forum, Toni ....

[edit - forgot to credit that other world-class polyclay artist ..... Her name is Apryl Jensen. She makes Fairies. Click Here For Stunning Works Of Art.]

 

[edstreet]

Hate to say it but you posted a number of wrong things.


Also for the record I tried to get a clay forum for Toni but that was rejected. See the drama over the vendor forum for details. The rest of the saga occurred in pm and on the phone. Long story short and no drama version they wanted to cater to vendors rather than expert craftsman and professionals.

 

[Skie_M]

So, no forum? Can we get it stickied?

What all did I say that was wrong?

 

[Carl Fisher]

Well that's kinda silly. Under the Blank Making forum there are 2 already for casting/stabilization and segmenting. Seems to me like that would be a natural place for a clay sub-forum.

Not knowing what went on behind the scenes however, all I can do is shrug.

Someone keeps resurrecting some pretty old threads lately.

 

[Sabaharr]

I have recently become interested in this medium for pen blanks so I turned to my old tried and true source for information, YouTube. There are a multitude of videos on making the canes and even a few dedicated to making these same type of pen blanks with tips on how to turn them. They make them for the resale market and oversized so they can be turned to fit the hardware.

 

[edstreet]

Looks like a nice basic tutorial, I hope you don't mind if I add a few other modern details provided by another world-class polymer clay artist...


Canes
Click here to learn how to make some basic flower canes. Once you have the cane, you slice vertically to get a cross section of the end of the cane that has your entire design. You want the slice to be as thin as possible so that you can layer them over your base coat of polyclay without making your tube so thick that it won't bake properly.

If your polyclay is thicker than about 1/4 of an inch, it can develop cracks when baked. You can bake your polyclay more than once, but every trip to the oven means that the chances of developing "moonies" which are air bubbles under the surface, increases.

To make it easier to slice, you can refrigerate your canes, as that will make them a little stiffer and less prone to deform. Also, as you slice them, first, make a scoring cut where you intend to slice, and then rock the blade back and forth in a sawing motion, ROLLING THE CANE AS YOU CUT THROUGH IT. Use gentle pressure and you should end up with a perfect thin slice. Lay this on your project in whatever orientation strikes your fancy, and go cut some more... You will have various canes to work with that include multiple types of flowers, leaves, clouds, insects, ect ...

When rolling out your canes to smaller sizes, if you don't have a large smooth ceramic tile, then a leftover chunk of hard surface countertop material like quartz or granite should suffice .... or a spare piece of window glass with sanded-safe edges.


Clay Mix
Generally, most PC artists use a single type of clay in multiple colors to make their works, and it seems the same is true of Toni's work, but there's just no one perfect clay out there. Some clays work extremely well, but are brittle when baked ... some clays are harder to work, but become very strong and resilient when baked. To get to a happy medium, MIX YOUR CLAY. For example, a nice mix for all-round use is about 1/3 Premo, 1/3 ProSculpt, 1/3 Super Sculpey, and add about 1/12th Cernit to the mix. If you can't find Cernit, you could try adding Fimo or Kato to the mix. You don't need a lot, it's one of those clays that are super soft to work, and result in a much stronger resilient clay in the end, and those are properties you want in spades.


Cleanliness
Clay is a very sticky substance - to say, that a LOT of things will stick to clay when you don't want it to. Keep a spare ball of clay near your work area, and remember that it's your "dirty" clay. Every so often, you'll want to roll that ball around in your hands to pick up any lint, hair, or stray fibers that you may be picking up from your surroundings.

Better that it goes into the "dirty" clay than into the top layers of your masterpiece. Any time that you are going to be making something where you need a base coat layer, you could use the dirty clay for that, as long as it's not visible from the top.

Remember to wash your hands before returning to your work table, too, and if you see any lint or hair or other foreign object in your clay, take the time to remove it right away while it's still near the surface and you can see it. Picking it out after you've baked it means you've got a void below the surface and it's much harder to fix.


Dried Out Clay?
If you leave your PC projects laying about in the open air, they will dry out and become brittle. Keep them in zip-lock bags if you can, or some other sealed storage units. If they do dry out a bit, spritz a small amount of water into the bag and seal it and leave it for a few hours ... the water will be absorbed into the polyclay.


Baking
With these clays, a good all-round rule of thumb is to bake for 30 minutes, covered, at around 270 degrees (which is fairly close to the median temp for these clays). You should let it cool SLOWLY. If it's so hot that you can barely touch it without burning, leave it be ... while it's still hot it's going to be pliable, but cooling too fast will make it brittle. DO NOT FORCE COOL IT IN WATER OR THE FRIDGE.

Using a rack system that suspends your tubes (or other projects) in the air works good, but you can also "pre-bake" and then do a full bake with your project resting on a more solid surface. To pre-bake, you will heat your project with a heat gun to give it a tough outer "skin" .... do not assume that this will fully cure your polyclay. You're only drying the outer layers out and giving it a very thin skin to protect it from deformation. This layer is brittle and should be handled carefully.


Sanding/Smoothing
Since you put such thin layers on the outside, sanding aggressively will destroy all your hard work .... be careful and only sand where you must. It may be a better idea to just do a finish sanding and then build up over top your work with CA to your bushing size and then do your final sand/polish. If you find that sanding seems to result in a rougher appearance than you want, you can sand with a bit of baby oil. Just a few drops can make a world of difference in smoothing out your sanding job. DO NOT USE BABY OIL BEFORE YOU HAVE BAKED YOUR CLAY. It will turn into goop... goop is not pretty.


Finishing
Polyclay, after baking, can still be painted. If you need to do any kind of touch-up work, you can use special paints, like Genesis Heat-Set Paints. This can be used to add subtle color shifts and changes and can then be baked into your work.

To protect all that hard work from everyday life, like spills and stains, you'll want to add something waterproof and clear. CA finish or some kind of wax finish that adds a hard surface with lustre and shine can really make your work stand out.



I still think we need a polyclay forum, Toni ....

[edit - forgot to credit that other world-class polyclay artist ..... Her name is Apryl Jensen. She makes Fairies. Click Here For Stunning Works Of Art.]

Lets see here.

clay mix, mixing to that recipe you list will inject more problems than you want to deal with so just stick with a single brand. Unless you know what ingredients are in each.

Dried out clay is a result of leech effects over time, keeping the clay in a bag will not stop or hinder the process at all. Also clay and water is a big no-no. The bane of all pen blanks is water. Clay does *NOT* absorb water at all.

Baking you really should follow the manufactures recomendations on that and I can tell you factually that 30 mins at 270F you can EASILY underbake the clay. slow cool vs fast cool has no results as for the final product being brittle.

Heat guns are more often used for modelers and large project usage and not pen tubes, don't go there.

No need to use baby oil at all for sanding. I have proven time and time again there are far superior methods to sanding clay that is safe, rapid and highly efficient.

 

[edstreet]

I have recently become interested in this medium for pen blanks so I turned to my old tried and true source for information, YouTube. There are a multitude of videos on making the canes and even a few dedicated to making these same type of pen blanks with tips on how to turn them. They make them for the resale market and oversized so they can be turned to fit the hardware.

Far to many bad info out there, esp on youtube.

 

[alphageek]

Hate to say it but you posted a number of wrong things.


Also for the record I tried to get a clay forum for Toni but that was rejected. See the drama over the vendor forum for details. The rest of the saga occurred in pm and on the phone. Long story short and no drama version they wanted to cater to vendors rather than expert craftsman and professionals.

Well, Ed - since you love to point out when people are wrong.. let me say here.. You are wrong. That "long story short" is your very biased and off base view.

The reason for no clay forum is that for pens its far too specialized. If the forum breaks off too many sub channels things don't get enough attention. The proof - there was attempts before like a forum for the pen wizard. You get too specialized and the threads in there get much less attention.

There is plenty of places to put threads about clay... Penturning, advanced pen making, blank making, SOYP.

As for your bashing the leaders of this forum that they want to cater to vendors vs craftsman. There is 25 top level forums outside the Marketplace and only 9 top level inside the market place (7 if you ignore the rules and archive).

 

[jeff]

Hate to say it but you posted a number of wrong things.


Also for the record I tried to get a clay forum for Toni but that was rejected. See the drama over the vendor forum for details. The rest of the saga occurred in pm and on the phone. Long story short and no drama version they wanted to cater to vendors rather than expert craftsman and professionals.

Ed, can you send me the correspondence we had over a clay forum? I don't have any recollection whatsoever of any discussion. In fact it seems like a good idea to me!

 

[edstreet]

Hate to say it but you posted a number of wrong things.


Also for the record I tried to get a clay forum for Toni but that was rejected. See the drama over the vendor forum for details. The rest of the saga occurred in pm and on the phone. Long story short and no drama version they wanted to cater to vendors rather than expert craftsman and professionals.

Ed, can you send me the correspondence we had over a clay forum? I don't have any recollection whatsoever of any discussion. In fact it seems like a good idea to me!

sure can.

...snipped

Having said that many forums that I am on has special areas dedicated to higher skilled specific people, i.e. the master craftsman, not limited to just vendors. So the question is why limit this to vendors only? Why not try to encourage and attract skill, knowledge and talent.

I don't know what we're not doing not to encourage skill, knowledge, and talent. Clue me in.

I have seen the craftsman forums elsewhere, it's an interesting approach. I believe it does fracture the discussions somewhat, however. You might make the same argument about vendor forums, but it's supposed to add to our discussion, not move existing discussions to another area.

I'd be interested in having an in-depth discussion about craftsmen forums, in another thread, please! :biggrin:

Also had two phone calls with you and 5 phone calls with 2 members in management on the topic, the conclusion was "not interested".

As for the fracturing, to specialized etc I just have to point out this approach would help break up group think problems. The only down side that I see is those specialist who are in the arena are no longer posting or have been reluctant to post.

I have also ask one member of management if something could be done like sticky post related to clay and that I was undertaking articles on the subject which has been reoccurring topics.


Before this there was a PM to you where I ask what is IAP doing to encourage advanced and expert level skilled members.


Also in the sake of formality this post and the previous 3 should be deleted as it degrades drastically from the topic and strays into a very dark area.

 

[jeff]

Hate to say it but you posted a number of wrong things.


Also for the record I tried to get a clay forum for Toni but that was rejected. See the drama over the vendor forum for details. The rest of the saga occurred in pm and on the phone. Long story short and no drama version they wanted to cater to vendors rather than expert craftsman and professionals.

Ed, can you send me the correspondence we had over a clay forum? I don't have any recollection whatsoever of any discussion. In fact it seems like a good idea to me!

sure can.

...snipped

Having said that many forums that I am on has special areas dedicated to higher skilled specific people, i.e. the master craftsman, not limited to just vendors. So the question is why limit this to vendors only? Why not try to encourage and attract skill, knowledge and talent.

I don't know what we're not doing not to encourage skill, knowledge, and talent. Clue me in.

I have seen the craftsman forums elsewhere, it's an interesting approach. I believe it does fracture the discussions somewhat, however. You might make the same argument about vendor forums, but it's supposed to add to our discussion, not move existing discussions to another area.

I'd be interested in having an in-depth discussion about craftsmen forums, in another thread, please! :biggrin:

Also had two phone calls with you and 5 phone calls with 2 members in management on the topic, the conclusion was "not interested".

As for the fracturing, to specialized etc I just have to point out this approach would help break up group think problems. The only down side that I see is those specialist who are in the arena are no longer posting or have been reluctant to post.

I have also ask one member of management if something could be done like sticky post related to clay and that I was undertaking articles on the subject which has been reoccurring topics.


Before this there was a PM to you where I ask what is IAP doing to encourage advanced and expert level skilled members.


Also in the sake of formality this post and the previous 3 should be deleted as it degrades drastically from the topic and strays into a very dark area.

Ed, it's clear to me that you were talking about craftsmen forums. That is, for individual craftsman. That's easy to see because you reference the vendor forums, which are for individual vendors. It's also clear in what you said above; "I tried to get a clay forum for Toni". I don't believe forums for specific people are warranted here.

Why would a sticky post be more appropriate than a tutorial? I don't believe we have sticky posts for other techniques or methods. (I could be wrong about that...)

I don't see any reason to delete these posts.

 

[Skie_M]

Lets see here.

clay mix, mixing to that recipe you list will inject more problems than you want to deal with so just stick with a single brand. Unless you know what ingredients are in each.

Dried out clay is a result of leech effects over time, keeping the clay in a bag will not stop or hinder the process at all. Also clay and water is a big no-no. The bane of all pen blanks is water. Clay does *NOT* absorb water at all.

Baking you really should follow the manufactures recomendations on that and I can tell you factually that 30 mins at 270F you can EASILY underbake the clay. slow cool vs fast cool has no results as for the final product being brittle.

Heat guns are more often used for modelers and large project usage and not pen tubes, don't go there.

No need to use baby oil at all for sanding. I have proven time and time again there are far superior methods to sanding clay that is safe, rapid and highly efficient.

Mixing clay has been an established practice for millennia in pottery, in order to balance the weaknesses of clay from one region with the strengths of clay from another region, the clay was mixed. In polyclay, obviously you are not mixing ordinary potters clay into the mix. It's all polyclay, just from different vendors, and while some of them have slightly different temperatures, they can all bake at around 270 to 310 degrees Fahrenheit. The stuff I posted is a guideline, to help people get started. Obviously, if it's not baking properly at the lower temp, you should try baking it longer or at higher temp.

Sculpey III bakes at 270 degrees. As it's a major ingredient in the mix I proposed, starting at 270 degrees is a smart idea. The manufacturer recommends you do NOT exceed 285 degrees. Yes, it's a good idea to follow the manufacturer's recommendations, but in this case you were not familiar with this specific brand of clay or it's requirements.

Sculpey is very easy to form. Right out of the package it's pretty much ready to go. It folds neatly, it blends nicely, but it tends to "moon" when baked. What I mean by that is, trapped air bubbles just under the surface can gather and form a blister that is visible THROUGH the outer layer of the clay. This is only really apparent in translucent types of clay, of which the Sculpey brand is the go-to choice. Ways to deal with this are simple and established .... BLEND YOUR CLAY WITH AN OPAQUE LIKE COLOR OF CLAY. This reduces the transparency a little, so that moonies are not as visible.

Sculpey is also known as a somewhat brittle clay, when it's formed out into very tiny details, such as the fingers of an art doll. While the issue is magnified for such details, the reason for it can also be a reason for failure when you attempt to drop a pen made from it ... it doesn't bend or take pressure very well ... it tends to snap and crack instead. If you blend a clay into it that does bend and still hold it's form after baking, you strengthen the sculpey clay into something better and more useful... something that can last.


In art doll work, yes, the heat gun is used to partially bake the skin of a doll so that it can be laid down on something for the baking process without deforming. It is also used to set the paints for application of eye colors, makeup, blushing, skin tone, ect ...

I meant to also mention heat guns again towards the end in the finishing stages. It's more important there, as if you use the genesis heat-setting paints to touch up your work, you will want to bake the paint job into the surface. The heat gun will do that for you without you having to bake the entire piece over again.


I have no idea where you got the idea that clay and water don't mix. This stuff is water soluble ... it washes off with water and it can get pretty soupy if you add too much. Water will help the particles move more freely again.


Baby oil was suggested for making problem areas disappear, where perhaps the clay wasn't blended as well as it should be, and some of it is appearing grainy in texture, like sand. You end up with tiny little pits in the surface when sanding it, and the baby oil helps to reduce that effect.



Of course, your opinion is yours and mine is mine. I hope we can agree that we can disagree amicably.

Did you have any other areas of concern that I could answer?



(note for Jeff, while he's here...)

I'm hoping that we can create a tutorial for beginner/advanced polyclay art that can be used for pen blanks and "flatwork" like pen displays and boxes.

I'm also very much hoping we can do the same for beginner/advanced stone work involving soapstone, alabaster, marble, and granite.

 

[jeff]

... snip...
(note for Jeff, while he's here...)

I'm hoping that we can create a tutorial for beginner/advanced polyclay art that can be used for pen blanks and "flatwork" like pen displays and boxes.

I'm also very much hoping we can do the same for beginner/advanced stone work involving soapstone, alabaster, marble, and granite.

Clay, stone, etc., we'd love to have your contributions to our body of knowledge!

 

[Johnny D]

I hope this is posted in the right place:biggrin:

I would like to explain alittle about how my pens are made, since I dont have the tutorial yet to post. BEWARE I have an interesting way of writing tutorials

1. I dont turn.
2. I dont use blanks.
3. I dont use CA

Now that you know that I will explain briefly how I make my "TUBES".

Equipement: Polymer clay for a base layer, pasta machine or roller, pre-made canes or canes you made(this post is not going to teach you how to make a cane!!) a sharp blade, oven, sandpaper and muselin buffing wheel and your choice of gloss/finish

***Baking Polymer Clay does give off plasticizer residue/fumes they are not toxic(thats what all the literature says), but it is recommended that you either cover your piece that you are baking in the oven with a tinfoil tent or a large baking dish(you know for making loafs(ask your wives)) OR you can purchase a toaster or convection oven and use that just for polymer clay. sorry i forgot to mention that..i have to use a toaster oven as the ovens in New Zealand are sooo small, no thanksgiving turkeys in there, lucky if a chicken will fit. For those of you that have baked in your home oven it has not been enough for you to worry about..again my apologizes

I use a sheet of pc (polymer clay) to cover the tube, pc needs to be conditioned before you use it. To condition the clay you can roll it on a tile to get it soft and pliable or you can run it through the pasta machine till you dont see any cracks. (if this step is not done your clay will crack or worse all the work you have done will crumble off the tube)

Once conditioned run the clay through the pasta machine, a thin sheet. Wrap this sheet around the tube, cuting it where they join, smooth out the seam.

I take a cane, you can see photos of them in my etsy shop (http://www.toninz.etsy.com) and cut slices off using a sharpe blade, Thomas Scientific Blade(they can be purchased online,they are as sharp as(kiwi lingo)) I do this with all the canes I am going to use for my design. hint: slice them as thin as possible!!

Apply these slices onto the tube(which has a pc sheet wrapped around it, this acts like glue!!) if you place a slice on the tube and want to move it good luck it will rip!! so think first before you start putting on the slices.

After you have put a few on, roll on a large tile,ie..the ones you use to tile your kitchen floor, plain white is perfect you dont want one that has indentations!! APPLY LIGHT PRESSURE when rolling; be gentle guys. Then apply more slices, roll again, continue to add slices and roll till you have covered the tube.

While rolling the tube clay will begin to move to the ends, use your blade to slice off the clay that is not adhered to the tube.

When you are done rolling and its smooth. Place the tube on a flat tile standing upright. Bake it in the oven acccording to the manufacturers directions(all pc artist that write tutorials are supposed to say that) for 30-40minutes. The tube will look like the first picture.

The second picture shows you the inner view of the tube, hopefully this photo explains ALOT!! Clay on the outside, metal tube on the inside.

Once cooled,start sanding that baby with 600 or 800 grit, be careful you dont want to sand off the millefiori, so sand till you have it nice and smooth, move onto the next grit, same thing as above be careful, keep sanding till you are at 2,000 grit. You are now done sanding. do you still have your fingerprints??

Buff it on a muselin wheel or your jeans( I dont, but you can) and coat it with CA or whatever gloss you have, I use floor polish to seal in the shine. Should shine like glass before you even apply this coating.

Assemble your pen and viola you are done!! Now you have some insight on how to make a polymer clay tube ala Toni.

I promise I will get a better tutorial with step by step photos ASAP.

Hi Toni,
Never worked with clay before so forgive me if this is a
stupid question. Is the finished product like a ceramic clay? If the pen falls
to the floor will it crack? Look forward to your response. Thank you kindly.

 

[Toni]

I hope this is posted in the right place:biggrin:

I would like to explain alittle about how my pens are made, since I dont have the tutorial yet to post. BEWARE I have an interesting way of writing tutorials

1. I dont turn.
2. I dont use blanks.
3. I dont use CA

Now that you know that I will explain briefly how I make my "TUBES".

Equipement: Polymer clay for a base layer, pasta machine or roller, pre-made canes or canes you made(this post is not going to teach you how to make a cane!!) a sharp blade, oven, sandpaper and muselin buffing wheel and your choice of gloss/finish

***Baking Polymer Clay does give off plasticizer residue/fumes they are not toxic(thats what all the literature says), but it is recommended that you either cover your piece that you are baking in the oven with a tinfoil tent or a large baking dish(you know for making loafs(ask your wives)) OR you can purchase a toaster or convection oven and use that just for polymer clay. sorry i forgot to mention that..i have to use a toaster oven as the ovens in New Zealand are sooo small, no thanksgiving turkeys in there, lucky if a chicken will fit. For those of you that have baked in your home oven it has not been enough for you to worry about..again my apologizes

I use a sheet of pc (polymer clay) to cover the tube, pc needs to be conditioned before you use it. To condition the clay you can roll it on a tile to get it soft and pliable or you can run it through the pasta machine till you dont see any cracks. (if this step is not done your clay will crack or worse all the work you have done will crumble off the tube)

Once conditioned run the clay through the pasta machine, a thin sheet. Wrap this sheet around the tube, cuting it where they join, smooth out the seam.

I take a cane, you can see photos of them in my etsy shop (http://www.toninz.etsy.com) and cut slices off using a sharpe blade, Thomas Scientific Blade(they can be purchased online,they are as sharp as(kiwi lingo)) I do this with all the canes I am going to use for my design. hint: slice them as thin as possible!!

Apply these slices onto the tube(which has a pc sheet wrapped around it, this acts like glue!!) if you place a slice on the tube and want to move it good luck it will rip!! so think first before you start putting on the slices.

After you have put a few on, roll on a large tile,ie..the ones you use to tile your kitchen floor, plain white is perfect you dont want one that has indentations!! APPLY LIGHT PRESSURE when rolling; be gentle guys. Then apply more slices, roll again, continue to add slices and roll till you have covered the tube.

While rolling the tube clay will begin to move to the ends, use your blade to slice off the clay that is not adhered to the tube.

When you are done rolling and its smooth. Place the tube on a flat tile standing upright. Bake it in the oven acccording to the manufacturers directions(all pc artist that write tutorials are supposed to say that) for 30-40minutes. The tube will look like the first picture.

The second picture shows you the inner view of the tube, hopefully this photo explains ALOT!! Clay on the outside, metal tube on the inside.

Once cooled,start sanding that baby with 600 or 800 grit, be careful you dont want to sand off the millefiori, so sand till you have it nice and smooth, move onto the next grit, same thing as above be careful, keep sanding till you are at 2,000 grit. You are now done sanding. do you still have your fingerprints??

Buff it on a muselin wheel or your jeans( I dont, but you can) and coat it with CA or whatever gloss you have, I use floor polish to seal in the shine. Should shine like glass before you even apply this coating.

Assemble your pen and viola you are done!! Now you have some insight on how to make a polymer clay tube ala Toni.

I promise I will get a better tutorial with step by step photos ASAP.

Hi Toni,
Never worked with clay before so forgive me if this is a
stupid question. Is the finished product like a ceramic clay? If the pen falls
to the floor will it crack? Look forward to your response. Thank you kindly.

I have dropped so many of my pens and they have never cracked!!! I have some in my purse that have been banged around so much, never cracked. I think CA is like a protective barrier for the clay!!

Regards,
Toni