Butterflies are free to fly....

[Dale Allen]

You might look at this and think it is an interesting effect.
Like the butterfly is viewed sideways.
I sure wish I could say it was on purpose!
Me thinks I know why this happened but I'll need to try a few more to prove it out. All-in-all I like the way it looks and will try to incorporate them in a collage for a pen blank.
But really though, it was initially very disappointing considering all the work that went into making that cane!

 

[Donnie Kennedy]

Just make some more the way you intended and you'll have butterflies in different angles of view on your blanks... it's a win/win

 

[Tx.slopoke]

nice canes...I tried my hand at that last weekend ...grrr lost my religion ....wife left and dog decided to sleep out in the rain...lol

 

[lorbay]

Man that is cool.
Lin

 

[MobiusKB]

One thing I learned about polyclay is to not mix clay brands. Every polyclay brand has a different consistency, reaction to heat(body heat), color.

I prefer to use Fimo, Premo, and somtimes Kato brands because they are similar in consistency(hardness). They stay harder and do not flow so much as to distort your designs in a cane like Sculpey clay does. I'm not hating on Sculpey, I do use it for other projects but would not mix it into canes with other clays.

Another thing to consider, let your canes rest before reducing(extending/stretching). This allows the clay temperature to be uniform. Therefore minimizing distortion.

The background(translucent clay) around the design also plays a huge part on the final result and look of a cane.

Here is a video series I found that may help:

PolyPediaOnlineTV by Iris Mishly - Part 1 - Reducing 3 types of polymer clay canes tutorial - YouTube

 

[pesto126]

I believe putting your canes into the freezer for a bit helps with the reduction as well.. you can also just buy these on ebay from hong kong for pretty cheap... defeats the idea of hand crafted.. but...

 

[Dale Allen]

I have a cake of Kato and it is extremely difficult to condition. I'll stay away from that brand. Premo is my choice.
I believe what happened here is that one of the larger wing sections was a bit longer when I began reducing the assembly. What that did was offer more resistance to the process and caused the other parts to reduce quicker. The center, so to speak, shifted and caused this effect.
I have since created 2 more rose canes and in both cases I trimmed the ends before I began reducing them.
Both came out just fine.
I still need to do another butterfly to be sure I can reduce it properly.

 

[creativewriting]

I think it looks great for an early attempt. Caning is truly an art and takes extreme patience and attention to detail. I have been working with clay for a long time and I still hate making canes. When they work they are amazing, when they don't it's hours (and sometimes days) straight down the drain.

a quick note on the brands. Kato can be a bit difficult to condition, but is by far the strongest once baked. It is the main brand I use. Premo is a close second and offers more colors. It is probably the most popular brand among artists that make canes.

 

[Dale Allen]

Keith, the one I pictured took maybe a total of 1 hour working time, maybe a bit more.
I let the clay cool and rest between steps but I hate waiting so the overall time is 3-4 hours.
How much more detailed do these things get that would consume much more time?

BTW, I tried using playdoh as a shield and then scrap clay like I saw in some videos. I am testing the same process using crayola model magic clay. This stuff is no good for making canes because you cannot cut it like PC. However, it seems that it will not stick to PC even as it is drying. I tried one this morning using it so I am anxious to see if it works as well. I don't much care for playdoh!

 

[Dale Allen]

This one turned out as intended.

The model magic clay seems to be a problem. It is so soft that it gets into some of the crevices and is difficult to remove. May have to look for something else!