Partitions - what to do with old polymer canes

Canes - long rolls of polymer clay set in patterns
If you design and make polymer canes you probably have boxes of them stacked in shelves like I do. And if you sometimes look at all the cases of canes and wonder "What am I going to do with those rolls of patterned polymer clay?" then we are a lot alike!

One of many boxes of canes - waiting!

This week my attention span was just long enough to take a few of the canes and put them together in new ways and make some beads and buttons.  The color choices were blacks, gray, white and a little rusty red wrapped in thin black casings.  The canes needed a little massaging to activate the clay since they were older.

unfired buttons

The buttons are 1/8" slices with the pattern going through the button.  Be sure and notice the color change from the unfired clay to the fired clay.  I try to make a couple of sizes of each pattern.


fired buttons

  The beads are made of thinly sliced canes applied to scrap clay and then rolled in my hands for the shape.  They have a depth of color because there is some translucent clay in the canes.

finished bead

I usually make just a few buttons at a time and I make 3,5 or 7 beads depending on how I'm feeling or if I have something in mind for a finished product.

finished beads 

I derive a lot of pleasure from the colors, patterns and shapes when making buttons and beads and love the instant gratification I get from polymer!

link to buttons:  https://img0.etsystatic.com/125/0/6037243/il_570xN.854582928_mk1y.jpg
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