The colorful flowers on the left are a few of the posies I made at a recent 3-day workshop with Carol Simmons. I have always wanted to take one of her classes, and I was delighted to find out that she was offering her Fantasy Flower class nearby in Massachusetts. Carol has a wealth of ideas derived from many years of experience. We learned about her method for developing Skinner blends, and used those blends to create a wide variety of canes. She demonstrated several ideas for types of cane designs, then we constructed our own. In order to assemble the canes into flowers, we needed to cut uniform petals. I don't know about you, but cutting thin, even slices is a challenge, and trying to get 5 or 6 exactly the same is almost impossible when cutting free-hand. Happily, Carol brought with her the cane slicer she designed, and we were able to cut our own petals. The machine is amazing - multiple canes can be sliced at the same time, and the slices can be thick or incredibly thin, but always uniform. We all went home with lots of slices from our canes. Enclosed in plastic page protectors, the slices will keep shape and flexibility for quite a while. So, as I fiddle and play with the cane slices, I will eventually have enough to make one of the Fantasy Flowers that Carol creates so beautifully.
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