A "Spidery Mum" Cane

In my June post, you may have noticed the cane I made that Ron Lohocky used on some of his wonderful heart pins.  I've been on a bit of roll making more of these canes - and figuring out what to do with them. I call this cane a "spider mum" cane because it looks to me like the long thin petals on a spider chrysanthemum.  These are a variation of the wedge cane that I like to make and use in many of my flowers. This particular variation is based on one Marie-france Tournat posted on her blog, Polymeramoi.  By the way, hers is an excellent blog and definitely worth a visit.

 Back to the spider mums....I started experimenting with different pieces, and have some here to share.  You did see some flower shapes from these canes on the Brass Bracelet Forms piece I posted a couple of weeks ago.  Here, I made some flat brass channel cuffs and some earrings using the canes.

The mobius shape on these earrings is one I've used before and I really like. This time, I flattened 2 sides so the pieces are not completely symmetrical.

 I also had to try the ruffled flowers as earrings.  The red and blue pairs are petals within petals.  I just used 2 layers, but you could certainly add more.  The centers are small silver balls and pearls. 

The other two cream and colored pairs are posts and have two petals attached to each other vertically.  There really is no limit to what you can do with polymer and polymer canes. Let your imagination run free - and experiment!

Floral Swirls

As you've seen in recent posts, I've been playing with circles and wavy shapes.  It's fun exploring something a bit different - or at least different for me.  Earlier this week, I taught a workshop on a petal cane made from bull's eye wedges.  I loved what the students in the class developed, and came home with a new cane of my own.  What to do with it?  Somehow, the ideas of petals and wavy shapes merged, and I came up with these floral swirls.   I made the swirling vines out of Kato clay to give the pieces a strong and flexible base.  The flower petals are made of custom-mixed Premo! colors.



Once I had the floral swirls assembled and baked, I knew they needed something special in the centers.  I had planned on using pearls or crystals, but they just didn't "do the trick."  Looking through my stash, I discovered I had these tiny micro-beads, so decided to give them a try.  I think they work perfectly. I've strung these pendants on simple chains, through they would look good on wire or even a thin ribbon.   Light and airy, I think they're perfect for spring and summer wear.