CLICK HERE FOR A LINK TO A MASTER CLASS VIDEO ABOUT MAKING FLORAL CANES
It is easy to begin making flowers to use in your Artwork. You can begin with a simple jellyroll, bullseye or folded cane.
I make the centers for my flowers as described below. I make a good supply and keep them stored in a damp cloth sealed in a plastic bag.
First I extrude some colored coils. Then I coat them with black slip.
Note that I marked the colors before I applied the slip.
Then I roll out a thin slice of clay
Put the coils in the center and roll it up.
I make them large, then roll them down to various smaller sizes.
To start a flower, I roll a strip of colored clay around this center core.
You can use slip or a light spritz of water to keep it all together.
Mark where you want your flower petals.
Carry this line down the side of the cane so the bottom will match the top.
Use a rib to open up the cane petals down the sides.
Shape the petals however you want and all some white clay to keep the shape.
When you are done, you can wrap the whole cane in white clay if you are not using it immediately. Doing this protects your patterns.
It is quite easy to simply cut out the white if you don’t want to use it.
Simply smooth the edges using dry cleaner plastic to prevent smudges.
Here is another example of a simple flower design made this way.
This is a flower you build without a core piece and add one of your choice at the end … if you want to.
Cut into as many pieces as you want to make petals. The pieces do not have to be even as flower petals are all different.
Shape them into petals and re-assemble.
At this point you can add a tube of colored clay in the middle so it looks like the center of the flower.
Add soft white clay in between petals to hold the shape.
In order to transport or save your lovely work, I always suggest wrapping the design in white clay.
If you bump it, the white gets damaged, not the flower.
You can use slip instead of water to get an interesting pattern in your flowers.
You can also roll your bulls eye canes very thin to make small flowers.
Simply stack them (using slip or a spritz of water) into whatever flower shape you like.
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You could also use them individually to decorate plain wares.
A good way to store your patterns is to wrap them in a damp cloth.
( I use torn up old T-shirts ) then wrap in plastic and store in aplastic bag or container. You can fire a small sample to keep with the cane for easy identification.
This lovely pattern is based on the friendship bracelet.
It was an experiment done by Richard Lopez in one of my workshops.
These are bowls made from the cane above.
Note how much darker and intense the colors are after they are fired.
I also use this FOLDED CANE method described on the STRIPES page to make the block of clay.
Then I cut and shaped it adding soft white clay to hold the pattern.
I used black slip on all the colored parts to make the colors pop.
Some green from another pattern finished the bottom.