HEART CANE TUTORIAL

Not just for Valentine’s Day! With two discs and the Czextruder, you can create a beautiful heart-pattern cane from polymer clay that would be very challenging to make and reduce by hand.

With the Czextruder, the cane can be formed in less than an hour, with clean shapes and no distortion.

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TOOLS AND MATERIALS:

• polymer clay in white, shades of pink and red

• Czextruder and disc No. 114 and No. 115

• machine for polymer clay

• rigid blade

1.

Condition all selected colors of polymer clay in shades of light pink, magenta, red, and white. Cut triangles from the prepared sheets and arrange them together to form the base for a Skinner blend.

2.

Run the connected triangle sheet through the machine, then repeatedly fold and roll it to create a gradient between the individual colors. With each pass, the colors gradually merge. The final gradient does not need to be perfectly smooth.

3.

Fold the blended sheet of clay in half so the gradient layers align, gently press and roll it to remove any trapped air.

4.

Select two discs from the set: No. 114 (heart shape) and No. 115 (half-heart filling).

5.

Place the rolled Skinner blend into the Czextruder barrel and extrude the clay through the heart-shaped disc to form the base of the pattern.

6.

Condition white clay, place it into the Czextruder, and extrude it through the second disc to form the inner heart filling.

7.

Cut all extruded pieces into equal lengths of about 15 cm. You should have four white filling parts and two pink heart centers.

8.

Place the heart cane into the first white filling piece, making sure no air is trapped between the layers. Then continue by adding the second white filling piece to fully surround the heart.

Repeat the process with the second heart center.

9.

Place the two completed heart canes next to each other and cut them in half. Reassemble the halves side by side, cut again, and stack the sections to create the final heart cane.

11.

With a sharp blade, slice the cane into thin sections around 1 mm thick, revealing the repeating heart pattern inside.

12.

Place the slices side by side to form a larger repeating heart pattern. Burnish the surface through baking paper until the pieces blend into a smooth sheet. The finished pattern is now ready to become part of your next creations.