Basic Leaf Cane | Floral Pattern Mix Cane part 2

Learn how to make a basic leaf cane with polymer clay in this post. This is the second of a four part series building up to a floral pattern mix cane.

Every floral pattern mix cane should have at least one leaf component thrown in the mix, wouldn’t you agree? In this floral pattern mix series I’m sharing one basic leaf cane and using it two different ways. Once as a single, larger leaf and again in a leaf cluster with five smaller leaves.

RELATED POST: A SIMPLE FLOWER CANE | FLORAL PATTERN MIX CANE PART 1

If you’re not interested in making the larger pattern mix cane, no problem. This basic leaf cane could be used in many other ways. Use it as an element in a different floral cane. Make the leaf without the background clay and use slices on a slab design. Add a leaf or two to 3D sculpted flowers. Make them in a variety of colors. Leaf canes are always handy to have on hand.

If you are following along to make the larger pattern mix cane I suggest saving the final reduction of the individual components for when you’re ready to put the larger cane together. This way, if you’re building the components over an extended period of time all the pieces will be of a similar consistency when you put them all together. This helps prevent distortion caused by softer clay moving faster than firmer clay.

I’ve listed the clay colors I used in the materials section, but feel free to select your own shades. I opted for simplicity in the final pattern by using the same three colors for all components plus a consistent background color. However, you can mix it up by using different colors for each part, as long as you maintain the same background color when constructing each smaller cane.

Tools & Materials | Basic Leaf Cane

• Non-porous work surface — I work on either glazed tile or glass)
• Pasta machine dedicated to polymer clay use — I use an Atlas 180 and will refer to the settings I use on my machine. If you don’t have a pasta machine an acrylic roller and some playing cards will do in a pinch, it’ll just take a little more work.
• Polymer clay — I used Fimo Soft colors in Pink Grapefruit, White, Peppermint, and Indian Red 
• Polymer clay blade

Directions

Condition the White and Pink Grapefruit clays and make a skinner blend. I used 3/8 of a block of clay (3/4 ounce) of each color.

Once the colors are blended to your liking sheet the clay on a medium setting (no.3 on my Atlas.) Cut a 1” strip off the blend and set aside. 

Fold the remaining blend into quarters and run it through the pasta machine, narrow end first, on the thickest setting. Run it through the pasta machine again on progressively thinner settings until you have a long, thin ribbon of clay. I took mine down to setting no.8.

Starting at the white end roll the clay into a tight cylinder, taking care to trap as little air as possible.

Run the 1” strip of clay you set aside through the pasta machine down to the same thin setting. Roll it into a cylinder as well.

Wrap the small cylinder in a very thin (no.9) sheet of Indian Red clay. Flatten the cylinder bringing one of the ends into a sharper point and the make the other end more rounded. The flattened piece should be a little shorter than the diameter of the larger cylinder.

Cut the larger cylinder down the middle.

Place the flattened piece on one of the cylinder halves and trim off the excess.

Place the other half on top to reassemble the cylinder.

Sheet a piece of the red clay on a no.5 setting and wrap it around the cylinder.

Condition a piece of the Peppermint clay and sheet it on the thickest setting (no.0) Wrap the sheet around the cylinder.

Gently squeeze, stretch, and roll the cylinder until you have a round log about 5” in length. Cut off a 2” piece and set the larger piece aside.

Pinch the 2” piece of cane into a leaf shape. Start by pinching one end where you can see where the leaf vein runs. Flip the cane around and pinch the other end. If the points don’t match straight on from each end gently twist the cane until they line up and then continue pinching down the length from one end to the other.

Reduce and stretch the long piece of cane until it is 5” in length with neatly trimmed ends. Cut into five 1” pieces.

Shape each piece into a leaf shape as you did with other piece above.

Stagger the five leaves into a leaf cluster. If your sizes vary a little, keep the smallest piece as the top leaf and use the larger ones at the bottom. And make sure all the leaf veins are facing the right way! If you look closely you’ll see I had the bottom leaf flipped the wrong way around. Luckily, I noticed before I continued.

Roll a snake with the blue clay and shape it into a triangle shape to use between the leaf points to give them some separation. Sheet some of the same clay and wrap the leaves as needed to smooth out the cane before reducing.

At this point all you need to do is reduce the two leaf canes to your desired dimensions. When reducing leaf shaped canes I gently squeeze the cane from the middle to the ends and then rock each side on my work surface to smooth out any uneven bumps. I then repeat the process, along with a little stretching and pulling, until I’ve reached my desired length.

If you are following along to build the Floral Pattern Mix Cane I suggest saving the final reduction until all of your component canes have been built.

If you’ve enjoyed learning how to make this basic leaf cane and give this tutorial a try please tag @bysandracallander on Instagram!

I’ll be back next week with the third instalment of this series. Be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you don’t miss the next post! Plus, you’ll receive a free PDF tutorial for my Twisted Blends cane which I used to make Clay Covered Pens.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, I’m happy to hear from you.