Polymer Clay Cane Mirror

Materials:

clean white paper or large index card
oven
1-1/2" 20- to 26-gauge wire
mirror piece or shard
craft knife
pasta machine or rolling tool
tissue blade
needle tool
polymer clay: green, black, white, blue, beige
Pearl Ex Micropearl pigment

Preliminary step:
To create the leaves, condition green, black and white pieces of clay by rolling them separately through a pasta machine about 20 times for each piece or by kneading them with your hands.

Steps:

To create the leaves, condition green, black and white pieces of clay by rolling them separately through a pasta machine about 20 times for each piece or by kneading them with your hands.

1. Roll the green clay sheet into a cylinder about the size of a half a roll of pennies.

3. Roll out either black or white clay into a sheet about 1/16 inch thick (as thick as heavy cardboard).

4. Put slices of black clay sheets between the sections of the green cylinder and lightly press the cylinder back together (figure B).

5. With the cylinder back on its end, make one cut straight down diagonally across the previous cuts (figure C).

6. Turn one of the cylinder halves upside down to make symmetrical leaf veins.

7. Sandwich a double layer of the black sheet between the cylinder halves and press it back together again. This is a "cane"(figure D).

8. Roll the cane out like a clay snake to lengthen it.

9. Roll until the cane reaches the diameter of the desired leaf size. Pinch the length of the cane along the top point of the leaf design to make the desired leaf shape (figure E).

10. Repeat the above process with other shades and combinations to make a variety of leaves. Pinch additional canes into longer, thinner leaves than the first cane (figure F).