Glass makers have used
the "millefiore" cane technique for hundreds of years.
The Italian
words mean "thousand flowers" and refers to a bundling of colored
segments made of glass rods placed to form floral or geometric patterns.
A lot of careful work is needed to
place the segments in order to build up a design.
These
pattern-forming
lengths are then called "canes". They can be combined with other
canes or with parts of the original cane to form beautiful images and
designs.
When fused together
and stretched out, the glass bundles become longer and thinner, reducing the
scale of the design. Slices from these canes are called "murrini"
and are
affixed to other glass pieces in a decorative way and then fused to make
beads, paperweights, and other art glass.
The
same process of colored segments that are placed, extruded or rolled and
then sliced applies to foods like cinnamon rolls, some kinds of
candies and cookies including ribbon candy and bullseyes.
Even some
kinds of sushi show the same kind of
pattern-within-a-slice effect.
This millefiore
technique is also used with polymer clays to create all kinds of patterns.
Polymer clay is much more flexible and has a wider range of colors than
glass or foods, and is cured at a much lower temperature than glass.
Simple canes are very effective and so are very elaborate
ones! Amazing varieties of intricate floral, geometric,
landscape, pictorial and abstract canes of all sorts are put together using
chunks and layers of colored clays, and the details can be astounding.
Artists from around the world working with polymer clay make
some incredible canes and incorporate them in making beads, wearable art
including buttons, barrettes, pins; decorative art of all sorts, creating
sculpture in scales both large and small.
Canes and other polymer clay techniques went into making all
the miniature "fabric bolts" that stocked the scale model quilt
store "Pieces". These each measure three inches by two inches in
size. They make great technique samplers!
The store is featured along with step-by-step instructions
for creating traditional geometric quilt block canes, floral and geometric
canes in the book "Adapting
Quilt Patterns To Polymer Clay" written by Judith Skinner and
me.
Click here to see the slide show featuring these lovely little polymer
clay samples of dozens of artists' work. Shown here are some bolts made
by Marla Frankenberg.
There are interviews here at the Polyclay Gallery with some
wonderful polymer clay artists including Leigh Ross, Judith Skinner, and
Judy Belcher. Click on their names to visit those pages.
In addition to creating wearable art and beautiful objects,
cane slices can be used to create images for collage or scrapbook use--even
to decorate acrylic fingernails! Here are images of seasonal collages for
Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall using canes contributed by many artists.
These were featured in my book "Celebrations
With Polymer Clay".
To
see how canes are made and reduced, click on the following links:
