What do I do with this Rainbow Blend?? Well, there are tons and tons of ideas and I'm hoping you will show me what you invented using these techniques!! But - for the beginners - I'm going to give a couple quick canes you can make so you can start off having some fun!

We will be using Premo Pearl White with the Rainbow Skinner blend for the following canes. The Premo Pearls have a lot of translucent in them. This will give them depth when they're baked and sanded. It almost seems like they just disappear underneath the colors! On the next page you will find some photos of finished beads where you can see what happens to the pearl clay! It will appear deeper than the rainbow colors, almost like a small ravine. It makes a lovely contrast to the bright colors. First, though, let's learn the the Striped and Mosaic Jellyroll Canes!!!

Simple Rainbow Skinner Blend Striped Cane

Here's an interesting side note concerning lighting: this picture was taken with the Sony Mavica digital camera using regular indoor lighting. You can see the saturation of the red in this blend is still very strong, but in real life the red has more orange next to it than shown here.	This photo was taken with the same camera, but the lighting was provided by the Ott Light, which is a special light for crafters. The Ott Light renders color with almost complete purity. Here you can see a clearer picture of the color variations and the orange stripe next to the red is more pronounced. It could almost be compared to working outside in natural daylight!	Okay - let's get on to the lesson!! Fold your blend in half lengthwise and match up the colors along the way. That's putting the two sides together instead of the top and bottom like you did when making the blend. If you have wavy blends, just match the colors up as best you can. Also, trim up the edge if it's uneven.
Run it through the pasta machine at it's thickest setting. Be careful!! If you have a motor, keep it on slow.	Now set your pasta machine two thicknesses thinner than your first trip through. Run the long blend through again.	There! You have a really kewl Rainbow Skinner Blend! While that blend rests for a couple minutes prepare a strip of Premo White Pearl clay. Make it at least as long and wide as the rainbow blend.
Make the Pearl clay the same thickness or two steps thinner from your blend for a really good cane.	Cut the edges even with the blend.	Do the same for the top and the bottom. The skinner blend and the white pearl are now sandwiched together nicely. Brayer them firmly to get rid of any air bubbles. If you see any, pierce them and press gently with your finger to get rid of the air.
Determine how thick you want you cane to be. I usually start cutting at about an inch (2.55cm).	You can't see it that well, but the piece that was cut off, was stacked on top of the end of the remaining blend. This becomes your template for the next cut. Line up the edges facing you and cut flush with the first piece on the other side of the stack!	Stack this cut portion on the end and do the same thing again. Square it up with the edges, cut, stack, square it up, cut, stack, square it up, cut, stack....
Keep doing this until you have stacked the entire blend together.	Look at that!! All those colors just from four starting colors!!!	Turn the stack over and place it on another little piece of the white pearl and cut a it to fit onto the top of the stack! I prefer to have the white pearl on both ends, but that's just me. You can choose to have white on both ends or not.
Now trim up your sides.	Trim up your ends, but don't throw these pieces away! Make a bead out of them! If you shave the sides you can get very thin pieces to overlay. They won't be as translucent as other clays, but beautiful anyway!	There you have it!! Just sit back and enjoy the colors! I'm a very color oriented person and these blends just drive me wild!!!

Rainbow Skinner Blend Mosaic Jelly Roll

I love this Jelly Roll cane. It's really interesting when sanded and buffed as the pearl seems to fall back behind the colors and give the whole thing more depth!

Carefully cut a slice of your cane about a quarter of an inch thick. (You can do it any thickness you want. Remember: every measurement is negotiable) Cut slowly to try to keep the slice even, if it ends up uneven don't worry too much, it works itself out.	Roll out a strip of the Pearl clay on one of the medium thicknesses on our pasta machine. (On at Atlas, the setting would be between #3 and #5.). Make sure the strip is as wide as your rainbow striped cane slice and a little more than twice as long. Lay the slice close to one end of the Pearl clay strip.	Make sure all the layers are pressed together, but don't squeeze too much. And don't overwork the clay. You want those sharp edges to remain so the finished product looks more squared off!
Take hold of the end of the pearl sheet furthest away from the striped cane and pull it over the top to cover the slice of cane.	Now brayer down the package to make sure you get out as many air bubbles as possible. (You don't have to have a brayer tool as shown here. You can use a glass or rolling pin or whatever you have on hand.)	Go to the end where the Pearl clay is folded over. Brayer it down a little more so it tapers to a point. You are going to roll this covered slice and it will roll more even if you give it a little tapering.
Ease the folded end up carefully. Tke your time at this point. It will make all the difference in your cane. Just ease the edges over a little at a time until it rolls back on itself. Use only ONE side as your guide. Roll the covered slice up slowly, keeping it aligned along the one side evenly, the rest will follow!	The rolling will get easier as you go, but keep an eagle eye our for the air bubbles and work them out immediately. Keep rolling until you have everything captured in the cane! Don't worry about the ends flapping, they will be rolled in when you get to the end. You can trim them so they don't go too far, but some is needed to give a more blended end to the jellyroll.	When you have gathered up all the clay, roll it a little more to check for air bubbles. If you get any, use a pin to open the bubble and work out as much air as possible with your finger.
Cut the cane open and see what you have!!! Now pat yourself on the back again! You did a great job! (Click here for Detail)	Take a slice of your original Mosaic Cane and reduce it for variation! (Click here for Detail)	Then take a slice of your original Striped Cane and reduce that. Now go have some fun making beads or decorating whatever!!! (Click here for Detail)

Click here for a Printable Version of This Page

Click on the Next Page Link below for a few variations on this blend and for the Skinner Templates! The possibilities are endless! Please, if you try these out, please put some photos in Show and Tell so we can all share them, and if you come up with a great color blend, I'd love to add them to the Variations page!!!

Enjoy!

Previous Page  |  Next Page

PoLEIGH Talking - Polymer Clay Central