Polymer Clay Blooms Before Your Very Eyes!

During the 1850's Venetian glass makers developed a technique called Millefiori, which literally means 1000 flowers. Today's clay artisans borrow that technique to create Millefiori canes, whereby a one dimensional image runs lengthwise through a rod of clay.

In "Advanced Millefiori Techniques Volume I", the latest addition to The Master Artisans Of Polymer Clay Video Series from Mindstorm Productions, you'll learn the art of Millefiori from clay artisan Marie Segal. In this video, Marie simplifies the process of making Millefiori canes using techniques she's mastered during the past 20 years.

Using a potpourri of colored clays, she'll teach you how to make a Face Cane, Butterfly Cane, Woven Cane, Cathedral Glass Cane, Sunflower Cane, and a Rose & Leaf Cane. In addition, you'll learn how to use your finished canes to create an "Angel Vessel" and decorative beads.

Before you begin, you'll need to gather a series of tools and materials, all of which are outlined at the outset of the video. These include: Polymer Clay, measuring and cutting tools, oven, timer, a pasta machine to roll and condition your clay, and perhaps the most important tool of all... your hands.

"You have to find certain places on your own hands where the tools that you have naturally work best for you", says Marie.

The first thing you'll learn is how to create a Skinner Shade. This is a method invented by Judith Skinner to shade clay from light to dark or from one color to another. Then it's on to your first project... the Woven Cane. Using five sheets of different colored clay, Marie demonstrates how to cut the clay into squares, and position these squares to create the cane. After lengthening and cutting the cane, the weave comes to life.

Next it's on to the beautiful Cathedral Glass Cane. "The reason I call it this", says Marie, "is because it reminds me of the round windows in old churches and cathedrals." Orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, red, and black clay are combined to create a stained glass window effect. Once you finish this cane, you'll swear you can hear a choir in the background!

For the Rose & Leaf cane you'll use the Skinner method you learned earlier. This project is a little more complicated than the previous ones on this video, but with Marie's expert instruction and a little practice, you're guaranteed to master it in no time at all.

In fact, it's important for you to realize how easy Millefiori is once you've mastered the basics of pressing, cutting, and rolling the clay. Furthermore, the video's easy to follow instructions, coupled with camera closeups, simplify the process even further.

Each project builds on the skills you learned in the preceding project until you're ready to create the Sunflower and Butterfly Canes...the most intricate cane on this video.

Once your canes are completed, Marie will show you how to create decorative beads from them. And you'll learn how to cover a glass vessel with the Rose & Leaf Cane, and make a clay angel to sit on the ridge of the glass.

The instructional portion of the video ends with a series of examples of what you can do with Millefiori canes if you use a little imagination. But don't hit the "stop" button on your VRC just yet! You'll want to stick around for a series of hysterical outtakes featuring Marie's contagious laugh.