Marie Segal is back with Volume II of "Advanced Millefiori Techniques", yet another video in The Master Artisans of Polymer Clay Video Series from Mindstorm Productions.

This video picks up where Volume I left off. It's a must have resource for advanced polymer clay enthusiasts! Here you'll learn how to create even more advanced Millefiori designs such as face canes, spider web canes, decorative plaid, and intricate moon and stars canes. You'll also learn about a clay "bundling" technique that combines rods of colors to form your canes, and how to personalize your works of art by making your own signature cane.

Marie's instruction includes dozens of shortcuts she's developed throughout her 20 years as a Master Clay Artisan. Even the most complex and intricate canes are easy and fun to create if you follow along the expert instruction she offers on this video.

Before you begin, you'll need to gather a series of tools and materials... the same as those outlined in Volume I of "Advanced Millefiori Techniques".

Then it's on to the first project on this video: The Plaid Cane. You'll begin with a white rod of polymer clay and flatten it into a square shape. Combine it with two different shades of green clay, compact it, reduce it, cut it, add a sheet of white clay, and before you know it, your cane is complete. Yes! It's that easy.

Then, using your needle tool, you'll make a plaid heart-shaped bead from a slice of the finished cane.

Your next project is the Spider Web Cane. Using translucent polymer clay and a sheet of white polymer clay, you'll form a triangle cane. Several cuts later, the spider web comes to life right before your very eyes. Marie also shows you how to combine a series of single webs to form a block of webs. This technique can be used to create other lace-like designs.

You'll then learn how to cover and decorate a vessel using your finished spider web cane. It's here that Marie shares with you a technique for rolling the spider web slices through the pasta machine to flatten them without distorting them in the process.

Now it's on to what is perhaps the most fun and unique cane of all... The Signature Cane. "It's always nice to sign your work," says Marie. "And you can make a cane with your name in it and add it to all your finished pieces."

Marie uses white and black polymer clay to form the letters. She then wraps the letters in white clay and combines them to form a square cane.

She demonstrates the procedure by creating a cane using her own name. The concept and procedures she follows are the same when you create your signature. You can also reduce the cane to fit the size of each project you'll be signing.

The next canes you'll create are the most intricate of all: The Face Cane, and the Crescent Moon and Stars Cane. As for the Face Cane, Marie says "It's hard to say where to start. Some people start with the nose. Others with the eyes." Marie suggests you create your individual facial components... eyes, nose, and mouth... first, and then build the rest of the face. But where you begin is unimportant as long as each facial component is proportional to the rest. And you'll see how easy this is once you follow a few simple techniques that Marie will show you.

The final project in this video is a beautiful, Moon and Stars Cane that you'll create using blue and white marble clay.