Lilian Nichols...Polymer Clay Artist

Lilian Nichols is an area artist who specializes in creating polymer clay jewelry.  I have admired her creations for many years so I was pleased to hear she was offering a class at Studio 14 in Tipp City. She planned to demonstrate one of the many techniques she uses. 

On Saturday, July 30, seven other women and I spent an afternoon learning how to make  Kaleidoscope Canes.  We started with one cane.

Then we made more canes and stacked them.  Lilian showed us a variety of ways to make the individual canes.  When we had enough canes stacked together, she showed us how to compress and stretch our stack.
Here is a cross section of my stack.  If you are familiar with kaleidoscopes that have fascinated young and old for generations, you will find the triangle below familiar.

Lilian showed us how to join the triangles. I joined three slices of my triangle to make this fan shape.

I used two joined slices to make this pendant.

Below is a photo is of my completed cane cylinder. The second photo is of the cross section of the cane which can be sliced for further creative projects.  The cross section is a little over a  half inch in diameter, probably smaller than what you are seeing on the computer screen.

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We  all learned a lot. At the end of the four hours I had the baked pendant as well as two multicolor canes that I can slice and make more objects from. Some of the other artists made earrings from slices of their multicolor canes. I learned enough to decide I want to do more polymer clay work.

If you live in the Miami Valley, and you are interested in learning more about Lilian's classes, check with Studio 14. Lilian says she plans to teach classes monthly. Maybe I will see you at the next one.