MAKE: CLAY CITRUS FRUIT BEADS
rolling polymer clay to make fruit canes, right, is great fun and uses a technique known as millefiori, popular among glass-makers.
it’s also the method used for putting teeny tiny letters into seaside rock.
This craft uses tools similar to those found in a kitchen but you should never eat polymer clay. To avoid contamination, make
YOU WILL NEED: Coloured polymer clay A clay rolling pin A pallete knife
A board to work on METHOD
1. Take some yellow clay and roll it into a ball. Flatten it down so it is about the same size and shape as a Babybel cheese. Cut the shape in half from top to bottom (see picture 1).
2. Roll out some white clay to about 3mm thick. This will be the pith of the orange. Place each half of your yellow shape on the white clay and cut around it (pic 2). Put the two halves back together and press gently to join them.
3. Cut the shape in half from left to right and add white to the base of each new semicircle (pic 3). Repeat until you have 8 segments.
4. Roll out some orange clay and wrap it all around your shape (pic 4). This will be the peel.
5. Begin to squash the shape with your fingers so it gets taller and thinner (pic 5).
6. Eventually you will be able to turn the shape on its side and roll it out to make a long worm about the thickness of a pencil (see pic 6).
7. Now for the amazing part. Use your palette knife to carefully cut the ends off the cane. Inside you will see a perfect little orange cross-section. sure the tools you use are dedicated to clay only.
You can pick up a pallete knife – the blunt tool you use for applying frosting to cakes – at a kitchen shop or supermarket. likewise with a cheap chopping board.
Any round thing will do for rolling out – we used a large glue stick.
8. Cut sections away to make beads (pic 7) and make a hole through each with a cocktail stick to allow for threading.
9. Follow the clay manufacturer’s instructions to harden the clay. Some might air dry, some might require baking in the oven.
label up your clay kit and keep it handy for future projects.
Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter when working with polymer clay. 10. When cool, thread up your beads and feel fruity! Before baking, your cane can be rolled even thinner to make orange slices for dolls’ houses or, sliced really thinly, nail art. Why not swap your colours to make a lemon, lime or grapefruit cane, too?