Thursday 23 October 2014

Update on Heather Powers amazing online Cane making course.

I have been beavering away at Heather's fantastic course - in between 'life's events' as usual.  Never enough hours in the day!

I can honestly say that I have never taken such an in depth course in all my life!  It's a four week course - but once you have subscribed it stays up forever!  And I for one will need it too.

The amount of videos showing clear step by step instructions have to be seen to be believed.  So much better for someone like me to actually see 'live' how to create each stage of the cane rather than just reading about it!  Each project not only comes with videos, but print outs too showing every single stage - an absolute boon for me with a hearing loss!  Heather shares all her 'tips and secrets' and there are pages and pages of step by step full colour course notes, with professional photos of  each stage.  It's awesome - to think that it has taken her years to evolve and develop her amazing techniques through trial and error and she is generously sharing then with us.  I have a lever arch file of her A4 pages of instructions - stage by stage - of colour photos for each element and project.  Lots of internet links, 'recipes' for each project, inspiration links, mood boards - finished projects with the beads etc.......the list is more than I can type here!

So what I have I been making - well as a beginner - a lot of mess!  My old bent fingers aren't as user friendly as they used to be, so my dragon fly cane ended up looking like a squished mosquito.  But never fear, I will try again and the polymer clay never gets wasted - not one little bit.  So my failed dragonfly cane ended up recycled as marbled beads!
But after 'sitting' on them for a couple of weeks, I realized that in all truthfulness - they do not inspire me one little bit so I will be doing a 'Mr Powers' and mixing them all up into one colour - ready to use again in another project  - of which there are many!
I did have some success in the Cattail Cane which restored my confidence.
 It will be sliced up thinly and used on lots of projects - along with some other canes - talking of which!
I am mightily pleased with the small leaf cane project

Using translucent cane for the outer 'casing' on these projects means that it will 'disappear' when sliced thinly and laid on a bead or whatever so that you just see the veined leaf!
I might even turn a pair of them, with the addition of a body - into a butterfly pendant!

Or am I getting ideas 'above my station'