The latest video tutorial – the video is at the bottom of this post – is for my covering round ornaments one. Turns out I wrote that in December of 2009 so I guess it was up for a little updating.
Someone who watched the video requested some instructions for the canes and I’ll get those up pretty quick. They’re fairly basic canes made from my scrap pile so your results will vary… and they’re not small canes. Reduce quantities accordingly.
I don’t make pens very often anymore and I should. It’s such a nice little project that creates useful items. I had stopped because it was harder to find good, cheap pens that worked. They changed the formulation for the Bics that were my go-to and I was stuck experimenting with random discount brands afterwards.
I know you can buy great pen kits or even use better quality refillables for this. These were always a bulk, inexpensive project for classes or smaller shows, for me.
Anyways, I tried another dollar store brand this week with some success. I’ll probably make a few more with one of my upcoming classes so they can give some for Mother’s or Father’s Day gifts.
This is an in progress for this batch. I slice a pile of canes and then start placing the slices. After I have what I want, I smooth them in. After baking, they’ll get a little sanding and buffing. These will also get their ends painted out since I didn’t cover them with clay.