Here’s the diagram instructions for making a Canada flag – or simple maple leaf – cane. This makes a wide, thin cane. This can be difficult to reduce if you’re not experienced with reducing clay canes. To make it simpler to reduce – taller in comparison to width – double the layer of red for the cane cut out. Use soft fresh clay like Sculpey Premo or Fimo Soft.

You’ll need:

• 2-4 packages of red clay and 1-2 of white. I used Premo pomegranate and white
• the usual tools such as a sharp blade, a roller and a pasta machine
• a print out or tracing (right off the screen is fine!) of the maple leaf so that it comes out to less than inch in diameter

Step 1 – Lay your cut out maple leaf template on a package of red clay (or two packages!). Cut out the shape, neatly and carefully. You can cut it out in segments and reassemble it if you need to. You should wind up with a bright red cut maple leaf shape.

Step 2 – Flatten some of your white into a strip as wide as your maple leaf is tall. The thickest setting on the pasta machine is about right. Begin to wrap it around your cane. You may need to cut it at the points of the maple leaf to preserve the points. Butt the ends neatly.

Step 3 – Fill in the rest of the spaces around the wrapped maple leaf with wedges and segments of white until you have a round cane. If you want, you can stop here or maybe add a red outline to your maple leaf cane. If you want to make the whole flag, carry on!

Step 4 – To make our round cane into a square one – the centre of our flag cane – make 4 triangle wedges to add to the 4 corners and add them to our cylinder cane.

Step 5 – Next you’ll add a red bar to either side of your maple leaf block. The bar needs to be just over half the thickness of the centre block.

Step 6 – Compress and begin reducing your flag cane. Because it’s rectangular, you can use a roller or brayer. Roll along one side the length of the cane, quarter turn it, roll it against the other. Repeat until you have a cane the length you want to use. I alternate the rolling with pulling and stretching then rolling it to square it back up.

These make great little slice beads to add on safety pins and are often my freebies at my spring and summer shows.