The Making of a Polymer Clay Donut Pendant

Many people have asked me how I make these pendant so I would like give you an idea of how they are made.  This isn't a complete tutorial, but more of a glimpse into the process of making a pendant,

A great misconception with my pendants is many believe I paint them, but instead, I use a process called millefiori caning. A cane is a log or cylinder of clay that has a design running through it, so each slice of the cane - the cross-section - contains the design.  To make a cane, you combine sheets and long snakes of clay in a pattern that will be revealed when you slice the cane.  You can use any combination of colors and patterns; you can even use small canes as part of your design, combining them into larger canes.

For this cane I will be using 2 skinner blends.  To make these, I roll out the clay using a clay/pasta machine, then I cut it and push both pieces together, as shown in images.  Next, I fold the clay in half and run through machine, repeating this about 20 times until you have a nice even blend.  The starting from one end, roll the clay into a tube.  Keep rolling until smooth, then cut ends.  Now you have a skinner blend! 

For this cane, I used a sheet of white glitter clay and wrapped around the two skinner blends and the spliced cane, forming a triangular log.  Then I reduced and lengthened this piece, to be cut in two and formed into a square log.  Again, I reduced and lengthened this log and cut it into fours.  I put the four pieces together to form a kaleidoscope and again, reduced and lengthened.  Now you have a finished cane!  You can now cut thin slices from the cane for the pattern of the pendant.  I generally use scrap clay as a "base" when making pendants.   Then layer the scrap ball with the canes and roll until smooth.   Then I flatten the ball and add a hole.  When I'm finished, I bake pendant according to instructions on clay.  Finally, I wet sand, then polish the pendant.