Step-by-step tutorial on how to create a letter B polymer clay alphabet cane

This article is part of a series on making alphabet canes with polymer clay. The original letter B polymer clay cane tutorial is over here on my KayVincent.com website. However, now I’m in the process of migrating all of my polyclay tutorials here to my PolymerKay.com website. Here is the TikTok mini tutorial…

@polymerkay

Polymer clay letter B cane tutorial by Kay Vincent (PolymerKay). polymerClay polymerClayTutorial polymerClayCane sculpey fimo premo KatoClay polymerClayCaneTutorial

♬ original sound – Kay Vincent (PolymerKay) – Kay Vincent (PolymerKay)

Step-by-step letter B polymer clay cane tutorial

One day I’ll develop full tutorials with proper instructions. In the meantime, here is a basic tutorial for creating a polymer clay cane with a letter “B” design:

You will need:

  • Approx. 30g white polymer clay (i.e. half a standard-sized block of clay)
  • Approx. 8g black clay (about one eighth of a standard block)
  • Pasta machine or clay roller (examples from Amazon)
  • Tissue blade (aka clay slicer) (examples from Amazon)

Instructions:

Step 0: Condition the clay

Step 1: Roll the white clay into a cylinder approx. 2cm in diameter.

Polymer clay letter cane tutorial: roll a white cylinder

Step 2: Roll the black clay into a thin sheet approximately 1mm thick:

thin black sheet of polymer clay, rolled out on the thinnest setting of pasta machine

Step 3: Cut off a third of the white cylinder to use now. Put aside the other 2/3 of the cane for later…

Cut a third off the end of the white polymer clay cylinder

Step 4: Wrap one layer of the black sheet of clay around the smaller section of the white cylinder. Then roll the cane to make it slightly longer and thinner. Trim off any excess black clay:

polymer clay letter B cane: wrap cylinder with black

Step 5: Squeeze the sides of the cane to slightly flatten it:

polymer clay letter cane: squeeze cane to make it an oval

Step 6: Cut the cane down the middle:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: cut cane in half

Step 7: Stack one cane-half on top of the other, with both flat sides on the left:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: stack halves on top of each other

Step 8: Cover the flat side of the ‘B’ with a layer of black clay:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: add black to flat side

Step 9: Now wrap the outside of the cane again with another layer of black (i.e. the flat side and the side with the two curved shapes):

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: wrap cane in black

Step 10: Using the leftover white clay from Step 3, cut one third off the block to leave a large and a small block of white.

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: cut off a third of remaining white clay

Step 11: Roll the larger white block (from Step 10) into a cylinder. The cylinder should be the same height as the letter cane:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: roll white clay into a cylinder

Step 12: Cut off approximately one quarter of the cylinder (to create large and small white pieces):

The tricky bits…

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: cut a third from white cylinder

Step 13: Arrange the larger white clay piece so its straight side fits the straight side of the “B” shape. (You may need to stretch or reduce the white clay to make it fit well):

polymer clay letter B cane: B and white cylinder go together

Step 14: Squeeze the smaller white piece into a triangle, and then squash two of its points flat:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: squeeze remaining white clay piece into shape

Step 15: Insert the pointy edge of the white clay shape in the cleft of the B shape.

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: assemble the canes

Step 16: Now make a thin sheet from any leftover white clay by rolling it through the pasta machine’s thinnest setting. Wrap this thin white sheet around the sides of the letter B cane:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: wrap cane

Finished cane:

polymer clay letter cane tutorial: finished piece

Once you’ve made this cane a few times (or if you’re already good at making canes), the handy one-page reference below should be enough to remind you how to make the cane:

Letter B polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial - Kay Vincent - PolymerKay 20190305