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…
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.
Step 2: Roll the black clay into a thin sheet approximately 1mm thick:
Step 3: Cut off a third of the white cylinder to use now. Put aside the other 2/3 of the cane for later…
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:
Step 5: Squeeze the sides of the cane to slightly flatten it:
Step 6: Cut the cane down the middle:
Step 7: Stack one cane-half on top of the other, with both flat sides on the left:
Step 8: Cover the flat side of the ‘B’ with a layer of black clay:
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):
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.
Step 11: Roll the larger white block (from Step 10) into a cylinder. The cylinder should be the same height as the letter cane:
Step 12: Cut off approximately one quarter of the cylinder (to create large and small white pieces):
The tricky bits…
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):
Step 14: Squeeze the smaller white piece into a triangle, and then squash two of its points flat:
Step 15: Insert the pointy edge of the white clay shape in the cleft of the B shape.
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:
Finished cane:
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: