This is part of a series showing how to create polymer clay letter canes. (These alphabet cane tutorials were first published on my other website (KayVincent.com), but now I’m moving all of my polymer clay-related posts over to the PolymerKay site instead.) This Letter I Polymer Clay Alphabet Cane Tutorial shows the easiest letter of all to create. I’m sure people can figure out for themselves how to create the cane (just make one straight cut and insert a sheet of black clay). However it’s part of a series, so here is the tutorial anyway:

UPDATE (April 2024): Depending on your preferred learning style, there are now three ways to view the tutorial:

  • video
  • full step-by-step written and illustrated guide
  • handy one-page summary. 

Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial

Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial - KayVincent

You will need

Black and white polymer clay

Step-by-step instructions: Letter “I” alphabet cane tutorial

Step 0: Condition the clay (e.g. by rolling each colour through the pasta machine at least ten times, until they are soft enough to work with). (Here is an article about how and why clay should be conditioned.)

1: Roll the black clay into a sheet about 1.5mm thick (usually the middle setting of a pasta machine):

Sheet of black clay

2: Roll the white clay into a cylinder about 25mm (1 inch) in diameter:

Letter-Y-polymer-clay-alphabet-cane-tutorial-white-cylinder

3: Slice off about a third of the white cylinder and save it for later:

cut a third off white polymer clay cylinder

4: Cut the cylinder in half vertically:

Cut the cylinder in half vertically

5: Sandwich one layer of the black sheet of clay between the two halves of the white cylinder (and trim off any excess black):

Insert a sheet of black clay between the two halves of the white cylinder

6: Using the white piece of clay that was cut off in Step 3, roll it through the pasta machine on the thinnest setting and then wrap thin white layers around the sides of the cane:

Letter I polymer clay cane wrapped in white - KayVincent - PolymerKay

7: Reduce the cane (e.g. by carefully rolling it on a flat surface until it becomes longer and thinner).

Finished Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane:

Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial - Kay Vincent - PolymerKay

Here is the TikTok video tutorial:

@polymerkay

Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial. By Kay Vincent (PolymerKay.com/letter-i-polymer-clay-alphabet-cane). The letter I is so quick to make that I didn’t even speed up the video, so it includes “real time” voiceover instructions too (although now I miss the usual soothing harp music!) polymerClay polymerClayCane polymerClayEarrings polymerClayTutorial Sculpey Premo Fimo KatoClay crafts craftTok

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

…and finally, here is a handy graphic which shows the main steps all on one page.

Letter I polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial - Kay Vincent - PolymerKay

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this letter “I” tutorial useful. If you’ve tried making any of these canes I’d love to hear from you – please share any successes (or problems) via the comments section or contact us page. Please also consider supporting me via the Ko-fi button below, which allows people to contribute to my polymer clay stash so I can keep creating these free tutorials for you.