Polymer Clay Bargello Leftover Tutorial

Steps To Making A Leftover Polymer Clay Bargello

• To start you’ll need at least three colors of leftover clay. They don’t have to be solid colors.
• Compact your leftovers into balls and then roll them into long cylinders.
• Cut the cylinders in half so that you now have two cylinders per color. Line them up next to each other in any pattern you want.
• Flatten them out with your acrylic roller so that you lengthen the logs.
• Roll your sheet of logs through your pasta machine on the thickest setting so that you’re lengthening the stripes.
• Fold in half and roll in the same direction again. Repeat this until you’re happy with the streaks.
• Roll progressively through your pasta machine from the thickest to the middle setting, all the while lengthening the stripes.
• Trim up and neaten the edges.
• Use a ruler and a knife, or a Kato Marx-It, to mark equal progressions along your clay, perpendicular to the stripes.
• Cut the sheet into equal strips using the marks as a guide. Make sure the cuts are perpendicular to the stripes in the sheet.
• Take one strip and lay it on the tile. Then take another strip and place it a little higher than the last strip. Repeat this step, but again place the strip a little higher than the last one.
• Carry on going for a while.
• Reverse direction and make the strips start going down, then reverse and go up again.
• Continue going up and down in a zigzag until you have used up all of your strips.
• Once you’re finished you should have a sheet with the stripes going up and down in a stair like fashion.
• Push the strips together with your fingertips.
• Cut one end of the sheet off and attach to the other end so that you have a rectangular shape. This step isn't strictly necessary but it does save waste. See the video for directions.
• Use your blade to squish all four edges of your Bargello sheet to straighten it out.
• Roll the sheet flat with your acrylic roller to bond the strips together.