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Polymer Clay Stroppel Cane Tutorial

Polymer clay Stroppel cane
Polymer clay Stroppel cane

The Stroppel cane is a great polymer clay leftover technique. It gives a really cool rock slab effect that changes each time you do it. The technique was invented by Alice Stroppel.

Alice Stroppel’s original technique was done using cane ends, but you can use any leftovers you want. The best effect does seem to come from the cane ends though, so we'll use them for this tutorial.

The cane technique I show in this tutorial is not exactly the same as Alice's. This is my own twist. You can find a link to the original tutorial in the suggested links box below the video.


You will need the following supplies:

  • Leftover polymer clay pieces
  • A solid color (I’ll be using black)
  • A tissue blade
  • An acrylic roller
  • A pasta machine

Steps To Making A Polymer Clay Stroppel Cane

  • To start you’ll need some polymer clay leftovers (cane ends, mokume gane pieces, mixed media cut offs) any will do.
  • You’ll also need a solid color of clay. I’m using black.
  • Roll the solid color into a sheet. Mine is rolled on the middle setting of my pasta machine.
  • Squish your leftovers into a ball.
  • Roughly chop up your ball.
  • Cut the sheet into four square sections and pile your bits of leftovers onto the sections. Don’t create a heap. You just want enough to cover up the solid color underneath.
  • Now press the leftovers onto the sections just to make sure they are well stuck.
  • Stack the sections on top of each other like you would in Mokume Gane.
  • Press the stack together into a rectangular shape, and reduce so that you can stack it again. The number of times you stack will dictate the final pattern.
  • Once you’re happy with the number of layers, compact and reduce the layers.
  • Cut into the cane perpendicularly to the way it is stacked.
And that's how you make the Cane.

See the video for some examples of different canes using different leftovers.


Polymer Clay Stroppel Cane Tutorial

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If you need more information on reducing your canes, take a look at my reducing polymer clay canes tutorial, where I show how to reduce round, square, triangular and hexagonal canes correctly.


If I have missed something, or you still have questions, please leave a comment below.


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