When polymer clay cures it is strong. It is compared to ABS plastic. If you take a ball of polymer clay and bake it, and cook it, then drop it, it wouldn’t break. It’s strong.”
I asked Thomas and Rich to tell me about the design process and how they come together with different design responsibilities and ideas.
“I basically start with raw colors and I create a cane,” Rich began.
“It’s like drawing with depth. The piece will be five or seven inches around and two to three inches tall. I start with the clay and use the pasta machine and various pieces of equipment to make sheets.
Then I take those sheets and make different components and make a design with those components. Basically, it’s geometry.” The entire cane making process takes anywhere from 20-40 hours. Because the clay does not dry out in the air, he can work on it, leave it, and come back to it later.
A couple of days after he has completed the cane, he then hands it off to Thomas for the jewelry design part of the process and, ultimately, the finished product.
“I kind of take direction from the cane,” she said. “Even though it’s a circular cane, it depends on which end I pinch it on to make a petal. I can basically pinch it on four different sides for four different looks from it.
I just go with whatever shape I am in the mood for at the time.
“I will take the thin petals and usually I will edge it with that and make them into petals,” Thomas continued. “Sometimes I will mix other canes with it if I see a nice contrast or something that compliments it well.
They just kind of take off on their own. It’s a matter of looking at the cane and deciding what shows it off the best.” Her process takes anywhere from 20 minutes for the tiniest of pieces to an hour and a half or the largest.
Along with their art fairs, Rich and Thomas have taught a couple of small classes and done demonstrations on how to make a can and how to make pendants and other items.
“If we are not demonstrating at the shows, then people have a hard time understanding how we get from the beginning to the end,” Rich said. “We always have to demonstrate or always have something out so we can demonstrate to people what we are doing. I make a real cane and she makes real pendants.”
Thomas enjoys the curiosity people have when they see their pieces. “People always wonder, is this metal? Shells? Leather? Paper?” Thomas laughed. “They guess everything there is out there.”