Tutorial: Kiwi cane in 10 steps...

[NotAmiWithAnI]

I don't know how other people make their kiwis, but this is how I've been doing mine.  It was also my first cane, first tutorial and a lot of other firsts  But I've had great success and hey!  It's already peeled!

[yvonnevantpadje]

When I first read kiwi I thought of the bird. Then again I have no clue what a cane is (online translater died on me).

I think this is very clever and very pretty (and it makes me hungry for kiwis while all we have in the house is bananas)!

[Diane B.]

Good tutorial!... and they do look good enough to eat!

Btw, just wanted to point out to everyone that in Step 6, the alternating logs of green and black (for the "seed layer") are being wrapped around the entire white center log evenly... doesn't show up that well in the photo for those who aren't used to caning. 
This photo by Maureen Carlson of making a starlight-mint cane shows the same basic arrangement of logs better from an end shot (cross-section): http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_occasions_december/article/0,,HGTV_3472_1390370,00.html
(... click on Figure E)
(...but of course for the kiwi, NotAmiWithAnI added a thick wrap of green-only afterward --and the proportions are a little different)


Diane B.

[SupernovaDesigns]

yvonne, a cane is a "log" of clay where every slice has an image. it's also used in glass work to make millefiori. the same methods are used to make some candies.

building a complex cane out of several smaller canes:
http://www.memoryelixir.com/TLN2002/images/canes.jpg

these are the instructions to make a really cool rose cane:
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/rose1.html

candy being made in a similar manner, but on a much larger scale of course:
http://occasionalepicure.blogspot.com/2005/06/kuranda-candy-kitchen.html

[Diane B.]

a cane is a "log" of clay where every slice has an image. it's also used in glass work to make millefiori.

Since these types of terms can be so confusing, at my polymer encyclopedia I like to use the term "log" only to mean a solid-color log/rope/snake of clay to keep my meaning clear as possible. 
I try to reserve the word "cane" for when I mean a long (round, square, triangular, whatever) shape of clay which has a pattern running all the way through it... even a simple pattern like a one-wrap "bullseye" cane.  (For those who don't know, canes are usually made from logs and/or sheets of different colors and shapes pressed or wrapped together which end up being one long clay shape.) 

Describing how to make a particular polymer cane or item can be really tough though!, and confusing for the reader, which is why I try to use the same terms all the time.  Other people may refer to those terms interchangeably though or have their own system.  (And clayers who have come from an "earthen clay" background often call their ropes/logs/snakes "coils," which I think can be even more confusing since it sounds like the shape should already be a coil/spring... the long ropes of earthen clay they deal with are usually used for later coiling into the shape of a pot, etc., though.)  So there's lots of variation!

There's also more info on just what a "cane" is on this page:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/canes-whatarethey.htm

And lessons on how to make lots of them here, if you're interested:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/Canes--general.htm
(general info on successful cane making)
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/canes--reducing.htm
(making canes smaller)
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/canes--instructions.htm
(lessons on many specific cane patterns)
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/faces_caned.htm
(mostly more advanced)

Diane B.

[Miss World]

omg these are wonderful!