Black and White Canes- Atomic age influences part 1

I found this beauty at No Pattern Required a great blog written by Retro Ruth
http://www.nopatternrequired.com/?p=12883

I thought I would start another cane series while I had some spare time ;-D and I thought that playing in black and white would be great fun for me and hopefully you will enjoy it too!
I love black and white, simple, clean, and only two colors to purchase.
I am fascinated by the Atomic age designs in the 50's. You can find examples by searching "atomic prints fabric" in google images, fun stuff, reminds me of the Jetson's. They first aired on TV in 1962.

You can find some great examples of mid-century wall paper designs here http://www.nopatternrequired.com/?p=12883
I spent just a little time in this blog with all of their 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's stuff and I feel better. A walk down memory lane for me. What a Blast.
Mind you, I disliked this stuff very much as a kid growing up with it, but I feel comfort in it now and miss it a little.
This reminds me of security, not having to worry, and black and white TV! It is like "comfort designs" instead of "comfort food" ;-D

You will need:

Black Cernit 1- 2.2 ounce block
Opaque White Cernit 1-2.2ounce block
Porcelain White Cernit large block (Just says White, not Opaque white)
Clay blade SB
Clay Machine
Ruler
Mix the black and the opaque white with equal amounts of the porcelain white until it is one color. You do not have to do this but I like the consistency of the Porcelain white and it keeps my colors soft and pliable. If your porcelain white is not soft this will not work.

All links above lead to my hubby's store www.clayfactory.net
as always, thank you so much for looking. We both appreciate you immensely.

1. Roll out the black on the 3rd thickest setting in the clay machine and cut two strips 1" wide by 4" long and one 1" wide by 6" long.

2. Put aside the 6" long strip for a bit and roll out some of the Opaque white on the 4th thickest setting. Make the sheet of white at least 8 1/2" long.
Place the black strip on the white clay.

3.Trim the white clay on the left and the right side of the black strip and then trim the bottom edge. Fold the black and the white section over on the white sheet.

4. Trim around the black strip again and cut off the end too. Your strip will be covered like this.

5. Tuck the end that is covered with white (the end that I am holding in the picture above) in and roll up the strip like a cinnamon roll.

6. Like this.

7. Press the outside edge that is white to the coil.

8. Pinch a little waist in the middle of the coil(cane) by placing the thumb and forefinger of one hand in the north and south position on the cane (coil) and the thumb and forefinger of the other hand in the east and west position of the coil/cane. Push together on all sides at once and rotate the coil/cane up and to the right or left a little(which ever feels right to you). Pinch again and continue rotating and moving up the cane till you get to the end. Turn the cane/coil over and starting the middle work your way up the other end of the coil.

9. When you have reduced the cane/coil to half the size roll on the work surface to smooth and lengthen while extending. Roll out to about 6" in length, roll down to about 3/8" in diameter.
Cut the coil/cane in half.

10. Trim off the other end till the distortion is gone.
You will need 2" for the cane we are going to make.
Put the rest of the cane/coil aside for later use.






Stay tuned for part 2...
Happy Monday.