MURRINA MARIPOSA

Supplies:

4 ozs white

4 ozs black

1.5-2 oz any color you want for the wings

Background- I used translucent but you can use any color you want. I don’t have an exact amount for this right now. I will weight it out when I make the cane. I used approx. 5-6 ozs for the background.

I work kinda big, but all the canes used in the cane can be used for a great flower cane.

Instructions:

Condition all your clay.

Use 1.5-2 ozs of white and color of your choice and make a skinner blend. 

Roll up the skinner dark in the center to light on the outside, pushing from both ends make a plug of clay. Place your hands at each end of the log and roll it back and forth, pressing your hands so they move in toward the middle. This will end up shortening your log and making it into a short, fat plug. It takes some time to do this without having the cane fold over on itself, so be patient and work at it slowly.

This plug is approx 1.5” wide and 1.75” tall. Weight 3 ozs.

Wrap the plug with a thin layer of black rolled on the #6 setting of an Atlas Pasta Machine.

 

Cut the plug into quarters.

Flatten the points of the wedges

Push/pull the sides up towards the flattened point.

Do this to both the wedges, sorry about the yucky stuff on the end of the canes, it gets cut off!!

Press the 2 wedges together and reduce to 6 clean inches. Cut in half press the 2 piece together.

Shape into a fan shape, as you do this the cane will reduce a little bit on it’s own. Trim the ends so you have 3 clean inches.

 

Make a white plug with .5 oz of clay, wrap it 3 times with black clay sheet #1 thickness of Atlas Pasta Machine.

Make a white plug with 1.5 ozs of clay, wrap it once with a sheet of black clay sheet #1 thickness of Atlas Pasta Machine.

Reduce both black and white bulls eye canes to approx 1/8”- ¼” in diameter. Cut 10-12, 3” pieces. You may need more but this will get you started.

Put 2-3 rows of the cane with more white against the blue, then put 1-2 rows of the cane with more black around the outside. This photo only shows one outer row. Reduce this wing to 4.5 inches, cut one piece 3 inches, one piece 1.5 inches, reduce the 1.5 inches cane to 3 inches.

Shape the small piece into a shape that is pleasing to you. This is the lower piece of the wing.

At this point you can add more outer cane pieces to the upper edge of the larger wing just to change the shape a little bit. Shape it into a shape that is pleasing to you. This photo is a little out of order because I forgot to take a picture after I added the extra canes at the top of the wing.

Once the 2 wings are shaped the way you want, wrap them in one layer of translucent, rolled out on the thickest setting of your pasta machine, taper the ends of the translucent so it makes a smooth transition. This photo shows 2 upper wings (sorry).

Now put the upper and lower wings together, reduce to 6 clean inches, cut in half. Now you have both halves of your butterfly.

Shape a piece of black clay for the body, the size will depend on the size of the wings. Mine is about ½” tall. 1/8” wide and 3” long. PLEASE NOTE, the body will remain larger then the rest of the cane, the center of any cane will remain larger, the center of a flower, the nose on a face cane, so plan accordingly!!

Roll out a piece of black clay at least 6” long and ½” wide on the #6 setting of the PM, very thin. Sandwich this piece between 2 piece of translucent rolled on the #1 setting of the PM. Note the one side must be have the black showing. This will be the part the goes against the top of the butterflies head, if it is covered with translucent the antenna will look like they are floating above the head! Cut 2, 3” pieces.

Push the antenna pieces onto the head and against the wings, continue packing the cane. Waiting for a photo of the packed cane before reduction.

This is the cane after reduction.