strawberry-cane
Scan of original-sized cane on left. Reduced and baked cane slice on right.

This cane looked so pretty when it was large.  It’s not terrible when reduced, but there are a few things I don’t like.

The Kato translucent clay I used to fill in around the leaves and stem turned yellow when baked.  I can salvage this by cutting away the translucent clay from each cane slice before baking.

I should have outlined the leaves and stem in a darker green or increased the value contrast.  They look mushy compared to the starker contrast in the red and white berry.

When I reduced it, weird little points appeared on both sides where the translucent met the red.  This cane was hard to reduce and keep the integrity of the shape because it was actually two shapes: a heart shape with a half circle on top.

What I learned from this:

  1. Review Ginger Davis Allman’s test of translucent clays to learn which brands don’t turn yellow.
  2. Make the translucent fill larger so the overall cane is egg-shaped.  (See photo below.)
  3. Work on the contrast in the leaves and stem

 

strawberry-cane-2
New egg-shaped cane was easier to reduce.