Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane

This is the latest in a series showing how to make alphabet canes with polymer clay. (Click here to go back to the beginning, or here to check out the letter “I” cane.) This time here is the letter J polymer clay alphabet cane.

The letter J is one of the most complicated letters to create in a polyclay cane, because (1) it has a mixture of straight and curved lines, and (2) it’s not symmetrical.

You will need:

  • Approx. 28g of white polymer clay (about half a standard block)
  • Approx. 8g of black polymer clay (about one eighth of a standard block)
  • Pasta machine or clay roller
  • Tissue blade a.k.a clay slicer

Instructions

Step 1 – Roll the black clay through the pasta machine, to approximately 1.5mm thick:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane -
Thin black sheet

Step 2 – Cut off around a third of the white block of clay (and save it to use later):

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - cut off a third
Keep a third for later

Step 3 – With the larger piece of white clay, roll it into a cylinder about 2.5cm diameter and 2.5cm tall:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - white cylinder
White cylinder

Step 4 – Slice off the top of the cylinder, starting from about a quarter of the way in from the top:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - cut off top of cylinder
Cut off top of cylinder.

Step 5 – Flip the larger piece of the cylinder so that the flat section is on a flat surface:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - flip
Flip onto flat side

Step 6 – Reduce the cane (pushing it from the sides and top) until it is around twice as long:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane -
Reduce the cane

Step 7 – Cut the cane in half horizontally:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - cut in half
Cut in half.

Step 8 – Arrange the two halves of the reduced cane so that the ‘U’ shaped sections are facing towards you:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - U shaped sections
Two ‘U’ shapes.

Step 9 – Cover the outside of the left ‘U’ shape with the black sheet of clay, starting from top right and stopping about halfway up the left side. Trim off any excess black clay as necessary:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - cover with black
Cover left piece with black sheet.

Step 10 – Going back to the top section of the cylinder, cover the flat underside with one layer of black clay. Trim off any excess black clay:

Letter J - earlier step

Step 11 – Reassemble the top piece and left piece:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - reassemble
Reassemble.

Step 12 – Pinch/stretch the bottom end of the second ‘U’ shape until it becomes a long point:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane - pinch into a point
Pinch and stretch the ‘U’.

Step 13 – Bend the triangle shape around the ‘J’:

nearly finished J cane

Step 14 – Using the smaller piece of white clay from Step 2, roll it through the pasta machine on the thinnest setting, then wrap it around the cane:

Letter J polymer clay cane - penultimate step - KayVincent

Finished cane:

Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane tutorial - KayVincent

Hope you found this “Letter J polymer clay alphabet cane” tutorial useful. If you’ve got any comments then please let me know via the comments section or the contact us page or via Twitter or Facebook . Thanks!