Sherry Bailey wrote: "PS To Wanda, the original poster -- I hope you
found your answer out there!"
I did e-mail the lady privately and here is what I said to her. Hoping
this will answer some questions for any other "new to polymer clay" folks
that need help with this. Hope this helps!

I have my best luck w/ caning beads by slicing the canes as evenly as
possible. U can use a ruler with raised marks on it to impress into the
cane then slice on the marks. I use the 1/16th marks which gives a really
thin slice. But u can experiment & use the thickness that works best for
you. Not distorting the canes slices when you cut them helps to keep them
from distorting as u apply them also. Never try to slice a "just made"
cane. Let it rest for at least 1/2 hour. If u r in a hurry you can put in
the freezer for 5-10 min's. If the inside of the cane is still warm it will
move as you slice it, so letting it rest allows the interior clay to cool
and set up like jello then it is so much easier to work with.. These cool
down times will vary depending on the type of clay u r using also. Softer
clays like Sculpey take a little longer, then Premo (what I use) or Fimo.
Premo is the middle softness but holds a better texture. Fimo is the
hardest, it hold a texture pretty well but takes a lot more pressure to get
the texture on the clay. Fimo seems to polish up the best too! (I cheat
and polish my Premo on my buffer, after sanding w/ wet dry sand paper. Then
I put on a coat of "Future" floor polish.) That makes a really nice shine
on the clay. Use a really sharp thinnest clay blade u can, and slightly
roll the cane with the blade as you slice.

Now for adding cane slices to objects. If your cane slices are cold, then
warm them slightly in-between your hands first. Start by applying cane
slices to a flat surface. (for practice) If you have ever rolled out a pie
crust, it's the same principal. Try to use the same amount of pressure and
roll in the north/south direction with little or no distortion, then in the
east/west direction. Then in the northwest/southeast direction, then
northeast/southwest direction. Don't try to make the cane slices cover all
the little "diamond" shapes in-between where the slices meet. To cover
those you have a couple of options, you can roll small balls of clay in
same, coordinating or contrasting colors, flatten slightly into the opening
and then use the same pie crust rolling technique.

OR you can roll a smaller cane of matching cane or different color and use
the smaller cane slices to use as the fillers.

OR you can roll out a sheet of clay to the same thickness or very slightly
thicker then your cane slices. Then mark the openings by gently pressing the
opening onto the sheet (like marking the clay when you make a butt joint on
the cane) then cut out w/craft knife and apply to the opening, then smooth
out with either roller or finger tips.

OR Make the balls of clay for the filler and just make them big enough to
cover most of the opening and gently press onto open space with just enough
pressure to completely cover the open space then dab the ball with a texture
sheet or texture the ball with a stylus or anything else you may use for
texture. This was one of my "happy accidents". It made a really cool
"knobby bead" My daughter doesn't like to texture the balls, so she just
leaves hers as little balls. Very cute!

Last but not least, if you cover the bead with the same color as the outside
wrap color of clay first, sometimes you won't need to even fill in the
little spaces between the clay slices. Becos the base clay on the bead and
the outside of the cane slice are matching in color, the spaces sort of
disappear.

Once you have achieved applying canes on "flat surfaces" with little or no
distortion you are ready to move on to curved surfaces. Do exactly the
same things as for flat surfaces with only one exception. Remember that
curved surfaces will require "darts" (small v-shaped cuts in the cane
slices) to make that curve. Use your clay blade or craft knife to make the
v-cuts and cut away a little at a time, because you have to custom fit the
slice to the curved surface. Better to cut too little and have to recut
then to cut off too much the 1st time and ruin your piece. I say ruin
because it is nearly impossible to cut out a v-shape from a patterned cane
slice then try to patch it & exactly match the patterns again.

To begin I suggest starting making caned beads on larger focal point type
beads then as you get more practice move on to the smaller beads. Also
laying out the bead design first will help to keep you from having the
larger spaces that have to be filled in. Like my 1st bead, I put four
slices around the middle then one slice each on the top & bottom. It was a
slightly flattened heart shape & of course I wanted the cane slice to
dominate the design so front & back of the heart got a cane slice smack dab
in the middle. But the cane slices were too large to put on each side, so I
had to roll a piece of cane down to a smaller size to fit the sides and not
overlap the slice already in the middle.

Getting really good with polymer clay is really just tons of PRACTICE,
PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!

If you have a VCR & cable TV, you can video tape the Carol Duval Show on
HGTV and/or also now on the DIY channel. Carol has a lot of the polymer clay
artists on her show & seeing them work will give you a wealth of information
for FREE!!! Seeing, is sometimes easier to comprehend then just reading
about a project and trying to figure out how they did that! LOL I have a
whole collection of tapes that I am converting to DVD, of Carol and her
polymer clay artists, which is how I got started in polymer clay in the 1st
place.

Well hope this helps and good luck!
eliquint