Dragon Fruit cane

I love dragon fruit, or any exotic fruits really :) Unfortunately, I'm the only one in my family who likes them!

(picture found online)

Here's what they look like, in case you haven't seen one before. I know it might sound strange,but a lot of people I know have never even heard of dragon fruit! You eat them in a similar way to how you would eat a kiwi fruit: you basically cut them in half then take out the fruit. They taste quite similar to kiwi fruit, they're a little bland but sweet. The fruit has a soft and slightly slimy texture, but there's also lots of tiny seeds in fruit.
Anyway, I've only seen ones with white fruit before, but you can also get them with purple fruit. I don't know if they taste any different.







Now we've got that out the way, let's start with the tutorial! 

We're going to be needing the following colours: black, translucent, and a bright pink colour mixed with a little white.










Start by rolling out the black. then cut it in to equal size pieces.

What I did with the translucent clay, I rolled it in to a ball then flattened it out. Then I cut it in to quarters. I rolled out one of the pieces and used it for the centre. I put 4 rolls of black clay around it. Then wrap it up.
Keep doing this until you've used up all of translucent clay quarters.

Now we've finished making the fruit :) Now for the flesh. Take your pink clay and roll it out. Wrap it around the clay (or 'pack' the clay) and reduce it in to a cane (start by using your fingers to reduce/squeeze it down and after that you roll it).

Now you cut the ends of carefully with a good blade. Don't just push the blade down or you'll mess up your cane (typical beginner mistake!). Instead, sort of roll the cane with the blade as you push in through gently. 

And, you're done :D When you bake the slices, the white part will go translucent. Sorry, I don't have a picture of a baked slice just yet.

I don't recommend baking the cane unless you know what you're doing. If you want to use it for Decoden or nail art, I think it'll be best if you make as much slices as you think you'll need and bake them as normal.

Just something I'd like to say...

I use a gas oven/cooker so bake my clay. I bake it at gas mark 1/2 or 1. If you don't have a gas oven, just do what it says on the packet. You have to be careful with it, if the oven is too hot, the clay will darken. It won't produce any toxic fumes unless the temperature is really really hot... It's safe to bake at a low temperature. If you bake it too cold, it might not completely harden and might break easier.

As for the time, it all depends on the thickness. You have to bake it for longer than 15 minutes (unless you bake your canes, that's different), but no longer than half an hour. If you leave it any longer, it'll burn. Any shorter, It won't bake thoroughly enough and might break easier.

With your clay you can bake anything metal (though it will go really hot afterwards!) and wood (e.g. toothpicks, bamboo skewers...). There are some glazes you can bake (such as Studio by Sculpey), but you should really check the packet! If you want to make something in to a stud earring, attach the metal post before you bake it. Use TLS to attach it :) If it falls off after you bake it, which it shouldn't, you can glue it back on...

Thanks for reading, I hope you found it useful XD