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Class Listings, Events Calender and New Galleries displaying the latest work from
Polymer Clay artists around New Zealand and the Pacific Rim
This site is sponsored by Zigzag Polymer Clay Supplies Ltd and 2dye4
For product enquiries email our Sales Team at sales@zigzag.co.nz

Click on Image for larger picture

These beautiful hand decorated knitting needles are available in a number of sizes. Each pair of beads is hand made using an ancient technique called millifiori (one thousand flowers). Polymer clay artists around the world have embraced this method of decoration, as it was easily adapted for use with their medium. Once a pair of beads are made, Petra mounts them on to a pair of high quality Clover® bamboo needles.
If you would like Petra to mail or fax a complete order form with current choices to you, please feel free to email her.
Petra is a polymer clay artist as well as the owner of Zigzag Polymer Clay supplies. You can visit Zigzag by clicking on the logo below and to learn more about Petra's art work and teaching you can visit Petra's Bio page.

Needles are available to purchase exclusively
In Great Britain from	In New Zealand from	In Australia from

Petra works with two background colourways. Translucent on Pearl and Black. Because of the method in which these are created she does not have different background colours and it is the colour of the flower that dictates the final "look" of each pair of needles. Current Styles "Mothers Garden" Daisies on black
Each of the above images are samples of the style "Mothers garden" - This series is an all over floral design using multiple layers of flowers, leaves and geometric canes resulting in a garden of flowers. Each pair is unique and styles of flowers used vary everytime Petra creates new beads.
Purple	Pinks and Yellows	Purples and Pinks	Pinks and Blues
Each of the above images are samples of some of the colourways you can select - They are still all over floral designs however they can look quite different if only a few selected colours of flowers are used. Each pair is unique and styles of flowers used vary everytime Petra creates new beads.
Green on black	Purple on black	Earth tones	Another purple
For designs with black backgrounds, Petra uses just one flower and currently has no mixed flower options. You can choose just about any colour for the flower and she is happy to send you images by email, of flowers in your choice of colour range that are currently "on cane".

The Process - How is it done??

I take lumps of coloured polymer clay and manipulate them into rods of colour to form canes. Each cane is rather large and is then manipulated down into a number of smaller canes to enable me to cut small thin slices from them and apply to a base bead. Each "cane" takes about two to three hours to create. As you can see from the designs there are a number of canes involved in each bead. It is sometimes almost impossible to repeat a cane in exactly the same colour way as the clay can shift during the creation process and the final look is often quite different from the original one. Once all the canes are done for a series (usually around 20 different canes) then I can begin to create the beads. I make up a bunch of blanks and then begin the process of layering all the separate slices all over the bead until I'm happy with the look. Once that is done the beads are cured and then lacquered with a gloss varnish.
I create each set as a pair and quite sometime is spent ensuring that each pair of beads are as close in size and look as possible. Once the pairs of beads are made they are then drilled with a hole size to match the needles they are designed to fit and attached securely in place.