2. Form your beads into different shapes. Try tubes, flatten your tubes, disks, squares, get your imagination working. The great thing about polymer clay is the design is completely up to you!

3. Make sure your colors are contrasting enough. Try for light and dark colors to have your canes shown off to their best. Just starting out, you can't go wrong with black and white. Add brown and translucent to it for a little kick!

4. Don't use colors straight out of the package. To control the intensity of your clay, use its compliment to create a richer tone. Just a little bit will do. Complimentary colors are purple-yellow, green-red, blue-orange. Experiment with creating new colors before you start, make a palette to work from.

5. Take it slow. Put your canes aside for 15 minutes before you start to slice them. They will hold their shape better.

6. Use a pasta machine. There is no way around it. Your designs will greatly improve with this tool.

7. Borrow from the masters. Stuck for a color combination or design, check out an art history book for ideas. Mix up Van Gogh's colors or try a Monet inspired bead.

8. Sand or buff your beads after you bake them. Sealing them is up to you. Check out www.glassattic.com for more information on finishing.

9. Use quality materials in your bead projects to compliment your one-of-a-kind beads. Use sterling silver and stones to show off your beads. Treat your polymer clay beads just like you would an artist's lampwork bead.

10. You can make a lot of great beads using simple canes, like the jellyroll or squares inside squares. The trick is to vary the size of the canes. Start out with a large spiral, cut it in half, reduce it, and cut it in half. So you'll have a large, medium and tiny spiral. Make a set of beads using only these three canes and see what you come up with. Mastering the simplest canes will help improve your beads. All the other canes are built on these basic ideas.