polymer clay BLENDS
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20150222091824AAcm6Yz
(may have to click on "Hidden Answer" at YA if my answer not shown)
There are actually a number of ways to do what polymer clayers call "blends."
(I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "how do I blend BIG PIECES" in your question, and can only find the examples I list below for these 2 people you mentioned which could use big pieces or small. If my info doesn't answer your question, just ask another question but include an actual link to the kind of thing you want to know about. If you're instead asking about "conditioning" polymer clay though as Mike refers to, including large pieces of it, then that's different and you can find loads of info about that on the Conditioning page** at my site.)
CREATING BLENDS:
...The old and original way was what I call *discrete* blends, and may still be used occasionally.
Discrete blends are created by placing small variations of color next to each other, which are then perceived by the eye as smooth gradations.
Each color step was mixed by hand back then, and by adding proportionally more and more of one color to another; then each resulting color mix was placed next to another color mix, etc.
...The much more common (and easy!) way for a long time has been *Skinner blends* which are true smooth gradations of color --one color transitioning smoothly into another color, or multiple colors transitioning smoothly into each other.
Those are usually created as *sheets* of gradient color, though they can then be cut into various sections (usually across the color changes), rolled up, wrapped, or used in many ways to create "canes" or any shape which will still show the gradient of color.
Those can be done by hand, but are much easier and quicker to make with a pasta machine so they're usually used.
Any part of a polymer clay cane or sculpt (or anything) will have much more pop!, dimensionality, interest, complexity, etc, if a Skinner blend has been used.
You can find loads of info on both Skinner blends and discrete blends as well as how to use them, on the Blends page of my polymer clay encyclopedia site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/blends.htm
...and more on Skinner blends by googling:
how to: https://www.google.com/images?q=how+to+"skinner+blends"+polymer+clay
Skinner blend cane pics: https://www.google.com/images?q="skinner+blend"+canes
...Another sometimes-used way is to use a (inexpensive) "clay gun" extruder.
I see that technique for example in the long ropes of hair/mane and tail of Angenia C's Felicity Unicorn.***
In that technique, 2 or more colors of clay are put into the barrel of a clay gun (the cheapie silver $10 ones will do fine as long as the clay is well conditioned or soft), one behind the other. When the clay is extruded by pushing on the plunger, the extruded rope of clay will have smooth gradations of those colors *on the outside* of each rope. The quickness of color change will be determined by the size of the clay colors next to each other in the barrel. (The same effect can pretty much be achieved by cutting stips of Skinner blends then rolling them up like long ropes/logs, though more tedious.)
This technique is also often used to create polymer clay Balinese filigree*** and other things.
........There are lots of other fun ways to use those gradient-color extrusions too though which are more often used. Those would mostly be extruding the ropes as above, but to then cut across those logs showing their *insides* from the cut ends. Cutting will reveal that one color is actually inside another color, e.g. "automatically-wrapped canes" where 1/4" disks or wads of individual colors are stacked in the barrel before extruding, cutting across them then stacking together in various ways.
.......You can find loads of info about those kinds of clay gun technique on the Clay Guns page of my site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/claygun.htm (look under Uses and also More Uses)
...(There's also simple "marbling" of clay colors which can result in some areas of color being gradient-blended. But for marbling, 2 or more colors of clay are just rolled and mixed around by hand till the extent of marbling and the look desired is achieved.)
For anything else about using polymer clay and making things with it, check out the rest of my polymer clay site from the Table of Contents page so you can see all that's covered there (then click on any page of interest from the alphabetical navigation bar). http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(Sorry about the non-clickable links below if that's still happening at YA...you'll have to copy and paste them into your browser instead of just clicking unless YA changes their policies.)
==================
** conditioning: http://glassattic.com/polymer/Conditioning.htm
*** http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/187/8/e/unicorn_felicity_by_angeniac-d6c7dfc.jpg
http://dragonsandbeasties.deviantart.com/art/Rainbow-Oriental-Dragon-Auction-365344473
http://carmens-handmade.blogspot.com/2010/09/tutorial-filigree-mokume-gane.html (step # 5)
Balinese Filigree: https://www.google.com/images?q=Balinese+Filigree+polymer+clay
(my polymer clay encyclopedia site: http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm )
.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20150222091824AAcm6Yz
(may have to click on "Hidden Answer" at YA if my answer not shown)
There are actually a number of ways to do what polymer clayers call "blends."
(I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "how do I blend BIG PIECES" in your question, and can only find the examples I list below for these 2 people you mentioned which could use big pieces or small. If my info doesn't answer your question, just ask another question but include an actual link to the kind of thing you want to know about. If you're instead asking about "conditioning" polymer clay though as Mike refers to, including large pieces of it, then that's different and you can find loads of info about that on the Conditioning page** at my site.)
CREATING BLENDS:
...The old and original way was what I call *discrete* blends, and may still be used occasionally.
Discrete blends are created by placing small variations of color next to each other, which are then perceived by the eye as smooth gradations.
Each color step was mixed by hand back then, and by adding proportionally more and more of one color to another; then each resulting color mix was placed next to another color mix, etc.
...The much more common (and easy!) way for a long time has been *Skinner blends* which are true smooth gradations of color --one color transitioning smoothly into another color, or multiple colors transitioning smoothly into each other.
Those are usually created as *sheets* of gradient color, though they can then be cut into various sections (usually across the color changes), rolled up, wrapped, or used in many ways to create "canes" or any shape which will still show the gradient of color.
Those can be done by hand, but are much easier and quicker to make with a pasta machine so they're usually used.
Any part of a polymer clay cane or sculpt (or anything) will have much more pop!, dimensionality, interest, complexity, etc, if a Skinner blend has been used.
You can find loads of info on both Skinner blends and discrete blends as well as how to use them, on the Blends page of my polymer clay encyclopedia site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/blends.htm
...and more on Skinner blends by googling:
how to: https://www.google.com/images?q=how+to+"skinner+blends"+polymer+clay
Skinner blend cane pics: https://www.google.com/images?q="skinner+blend"+canes
...Another sometimes-used way is to use a (inexpensive) "clay gun" extruder.
I see that technique for example in the long ropes of hair/mane and tail of Angenia C's Felicity Unicorn.***
In that technique, 2 or more colors of clay are put into the barrel of a clay gun (the cheapie silver $10 ones will do fine as long as the clay is well conditioned or soft), one behind the other. When the clay is extruded by pushing on the plunger, the extruded rope of clay will have smooth gradations of those colors *on the outside* of each rope. The quickness of color change will be determined by the size of the clay colors next to each other in the barrel. (The same effect can pretty much be achieved by cutting stips of Skinner blends then rolling them up like long ropes/logs, though more tedious.)
This technique is also often used to create polymer clay Balinese filigree*** and other things.
........There are lots of other fun ways to use those gradient-color extrusions too though which are more often used. Those would mostly be extruding the ropes as above, but to then cut across those logs showing their *insides* from the cut ends. Cutting will reveal that one color is actually inside another color, e.g. "automatically-wrapped canes" where 1/4" disks or wads of individual colors are stacked in the barrel before extruding, cutting across them then stacking together in various ways.
.......You can find loads of info about those kinds of clay gun technique on the Clay Guns page of my site:
http://glassattic.com/polymer/claygun.htm (look under Uses and also More Uses)
...(There's also simple "marbling" of clay colors which can result in some areas of color being gradient-blended. But for marbling, 2 or more colors of clay are just rolled and mixed around by hand till the extent of marbling and the look desired is achieved.)
For anything else about using polymer clay and making things with it, check out the rest of my polymer clay site from the Table of Contents page so you can see all that's covered there (then click on any page of interest from the alphabetical navigation bar). http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm
(Sorry about the non-clickable links below if that's still happening at YA...you'll have to copy and paste them into your browser instead of just clicking unless YA changes their policies.)
==================
** conditioning: http://glassattic.com/polymer/Conditioning.htm
*** http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/187/8/e/unicorn_felicity_by_angeniac-d6c7dfc.jpg
http://dragonsandbeasties.deviantart.com/art/Rainbow-Oriental-Dragon-Auction-365344473
http://carmens-handmade.blogspot.com/2010/09/tutorial-filigree-mokume-gane.html (step # 5)
Balinese Filigree: https://www.google.com/images?q=Balinese+Filigree+polymer+clay
(my polymer clay encyclopedia site: http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.htm )
.
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