UFOs: Poly Clay Canes

We all have UFOs, UnFinished Objects, projects half finished laying around. (Well, I'm presuming we all do, maybe some of you are more disciplined than I) Sometimes we lose interest in what we're working on, or other times, something more urgent needs to be finished. Usually, I don't mind having UFOs, as long as I can figure out what I was doing when I pick it back up again. (yea, that's happened, I've found something half finished that I had no idea what it was supposed to be. now, I'm leaving myself notes.) A UFO can be a nice surprise sometimes, finding something that only needs a bit of work to be finished and beautiful!
But a UFO that is made with polymer clay can be a different story.
This photo shows five canes that I worked on at different times. Left to right: a wing with translucent bits, the few that I did slice up and bake looked great, but this old cane looks cracked now; a colorful geometric cane that I have never even cut into; a huge pink and orange cane, inspired by/made for a doll collection that I don't collect anymore, also never been cut; a sun cane, the pieces were intended to be surrounded by beaded sun rays, but I didn't ever figure out the best way to make the rays, only a few slices taken out; and a Christmas colored cane, this one is the most used of these five, it has made a few barrettes.
I've seen artists make huge canes, that they couldn't use all at once, and of course, canes are for sale as canes. But I'm not sure how people get them/keep them soft enough to use again. I feel like I'm looking at a trash heap, a beautiful trash heap, but still not really usable. Well, I won't throw them away, hoping I'll figure out the best way to reuse them!!