New vessel – Interconnectedness

Tags

ArtVessel, flower, pen jar, polymer clay, pretty, white poppy

Here is my latest vessel. I made it as a birthday gift, so I had to wait before showing it on my blog. It’s a large glass jar covered with mixed media, decorated with polymer clay, intended to be used for storing pens.

Interconnectedness by Cate van Alphen

I don’t always have a title for my work, but while I was making this the phrase “the interconnectedness of all things” kept repeating in my head. I wasn’t even watching Dirk Gently at the time.

I’ve included a few of my white poppies in the design. And the pink flowers are just for prettiness (and to add a some colour).

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Last vessel of 2016, probably finished

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ArtVessel, frog, nature, polymer clay, vase, white poppy

I decided to spend the time between Christmas and New Year tidying up my studio in preparation for new projects. After a couple of days I couldn’t stand the accusing stare from the glass cabochons of my unfinished vessel, so I decided that finishing off a project counted as tidying. I was determined to finish it before the new year.

Frogs and Flowers Vase by Cate van Alphen

I started this vessel back in June where it stalled until October. After several days’ work and a few days into 2017 I think I’m finally finished, or maybe I’ve just had enough. Because I spent a long time on this project, here is a proportional number of photographs.

Frogs and Flowers Vase by Cate van Alphen

Frogs and Flowers Vase by Cate van Alphen

Frogs and Flowers Vase by Cate van Alphen

Here is a photograph of the effect I was aiming for.

I wanted to suggest a rich ecosystem of plants and creatures, although not literally current earth species. I’m not looking at it too closely in case I find more bald spots that need filling. I haven’t decided yet if I should antique it or not (currently I quite like the bright colours of the polymer clay).

As you can see from the detail shot above, I included a leftover white poppy (and made a few more), and some little frogs like the ones I made for the Art Charm Swap.

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Looking back at 2016

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, polymer clay

For 2016 I challenged myself to make a vessel each week. This did not go according to plan, as you can see by the 19 (not 52) thumbnails below.

The first problem was that it often took more than one week to complete a project and it began to feel like a failure if I didn’t manage to finish in time for my blog post. The longer a project took to finish, the harder it was to continue working on it. I still have an incomplete vase/sculpture looming at me from the shelf.

Grotto Bottle WIP by Cate van Alphen

Another problem I had was that my definition was quite broad so it took me some time each week to decide what to work on. (As opposed to my successful 2015 challenge where each week was more defined e.g. week 10 – yellow beads).

My definition of a vessel includes anything rigid you can put something into; so in addition to the obvious bowls, bottles and vases I hope to include decorative boxes, miniature teapots, inros, lockets or even poison rings.

Finally, I chose the challenge because it was difficult. I have a collection of glass jars that I hoard because it seems a shame to throw them away, but I never seem to get round to decorating them. I had hoped that after forcing myself to make a few it would become easier and enjoyable. After all, back in 2012 making earrings was pretty terrifying but I joined in with the 52 Earrings challenge and I have since made hundreds of earrings. Unfortunately for the amount of time I have to clay at the moment this was just too far out of my comfort zone, and I ended up not making anything at all.

One thing I was really pleased about making this year was another polymer clay painting.

“The Road Home” by Cate van Alphen

 It is a 10cm x 10cm tile that I  made for the FIMO 50 World Project which brought together work by hundreds of artists from around the world. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see the real thing, but I think I can spot my painting there on the globe.

Art Vessel – week 39

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, polymer clay

It seems my grotto bottle (which you may remember from week 23 and 24) has been waiting for the Art Charm Swap reveal*. Perhaps there is some quantum resonance as I planned to add some similar tiny frogs around the outside?

* Unfortunately the Art Charm Auction has been slightly delayed while Jen Cameron arranges a venue that will ensure all the proceeds go to Beads of Courage. I will share the link as soon as it starts… after I’ve made my bids 😉

Grotto Bottle WIP by Cate van Alphen

The decoration is STILL not finished, but it is starting to look more interesting. I’ve added some glass gems, which I originally prepared for my Art Charms before deciding they were too big and starting again. I’ve linked them together with swirls of “silver” coloured polymer clay. I was thinking of them as metallic bones in the landscape, except they now look more like liquid mercury. Perhaps the rocks are bones, and these are more like veins.

I’m planning to add some moss and plants for the little quantum frogs now on my work board. There may be bugs and a fungal infection or two before I’m finished. I’ll see how it grows.

Week 37 – still a vessel?

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, fairy garden, polymer clay, retro

I’m not entirely sure what I’ve made this week for my 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge. I decided to do something with the base of the broken cup from last week. I started by covering the sharp edges with polymer clay. Then there was a scar left from where the handle broke off, so I made some retro flower canes inspired by the cup pattern to cover that and make it into a feature.

I decided to make a little garden inside the teacup. And because I had massively oversized unrealistic flowers, I decided to make it an unreal fairy garden. I made the ground white to match the china cup. And there’s a silver bridge over a golden river.

I used gold ink in liquid polymer clay for the river, but it didn’t end up as sparkly as I’d hoped. I did consider adding some residents, but my miniature work is still a bit ham-fisted.

I’m not sure that it still counts as a vessel since it’s now full, so you wouldn’t really want to put other things in. My daughter says it’s a wishing garden. I suppose wishes don’t take up much room.

You may have noticed that I have not yet revealed what I made for the Art Charm Swap. That’s because the date is now 30th September 2016. The theme is Fairytales so there will be lots of enchanting things to see then. 😉

Art Vessel – week 35

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, dish, patchwork, polymer clay

Hooray! I have actually made a vessel this week. I sat down to make some black and white beads and ended up covering a glass dish with the leftover canes from my AJE headpin challenge.

Despite taking great care to avoid air bubbles, I was disappointed that quite a few appeared after baking. They are visible as the top surface is glass with polymer clay decoration on the underside. I do have an idea for something to try on my next attempt to avoid this.

The glass blank is a square with curved edges to make a shallow dish. Luckily I have a few more to practice on.

I textured the back and added some gold paint to antique it. I think it could do with a touch of sanding to remove some of the messy paint from the raised areas. But at this point I’m just glad that I made something.

Art Vessel – week 28

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, light catcher, polymer clay, vintage bead

I have missed a couple of weeks from my Art Vessel challenge. Firstly I lost momentum with the vessel I was working on, then I was inspired by the British summer weather to knit a cardigan so I was working on that in the evenings instead of polymer clay. Then because I wasn’t working on polymer clay projects in the evening, or planning them in the day, I noticed there was a terrible backlog of housework to do, so I have spent all my time and energy working on that.

However this week I was inspired by my parent’s 40th wedding anniversary to create an assemblage that includes a polymer clay vessel. It is in shades of pink and red as it’s their Ruby Anniversary.

Ruby Assemblage by Cate van Alphen

I used 4 vintage crystals (possibly from a chandelier) for each decade together with a scattering of old foil beads, and a few modern ones. I also had a few textured cube beads that I had made from polymer clay that were waiting for a purpose.

I chose the stick which I pruned from my honeysuckle for its shape, but it turns out that in the language of flowers honeysuckle represents “the bond of love”, so that fitted in perfectly. It’s a little weathered too, but 40 years will do that. 😉

The vessel in the assemblage is a little scroll case where I added a short message with good wishes. The kanji charm has the symbol for friend as I believe that is an important element of marriage. I attached it using two gold coloured wire jump rings to represent wedding bands.

It looks good in a window, but I didn’t manage to capture it that well in a photograph.

Polymer clay challenge – week 24

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, earrings, handmade beads, necklace, polymer clay, wonky bead

My vessel is still a work in progress for this week of the 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge. I have now added a foil and plaster bandage armature around the glass jar. Hopefully next week I’ll be able to finish decorating it.

I also have a ballet time necklace and a pair of earrings that I made from more wonky cube beads. This time I alternated between drilling the beads face on and diagonally through the corners. Wonky beads make me ridiculously happy :).

Wonky bead necklace and earrings by Cate van Alphen

 

Polymer clay challenge – week 23

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, mokume gane, polymer clay

So I am still running late for showing my weekly 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge projects. My vessel for this week, 23, looks a bit of a mess, but it is a work in progress.

I have partly covered a glass jar with a sheet of polymer clay mokume gane facing inwards. I plan to build something up around the outside leaving some of the glass open to show the interior pattern.

Polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen

For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to clear away some of the scrap on my work board, so I also made a few beads while the bottle was baking in the oven.

Art Vessel – week 22

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, earrings, handmade beads, polymer clay

So it’s nearly halfway through the 2016 Polymer Clay challenge and I am still finding my vessels something of a struggle. While it’s great to push the comfort zone, it has occurred to me that perhaps following the comfort zone for a little bit is how an artist develops their “look”. I’m imagining a miner following a mineral seam instead of digging through bedrock the whole time.

Currently my comfort zone is making earrings, so this week I have made a pair of “vessel” earrings.

Vessel earrings by Cate van Alphen

They are not particularly functional vessels, unless you need a place to transport a tiny fairy or perhaps you need to collect pollen like a bumble bee.

The green cup and saucer are polymer clay and the blue beads are glass. As usual they are on niobium hooks.