22 Thu Oct 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work, WIP
My beads for this week of the 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge are not particularly exciting. I made spacer beads to finish off a necklace I started back in Indigo.
Indigo necklace and spacer beads WIP by Cate van Alphen
I also made spacer beads from the other colours in my Violet palette.
Violet palette spacer beads by Cate van Alphen
I was going to make some more interesting beads to go along with them, but I didn’t manage to get to it.
15 Thu Oct 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work, Virtual Retreat
This week, for my Polymer Clay Challenge, I made a flower power toggle. I started with two different sheets of blended colour, and then I cut and replaced flower shapes to create a pattern.
Flower power by Cate van Alphen
It’s a variation of the technique I learned earlier this year in Anke Humpert’s class on the Virtual Retreat. (You can still join the 2015 retreat as all the classes will be available for a year after the last sign up.)
Flower power button clasp by Cate van Alphen
The flower shape means the button I created from the cut out fits through the hole easily as it is longer across the petal tips than between two petals. I noticed this when I made my indigo mokme gane pendants back in week 31. I’m still planning on adding an edging to finish off the components.
Flower power focal by Cate van Alphen
I drilled a hole through the thickness of the loop so it could be attached discretely with a seed bead anchor. Or the hole could be used to secure a wrapped attachment so it doesn’t slide away sideways.
Flower power components by Cate van Alphen
There is a different pattern on the other side created from the second blend of clay.
08 Thu Oct 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
For this week of my 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, I made beads using my violet colour palette. I reduced and mirrored my flower cane to form a pattern like you’d find on fabric.
Floral fold beads by Cate van Alphen
I made fold beads. They are smaller than I’ve made previously because I wanted to keep them under an inch, so they don’t become focals.
Floral fold beads by Cate van Alphen
I also made some triangular pillow bead headpins. I even sanded the fronts! Unfortunately the sanding rubbed off some of the silver coating on the copper wire, but as long as I add a bead or wrap the top I think they’ll be ok.
Polymer clay headpins by Cate van Alphen
Of course I couldn’t decide if the triangles should point up or down, so I made some of each.
Triangle pin pair by Cate van Alphen
The backing colour is the colour I mixed from the cane ends. It’s not strictly in the palette, but I thought it was pretty. It makes me think of lavender soap.
Polymer clay headpins by Cate van Alphen
05 Mon Oct 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
I have now finished my polymer clay focal beads for week 39 of my Spectrum Year (see the WIP in my previous post). The beads are thick slices of stylised flower cane. I drilled two parallel holes so they could either be used double stranded in something like a bracelet, or if only one hole was used for a necklace it would be off centre so the beads would not flip over.
Flower cane bead by Cate van Alphen
They are a bit clumsy in comparison to what I had imagined. My slicing is still not very accurate – the lines framing the picture are wobbly and the bead slices themselves are not very straight or even. I think I could do with a cane slicer 😉
Flower cane beads by Cate van Alphen
I suspect they would be improved with some sanding, but it will probably be ages before I get round to doing that. They are an inch square so they count as focal beads by my definition 🙂
Polymer clay focal bead by Cate van Alphen
P.S. The flower background is actually pale dove grey, not just poorly exposed photography.
01 Thu Oct 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, Virtual Retreat, WIP
I’ve had to settle for a work in progress this week of my Polymer Clay Challenge. I was supposed to be making a focal using my new violet colour palette, but I got a bit waylaid.
Cat Therien’s frangipani cane
Every time I start a new colour palette, I think I should make a cane that I can use throughout the weeks that follow, but I’ve never managed to do it. After watching Cat Therien’s frangipani cane tutorial on the Virtual Retreat, I was REALLY itchy to make a flower cane.
I decided to start by mixing up decent quantities of polymer clay, since it’s really annoying to run out of a colour part way through a cane. Then I realised my work board was pretty clogged up with sheets of veneer from previous palettes and other scraps of clay. So I decided to use up some of the left overs.
Indigo mokume gane beads by Cate van Alphen
I made fold beads, and pillowed headpins. There are still some pieces of green kaleidoscope veneer that I haven’t used yet, and I want to do some sanding to finish them off.
Blue kaleidoscope cane headpins by Cate van Alphen
Finally I started to measure out my colours and when I got to the last one, magenta, I discovered that I didn’t have a lot of it left. This was a bit of a problem since all the colours in the palette use it (yes even the grey green)! I had to start the colour measuring all over again to make smaller quantities (I decided to keep the larger quantities I had already measured aside to finish when my new magenta polymer clay arrives). In the end, I managed to mix a little of each colour, but by this point I only had time to make two petals for my flower cane.
Flower cane WIP
So although I have made some things with polymer clay this week, my official target is still a WIP.
24 Thu Sep 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
Last week for my 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge piece I wanted my clasp to be crisp and sleek, so this week for my indigo beads I decided to chillax a bit and plan something a little wonky.
Wonky cube beads by Cate van Alphen
I made wonky cube beads with a distorted cane slices. I gave them a bit of an extra squish so they are slightly irregular and include fingerprints. They are rather addictive to play with, like dice :).
Wonky cube beads by Cate van Alphen
It was fun not worrying too much about getting evenly sized beads, or preventing cane distortion. I think they’ll make a fun necklace.
Wonky cube beads by Cate van Alphen
17 Thu Sep 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
This week for my indigo colour scheme toggle I super-sized a shank button.
Indigo polymer clay toggle by Cate van Alphen
I made a hook from silver coloured copper wire.
Polymer clay focal toggle by Cate van Alphen
I made two loops at the back so one can be used to attach the beads and the other is for the hook. I thought it would give it a better “V” shape to a necklace than using only one shank. It also means that they are off centre so it gives the option to use the focal as a slider pendant without it flipping over.
Polymer clay and wire toggle by Cate van Alphen
10 Thu Sep 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, jewellery, My work
Tags
2015PCchallenge, bead, bracelet, handmade bead, Indigo, polymer clay, wire
This week of my Polymer Clay Challenge it’s indigo beads so, technically, here is the bead I made. It’s a bit boring, but there is a little bit more to the story…
Polymer clay bead by Cate van Alphen
I wanted to make some compound beads to go with my compound focal from last week. I started off making a few test beads, which looked perfect for a bracelet. So I whipped up a toggle so I could finish that.
Polymer clay and lapis lazuli bracelet by Cate van Alphen
I made compound beads by joining my double-sided disk beads together with liquid polymer clay onto wire. I’m still fascinated by the way the colours hide depending on the angle of the bead. These are now part of a half-made necklace. I need some more spacer beads to finish it, but I haven’t been able to make them yet.
Indigo stack beads by Cate van Alphen
I didn’t think sticking beads together with liquid polymer counted much towards the challenge, and I’d run out of time, but I still had the clay from the hole of the toggle. I pierced a hole and shaped the sides slightly, so I have officially made one bead for the challenge this week!
Polymer clay and wire toggle by Cate van Alphen
03 Thu Sep 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, jewellery, My work
This week of the 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge I made a ring to go around one of my beads from last week to make a compound focal/pendant.
Indigo compound bead pendant by Cate van Alphen
I even sanded it to make a smooth contrast to the textured bead.
Compound focal side view by Cate van Alphen
Compound indigo focal by Cate van Alphen
The only problem now is that I think several of them would look good all joined up together to make a necklace, but I don’t know when I’ll find the time to make them.
27 Thu Aug 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
Tags
2015PCchallenge, bead, Cate van Alphen, handmade bead, Indigo, patchwork bead, polymer clay, polymer clay beads
I spent my clay time this weekend working on something else, so I went back to my comfort zone yesterday and made some more patchwork beads for this week of my 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge.
Indigo patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
They are always fun to make.
Indigo patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
But what was I working on this weekend? I’ll be baaa-ck soon to show you 😉
Fulgorine 