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Fulgorine

~ My adventures with polymer clay

Fulgorine

Tag Archives: brown

Art Bead Scene April Challenge

08 Wed Apr 2015

Posted by fulgorine in Art Bead Scene, My work

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

APR ABS, brown, Cate van Alphen, green, handmade beads, polymer clay

Although I’d like to claim full responsibility, the necklace I made for this month’s ABS challenge seemed to make itself.

 Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940 By Frida Kahlo

Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, 1940 by Frida Kahlo
Oil on Canvas, 61.25 cm × 47 cm

It all started when I was taking photographs the polymer clay beads I made for my Etsy shop, and I was inspired to put the green and brown beads together.

Green and brown beads

I loved the combination, but unfortunately I only had four of the brown beads. The strand wasn’t even long enough for a bracelet, and they didn’t work so well together when “watered down” with other beads. Then I remembered when I was back at school (in my original zigzag phase) I did a drawing of the Midgard Serpent with small sections of different patterns all down the length. This gave me the idea to make a necklace using several short motifs of different beads.

Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen

Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen

I call it an Oddment necklace, and it was a great way to use up some orphan beads. There’s no clasp – it just goes over the head. I like the way it looks different depending on the way it’s hung. I hope it conjures up some of the richness of Frida’s paintings.

Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen

Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen

The short section of beads on waxed cotton cord is a nod to the intertwined thorns of the inspiration painting.

Brown beads by Cate van Alphen

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Polymer clay challenge – week 3

22 Thu Jan 2015

Posted by fulgorine in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

2015PCchallenge, art bead, bead, brown, button, handmade, orange, polymer clay, retro, toggle

This week, for my polymer clay challenge, I have made toggles. I wanted to make a toggle to go with my retro beads from last week.

Retro toggle by Cate van Alphen

The decorative dot conceals the holes of the button. But it also caused some technical difficulties.

Retro toggle by Cate van Alphen

I ended up making three toggles because the first hole was too small to account for the bump on the button. So I made a new thinner button without the dot, and added a stripe of the patterned clay to the brown frame to link the two pieces.

Polymer clay toggle by Cate van Alphen

Then the second toggle frame was too big and it got scorched in the oven so it’s now covered with mosaic made from scraps. Although the colours seem to be departing from orange, I think this one is my favourite. It just goes to show that  mistakes are often opportunities with polymer clay.

Mosaic toggle by Cate van Alphen

Which one is your favourite?

Polymer clay challenge – week 2

14 Wed Jan 2015

Posted by fulgorine in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work, Virtual Retreat

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

2015PCchallenge, bead, bracelet, brown, handmade beads, orange, polymer clay, red, retro

My orange colour palette includes orange and chocolate brown which is a colour combination that screams “retro” at me. So for this week I used one of  the techniques from Syndee Holt’s class in the Virtual Retreat.

Syndee Holt classSee the black bracelet with wasabi and cerise dots on square tiles (bottom left)? Retro – right?

I made little polymer clay tile beads featuring central dots of contrasting colours. The beads have two parallel holes and a flat back so they would be ideal for use in a bracelet.

 

Retro tile beads by Cate van Alphen

I couldn’t resist doing several colour combinations…

Retro tile beads by Cate van Alphen

I’m not sure that the red beads play very nicely with the others though.

Retro tile beads by Cate van Alphen

What do you think – is the red too loud or does it add a nice bit of pep?

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Fulgor, n.
Dazzling brightness; splendor.
Fulgorine, n.
One who creates that which dazzles.

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