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Fulgorine

~ My adventures with polymer clay

Fulgorine

Tag Archives: cabochon

Before I forget

16 Thu Feb 2017

Posted by fulgorine in jewellery, Tips

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

art bead, cabochon, earrings, mica powder, polymer clay

I made another pair of forget-me-not earrings that I kept aside for a separate blog. And here’s why…

Forget-me-not earrings by Cate van Alphen

Forget-me-not earrings by Cate van Alphen

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I have made a Patreon page. It’s a site for creators to find sponsors in order to spend more energy on creating and less time worrying about how to pay the bills. As part of making my page I clarified some goals for myself: I want to use more art beads (made by other artists) and I want to make more tutorials.

I planned for the earrings above to incorporate both goals. I’ve got the art beads: I made the ivory coloured floral disks from polymer clay and the blue ceramic beads are by Jenny Gholson-Morris. But the tutorial part: not so much.

Making a video tutorial is proving more time-consuming than anticipated – I’m struggling to get footage that is in shot and in focus. Oh, right! This is why I set up the Patreon page in the first place – because at the moment I haven’t got much time for figuring this out. So until I can make a full tutorial, here’s a little tip.

Faux concrete cabochon by Cate van Alphen

Faux concrete cabochon by Cate van Alphen

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I made this cabochon as a way to use up the scraps from making carved beads. The muse wanted a matt concrete effect. My logical brain tells me this is to contrast with the shiny fragments. I wanted something more interesting so I drew in some scrolls and dots. I thought it still needed some subtle pep so I mixed green iridescent mica powder with a drop of water to paint into the dents. This caused the water (and mica) to puddle in the indentations and not all over the surface of the piece. I did the same thing for the petals of the flowers on the earrings.

I used Perfect Pearls for this technique as it has a built-in resin and I painted it onto uncured polymer clay. It didn’t seem to stick as well when painted onto baked clay.

By the way, if you would like to sponsor me, you can start from $1 a month and change your mind any time you like.

 

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Green Jewellery

05 Mon Sep 2016

Posted by fulgorine in jewellery

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bracelet, cabochon, earrings, green, kaleidoscope cane, necklace, polymer clay

I have been making some green jewellery using the polymer clay beads I made last year. These, and other green goodies, are now available in my Folksy store.

Big bead choker by Cate van Alphen

Big bead choker by Cate van Alphen

Macrame bracelet by Cate van Alphen

Macrame and leaf button bracelet by Cate van Alphen

Kaleidoscope cabochon by Cate van Alphen

Kaleidoscope cane cabochon by Cate van Alphen

I also made some earrings using my Blue Palette.

Blue kaleidoscope earrings by Cate van Alphen

Blue kaleidoscope earrings by Cate van Alphen

Polymer clay challenge week 9 – focal

05 Thu Mar 2015

Posted by fulgorine in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

2015PCchallenge, cabochon, Cate van Alphen, focal bead, handmade bead, pendant, polymer clay, yellow, zigzag

This is my first week making yellow components for my 2015 Polymer clay challenge. To explain how I got where I got, we need to go back to orange, and then even further back to when I was in primary school.

/\/\/\/\ Cue wibbly screen /\/\/\/\

For some of my primary schooling I went to a Waldorf school. This meant that all my books were little works of art. So for maths, instead of drawing a line between a day’s sums we drew a little pattern. The paper was grid lined so I invariably ended up with zigzags of increasing complexity. Sometimes there was more pattern than sums. So when I came to tidy away my orange canes, I saw a load of triangles. Lots of triangles = zigzag!

Zigzag pattern polymer clay cabochon by Cate van Alphen

Zigzag pattern polymer clay cabochon by Cate van Alphen

The first sheet I made was slightly clunky and approaching visual indigestion. I realised I needed areas of plain colour to break up the busy canes.

Polymer clay pattern sheet (WIP)

Polymer clay pattern sheet – WIP

Then, all too soon, it was time to switch to yellow. Since I’d spent so much time fiddling with the orange pattern sheets, I knew there wouldn’t be enough time to make yellow canes AND another zigzag sheet. So I made a mokume gane pendant that was a little underwhelming because it didn’t have the contrast (and I was worried other colours would swamp the yellow).

Yellow mokume gane pendant by Cate van Alphen

Yellow mokume gane pendant by Cate van Alphen

Along came Suzanne Ivester’s “Painting with Polymer” class on the Virtual Retreat and I realised I could use sheets of marbled clay like inlay.

Polymer clay pendant by Cate van Alphen

Yellow zigzag polymer clay pendant by Cate van Alphen

I also made a matching pair of focals, which I’ll probably use for earrings.

Earring focals by Cate van Alphen

Earring focals by Cate van Alphen

I also made some cabochons that will probably become shank buttons.

Polymer clay cabochons by Cate van Alphen

Polymer clay cabochons by Cate van Alphen

And I put some of the pattern off-cuts into a ready-made metal bezel.

Polymer clay pendant by Cate van Alphen

Polymer clay pendant by Cate van Alphen

It has been really strange working with a new palette of colours especially when I was part way through another project and some of the colours are the same. I think the biggest challenge with yellow will be not overwhelming it with its companions.

Peacock wedding

19 Sat Apr 2014

Posted by fulgorine in My work

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Art Deco, bead, brooch, cabochon, fringe, paua shell, peacock, pin, wedding

I’ve been a bit quiet on my blog because I have been focusing on my sister’s wedding. I made the dress and the jewellery. Since we have now enjoyed the big day, I can share some photographs.

Bride with wedding cake

The theme was 1930s/Art Deco/peacock.

iris boquet

The cabochon is blue paua shell, and I used a lot of crystals and faceted silver beads for the fringe.

Congratulations! I wish you many beautiful and happy days together. 🙂

 

 

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

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