Art Vessel week 4

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, embroidery, polymer clay, yarn bowl

This week I continued to work on my yarn bowl from last week. Because it was already cracked, I made a support to use for further bakes using tin foil rolled into a ball and squished into the bowl. Unfortunately making this actually broke the bowl into several pieces. I was able to glue it together with liquid clay for long enough to add a layer of plaster bandages.

The next problem was getting the outer “pretty” clay to stick to the plaster. It wouldn’t. The more I rolled and pressed, the baggier the clay got. Eventually I gave up and decided to start again – it came off in one piece like a big floppy hat. The dust of the dry plaster was acting as a release agent. Next I tried adding a layer of PVA glue over the bandages to give the polymer something to hold on to. At last it worked!

Polymer clay yarn bowl by Cate van Alphen

I had always intended to do a an embroidery style decoration as a link to the bowl’s function, but I think I was so excited to *finally* have something that would sit still long enough to decorate I got slightly carried away. 😀

Polymer clay yarn bowl by Cate van Alphen

After spending so much time decorating, I did have a little panic when I put it into the oven to cure that there would be air bubbles between the plaster and the outer decorative layer, but it went well. The edges of the cut out shape could be better. I had added plaster all the way to the edge so there was nothing for the outer layer to stick to. The space was a bit too narrow to fold the outer clay into like I did for the top of the bowl so the layers separated in places.

Underneath polymer clay yarn bowl by Cate van Alphen

I also made a little sample piece to test the look of antiquing the piece with silver acrylic paint. However I then remembered that my taxes were due so I didn’t have time to decide.

The inside of the bowl is still a mess but I’ll chalk it down to experience. I am considering making another yarn bowl while the mistakes are still fresh in my mind. Perhaps the next version will be better.

Polymer clay bowl by Cate van Alphen

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My bead soup has arrived

Tags

bead caps, Bead Soup Blog Party, beads, embroidered focal, embroidery, floral, flower, lavender, purple, Wendy Chamberlain

I was delighted to discover that my bead soup had arrived this morning from my partner Wendy Chamberlain. Here’s an explanation of what the Bead Soup Blog Party is.

But what’s inside?

Yummy! I have noticed that my camera does peculiar things with the colour purple so the various shades of the beady allsorts don’t show up well in the photo. I’m really excited to have a selection of bead caps and charms to play with. 🙂

Here’s a close up of the elegant embroidered focal pendant. I love the flower toggle, it’s so pretty. The crochet beads are amazing, I wonder how they are made!