Art Bead Scene January Challenge

Tags

art bead, bracelet, Cate van Alphen, earring, handmade bead, JAN ABS, polymer clay, star, starfish

As my girls would sing “For the first time in forever…” I have made an entry for the Art Bead Scene monthly challenge. I do follow along every month and usually plan something, but I don’t often get to sit down and make it.

Landscape with Stars by Henri-Edmond Cross
Watercolor over graphite on paper, ca. 1905–1908

I had been thinking about making polymer clay star beads over Christmas, so I thought it would be easy peasy to make a couple for a pair of earrings. But, then I had enough clay for three stars so I thought the third would make a nice charm for a bracelet. So I made a few more beads in different shapes to make a bracelet. And a few more stars in different sizes…

Polymer clay jewellery by Cate van Alphen

In the end I didn’t use the third star charm and I now have a bowl of beads waiting to become something when they grow up. The bracelet ended up daintier than I planned. The chunkier beads in the bracelet irritated me – I think because I use my hands a lot.

Star bracelet by Cate van Alphen

Initially the earrings were just supposed to be the large star charm on the bottom hung from an ear-wire, but they grew.

Star earrings by Cate van Alphen

The back shows a little cross-pollination with Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”.

Back of earrings by Cate van Alphen

Some of the stars twist around the wrong way but they look quite cute – like little starfish. Sometimes I feel like my sparkle is hiding on the inside too so that’s ok. 🙂

January ABS Challenge

Tags

art bead, bead, glass beads, JAN ABS, necklace, polymer clay, recycled sari silk, wire wrapped

Despite all my lovely intentions at the beginning of the year (note NOT the “R” word) I was half resigned to missing the first ABS challenge. But then my lovely beads from Rebekah Payne arrived yesterday and they were so appropriate for the inspiration painting I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss (see the flickr pool – I’m not the only one to think so).

Textile Design for Cretonne, 1928? by Lois Mailou Jones
Tempera on Paper

It’s quite a simple design – I made an articulated pendant using some wine coloured copper wire, Rebekah’s polymer clay focal bead, blue glass beads and a recycled metal bead. I think the metal bead looks like a seed pod and I like how it repeats the spots as a texture.

The necklace is several strands of recycled sari yarn which I wrapped the ends of using matching wire and added more blue beads to make the clasp. I love the effervescent texture from the silk yarn. You can’t quite see it in the photos but there are strands of orange in the yarn picking up the colour from the bead.

A bit last-minute, but I like it. 🙂

Peacock Earrings

Tags

bead, blue, bugle beads, earring, feather, glass seed beads, green, JAN ABS, peacock, polymer clay, yellow

For the ABS January monthly challenge I have made a pair of earrings. How could I resist those peacock colours? (Actually the earrings made themselves, I was just there at the time.)

ABS inspiration painting
“Black Peacocks with Japanese Persimmons” (1940) by Jessie Arms Botke

I like that they are an abstract interpretation of the peacocks – incorporating the colours, the pattern of the eyes, and the flow of the tail feathers. The focal beads are polymer clay, handmade by me, accented by long bugle beads and a mix of glass seed beads. The ear-wires are bronze coloured niobium.

See my previous entries for the Art Bead Scene monthly challenges.