New Job, Old Video

Tags

craft tutorial, free tutorial, mokume gane, polymer clay, tutorials02, video tutorial

Just before Christmas, I started a new job which I’m really enjoying. However, while I’ve been finding my feet with that, things have been quiet on the polymer clay side. I have decided I want to make more videos so I’ve been doing some research into that. While doing so, I found out how to edit the subtitles on existing videos.

Don’t… pull.. the… thread…

(Yup, I pulled the thread.)

This is one of the first video tutorials I did on YouTube, so I decided to go back and improve on the autogenerated subtitles and give it a shiny new thumbnail. They’d automagically done a pretty good job, but hadn’t coped recognizing words like mokume gane. While staying up way too late last night doing that, I realized the video was way to looong, with big chunks of boring in between.

So this morning I researched how to cut bits out of a video. It can be done! I have done it. BUT… then I had to go back and do the subtitles again because some of them had been cut out. 🤦‍♀️

Therefore, I present to you a video that you may have seen before (here’s my original post with a finished pair of earrings), but now with improved subtitles (I couldn’t do anything about the poor quality footage or the hissing audio. *sigh*). I do want to put my energies into making some fresh videos, but knowing me I’ll feel compelled to upgrade the subtitles on the old videos first.

Let me know what you think.

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Sample Challenge update

Tags

24ozPolymerClay, artisan bead, handmade, mokume gane, polymer clay beads

I am still working through my 24 one ounce blocks of polymer clay. Here’s the next stage of my progress.

My primary reason for doing the challenge was to give myself a starting place to get making beads again. Unfortunately I was finding that trying to record the steps as tutorial videos was hindering my progress, particularly when the children were home due to lockdown (again). They are very noisy during the day so I’d have to wait till the evening to begin and by that point I wasn’t feeling very sparkly for chatting while I make. Also it was discouraging me from just experimenting as it’s hard to explain what you are doing when you don’t know yet!

Instead I have decided to crack on with the making and show you my progress as I go. If you are really interested in any of the beads I make, let me know in the comments and I may try to do a dedicated tutorial for that. I have at least one video still to edit, so that will turn up eventually.

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  I started with some mokume gane lentil beads made using the offcuts from my kaleidoscope cane together with dark brown and copper polymer clay.

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  These tab beads feature some of the mokume gane shavings placed on a plain background.

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  More tab beads, this time with gold polymer clay edging.

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  I used the offcuts from the mokume gane sheet to make Natasha beads. The thin layers from the mokume sheet give an effect that reminds me of wood grain with some hidden colours.

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  I was playing around with some tiny scraps of clay which resulted in these cute “riveted” cube beads.

I’ve got more beads to show you but I’ll save those for another day. I hope you are well and making progress with your projects.

P.S. If you’d like to set yourself a sample challenge, here’s my earlier post with the guidelines I’m using.

Mokume gane video

Tags

earrings, mokume gane, polymer clay, surface treatment, tutorial

Here’s a video showing the technique I use to create a sheet of polymer clay mokume gane using a variety of stamps. I’m working on another video showing some things you can make with your finished sheet. I’m due to get a new phone tomorrow so the quality of the video footage should improve soon (although I still have a few demos that I have already filmed which are waiting for editing).

Here are some earrings I made using the sheet so you can see it all nicely sanded and finished. I have another video with a tip for sanding when there is wire embedded in your polymer clay.

Polymer clay earrings by Cate van Alphen

Right beads, wrong place

Tags

bracelet, mokume gane, necklace, polymer clay

I made a necklace. I like the beads, and I like the necklace but sadly I have a horrible suspicion that I’m going to dismantle it.

It’s an asymmetric necklace with a mix of different shaped beads in different sizes. It works well on the beading board, the problem is when it’s on a body…

… the square shaped beads lie horizontally instead of face on. See that pesky bead at the bottom? What do you think, is this a feature or a fail?

I like the big square beads, but I now realise the hole needs to be offset if they are to hang correctly at the bottom of a necklace. I should have remembered this from my big lentil necklace. The weight of the necklace is all wrong if I rotate it so that the square beads are on the side instead.

It works quite well as a multi-strand bracelet provided that you don’t move your hand at all. I’m trying to decide if I should take the necklace apart and use the beads to make four stacking bracelets instead.

Lost Masterpiece

Tags

gelli print, mokume gane, mono print, pendant, polymer clay

Here’s another of my lost projects. This one was inspired by Syndee Holt’s Mini Masterpieces class on Polymer Clay Adventure.

The project included several techniques including gelli printing and transfers. I didn’t make the exact projects, but I used some of the techniques separately.

I really liked her bezels so, while I waited for my gelli plate to arrive, I created a couple of pendants using some polymer clay domes that I had already made from a mokume gane sheet.

Once my gelli plate arrived, I spent a morning mono printing onto paper to make into greetings cards.

Unfortunately the photos are not great. I just had time to take a few snaps before quickly hiding my paints as it was time to fetch the children from school (it’s extraordinarily stressful when they get hold of paint).

These photos don’t really convey the layers of colour and shimmer from the metallic paint and pearlescent paper that I used. I’ve since taken the cards to sell at Craftworkshop, so I can’t take better pictures. They were loads of fun to do, so I’m sure I’ll do more soon.

Polymer clay challenge – week 23

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, mokume gane, polymer clay

So I am still running late for showing my weekly 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge projects. My vessel for this week, 23, looks a bit of a mess, but it is a work in progress.

I have partly covered a glass jar with a sheet of polymer clay mokume gane facing inwards. I plan to build something up around the outside leaving some of the glass open to show the interior pattern.

Polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen

For the last couple of weeks I have been trying to clear away some of the scrap on my work board, so I also made a few beads while the bottle was baking in the oven.

Art Vessel – week 9

Tags

mokume gane, peace, polymer clay, trinket box, white poppy

Here is my Art Vessel for week 9 of 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge. Back in week 8, I decided to make a trinket box because I thought it would be a quicker project that I could finish in a week. It didn’t really turn out that way but I’m pleased with the finished box.

I decorated it with a white poppy like the one I made for my ring back in November. Perhaps the box is a home for the ring?

On the underside of the lid I have written “Love Forgive Understand” with a circle below. The circle is a symbol of the earth, it is a reminder that we all live together so peace (or the lack of it) affects us all. It is also a wish that we learn to love and understand our earth and ask for her forgiveness.

I chose to represent the anthers of the flower with wire as a symbol of something hostile and defensive (like barbed wire) becoming life-giving and full of potential (like pollen).

Art Vessel week 1

Tags

2016PCchallenge, ArtVessel, glass jar, green, mokume gane, polymer clay, vase

For my 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge I have decided to make a vessel each week. I’m planning a wide range of objects from inros to bowls to covered jars so my first dilemma was deciding where to start!

Since I had a sheet of mokume gane lying around (as one does), I decided to start by covering a jar you either love or hate ;). It was already dark glass so I didn’t feel too guilty covering it with an opaque sheet of polymer clay.

Green jar by Cate van Alphen

My idea was for it to look like a chunk of lava rock that had been shaped into a vase with a the sides polished off to reveal the bright mokume gane inside. Something almost completely, but not quite, unlike a bolder opal.

I started off by baking pieces of mokume gane onto the flattened sides of the jar so that it would remain smooth while I textured the black polymer clay around it. Unfortunately my simple idea soon turned into a rescue mission as one side cracked. I tried filling it with liquid clay for the next bake and I ended up with a bigger crack and another on the other side. (It’s only just occurred to me that I should have popped off the mokume gane and started again). The more I tried to fill the cracks, the bigger they got. 😥

Since this is my first jar, I’m not sure if this is just something that happens when you cover a glass jar with solid polymer clay or if it was because when I baked the patterned sheets I did a part bake as I knew I would be adding more clay and doing further curing. I do have (up to) 50 more* times to practice, but any suggestions to prevent cracks would be appreciated.

I have started a group on Flickr for Art Vessels if you’d like to join in with your own creations. It’s not limited to polymer clay either, just in case you make chocolate tea pots.

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* I am determined to also have a go at making an inro before the end of the year!

Polymer clay challenge week 46 – focal

Tags

2015PCchallenge, mokume gane, pendant, polymer clay, red

Here are the first red components of my my 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge. I created the pattern using stamped mokume gane.

Polymer clay components by Cate van Alphen

I had intended to make the cabochons into pendants, but I’ve been struck down with they lurgy, so I’ve been sleeping instead.

Polymer clay pendants by Cate van Alphen

I textured the moon shaped pendant and sanded the doughnut smooth. I think the texture looks warm and fuzzy – perfect for the current chilly weather.

Polymer clay challenge week 31 – focal

Tags

2015PCchallenge, blue, Cate van Alphen, flower, Indigo, mokume gane, pendant, polymer clay

This week I made a mokume gane pendant using my indigo colour palette. This was partly because I’m doing a polymer clay summer workshop next weekend, and I wanted to check I still remembered how ;). I can’t believe that all of a sudden it’s August!

Flower pendants by Cate van Alphen

As you can see, I used the shape that I cut out from the larger pendant to make the smaller one. There is similar patterning on both sides so the pendants are reversible.

Flower pendants by Cate van Alphen

That’s about all I can say about this week’s 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge piece.