Polymer clay challenge week 13 – focal

Tags

2015PCchallenge, Cate van Alphen, focal bead, handmade bead, mokume gane, polymer clay, slider pendant, yellow

This week I made yellow polymer clay focals. I started off making a domed slider pendant that could also be used as a cabochon in a bead embroidery project.

Mokume gane slider pendant by Cate van Alphen

I made a shank button to go with it too. (The wire in the pictures is there to show the position of the hole in the slider pendant.)

Then I remembered I had timed yellow to this time of year so that I could make daffodils :). I decided to sculpt little daffodils, and to protect the tiny petals while the pendant is worn, I reused the mokume gane dome idea and cut a window to show the flowers inside.

Daffodil pendant by Cate van Alphen

Since I had matching beads from an earlier week, and a shank button to use as a closure (made using the clay from the hole of the dome), I couldn’t resist making a necklace.

Daffodil necklace by Cate van Alphen

The back of the pendant also has a mokume gane pattern.

Back of Daffodill necklace by Cate van Alphen

But that’s not all! I also made a tassel pendant using a cylinder bead and some of my rustic sequin beads together with silk yarn, satin ribbon and coloured copper wire.

Tassel pendant by Cate van Alphen

The last pendant is a work in progress. I still need to clean off the sanding dust and finish the edging. But I thought it was interesting to show the progression of the dome idea.

Concentric dome pendant by Cate van Alphen (WIP)

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Polymer clay challenge week 10 – bead

Tags

2015PCchallenge, Cate van Alphen, handmade beads, mokume gane, polymer clay, yellow bead, yellow marble

This week I made some yellow mokume gane beads using the scraps from last week’s zigzag focal together with layers of white and pearl polymer clay.

Yellow polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen

The result is quite a subtle naturalistic marble effect. Or it would be if banana yellow marble existed.

Yellow polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen

Maybe it contains a lot of sulphur?

Mokume gane doughnut video

Tags

donut pendant, doughnut pendant, hollow pendant, mokume gane, polymer clay, tutorial, video tutorial

Way back on the 18th of September I did a demo at the Craftworkshop in Sedbergh (there are weekly demos in the shop and a range of lovely craft items for sale, so pop in if you are in the area). The pendant was designed as my focal for the ABS September challenge, but due to unforseen circumstances I haven’t been able to blog untill now (or make any further progress on my challenge piece).

There are three videos, the first one is making a sheet of mokume gane from polymer clay:

The next video is making the hollow doughnut. The last step is missing from the video but it is to turn the cutter around and cut off the excess clay. There is also a step by step doughnut tutorial here on my blog.

The last video is an optional step – putting a trim around the edge of the baked pendant. This can hide imperfections or become a design feature by using a contrasting colour.

Finished pendant after sanding and stringing.

Enjoy!

Bead Soup Sent

Tags

bead, Bead Soup Blog Party, focal bead, mokume gane, painting, pendant, polymer clay, wire toggle

The Bead Soup I sent to my partner Dorota has arrived safely in Poland. Here is a look at what I sent.

I made all the beads in polymer clay, and the toggles from wire. At the back are some green wire beads which started out as contrasting components to the polymer beads, but I couldn’t stop making and with the addition of a clasp it became a bracelet.

In other news I have started a new group on Flickr for Polymer clay painting. This is for polymer clay being used as a painting medium (not polymer clay that has been painted). This is following the fun I had doing my Latvia painting using polymer clay. I’d like to do more paintings, and at the moment it takes a bit of looking to find other examples of artists painting with polymer clay.

52 Earrings – Half and Half

Tags

52 earrings, circle, earring, green, half, mokume gane, pendant, polymer clay, purple

We are nearly halfway through the 52 Earrings challenge (oops that means half the year gone too!), so the theme for week 25 is “Half”*.

This week I made two pairs of earrings in contrasting colours to co-ordinate with a double sided slide pendant. The earrings are each half a circle, and you can wear the pair that matches the pendant, or mix it up and have one of each.

I’m pleased with the mokume gane surface on the yellow-green side, but I think the purple side was a bit too well blended so most of the interesting surface was sanded off. I have some ideas to jazz it up so you may see these guys again…

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* There are only themes for the odd number weeks (therefore not week 26).

After Polymer Pamper Play

Tags

52 earrings, bracelet, cuff, mokume gane, pendant, polymer clay, polymer pamper play, PPP

Unfortunately the Polymer Pamper Play weekend had to come to an end, and a teething baby (5 new teeth at the same time!) and a half moved into house (i.e. a tip) have prevented my from experimenting with all the new techniques I learned as much as I’d like.

Fairwell Farncombe Estate

Here’s what I made during the weekend…

Eva Ehmeier workshop - Artichoke Ball Pendants

In addition to Eva’s demonstrated pendant I made some matching earrings, and a cube shaped bead (there will be more of these appearing soon – I hope).

Ana Belchi workshop - Bento Series

Melanie Muir workshop - Bangle Cuff

Combining Ana’s subtle mokume gane technique (you can see it in the inside of the Bento pendant) and Melanie’s finishing tips, and a nifty tutorial for an air filled circular bead I made this pendant.

No doubt there will me more good things to come inspired by this weekend!

*Edit: The Jade Doughnut pendant above is now available in my Zibbet shop.