Meet the Thunderbirds

Tags

family, handmade, mosaic, necklace, polymer clay, Thunderbird

When the schools closed in March and I suddenly became a full time teacher, we continued the topic that my daughter had started at school which was Native Americans. Unsurprisingly my thoughts turned to their jewellery, in particular my grandmother’s Thunderbird necklace that she bought in New Mexico in 1946.

Polymer clay Thunderbird necklace by Cate van Alphen

The family legend is that she met man selling necklaces for tourists but she wanted the one he was wearing as it was far superior. He said he couldn’t possibly sell it to her because it was his Thunderbird and without it he wouldn’t be protected. However she was determined and insisted on buying the one he was wearing rather than any of the others. After some persuasion he reluctantly agreed on condition that she go with him back to his house so he could put on a new Thunderbird so that he could safely take off the one he was wearing. Based on this article, this may have been a colourful story for a silly tourist. Nevertheless she treasured it and proudly wore the necklace when she dressed to impress and it has left me with a lasting impression of the Thunderbird as a powerful symbol of protection.

Polymer clay Thunderbird pendant by Cate van Alphen

Which takes us back to the start of the Coronavirus lockdown, when everyone was stunned, scared and separated. I needed a project to get me out of bed in the morning and we all needed something to make us feel safer. I decided to create a Necklace Club for the ladies in my family and send each of them a handmade necklace as a physical link between us. I chose to make polymer clay Thunderbirds in memory of my grandmother and because I wanted something with a strong visual style to unite the individual necklaces.

Polymer clay Thunderbird necklace by Cate van Alphen

Before she died, my grandmother decided to send her necklace home to a museum in New Mexico so I don’t have any photographs of it. I relied on my memories of it and a google search of images which reminded me of what I remembered. There was such a variety that every pendant ended up a little bit different.

Once I had all the pendants made, my sister in South Africa did a remote calibration on them to give them each an intention of healing and protection for the wearers. Hopefully this will also cover the postal journey that some of them are still making to South Africa!

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I ended up making 12 pendants and strung the necklaces according to the preferences of the individuals receiving them. Some are chokers, some are part beaded on adjustable satin cords and some are fully beaded and long enough to slip over the head.

As a bonus reference to the crazy time in which I made these, I thought this handful of faux heishi beads looked like tiny loo rolls which made me laugh. For some reason toilet rolls were a big thing here in the UK. These are my first batch and are are a bit rough but I figured out some techniques to make them better. Hopefully I’ll get a tip tutorial done about that soon.

May you and your family circles stay safe and well.

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Mannequin upgrade

Tags

handmade jewellery, necklace, paper mache, polymer clay

I’ve always struggled to photograph my necklaces showing their scale on a human. I’ve had a mannequin for a while, but I’ve never really known what to dress her in, and it didn’t seem right leaving her naked. Therefore I decided to give her the same treatment as my necklace display and cover her with paper patchwork.

As you can see I built in some paper mache clothing. I wasn’t worried that she’d look naked once covered in paper, but I thought it would be useful to have a neckline for judging a necklace’s length.

I monoprinted the paper using my gelli plate before tearing it into pieces which I glued on. I wanted to make something that was interesting but subtle enough to act as a background.

I haven’t quite decided if the patchwork is too distracting. Here is another necklace made with my polymer clay beads for you to consider. What do you think?

New Necklaces

Tags

art beads, handmade, jewellery, necklace, polymer clay

I have just listed a couple of new necklaces in my online shop. The first is one of my favourites. I made the beads back in 2016 (I made the necklace too, but I realise I didn’t post it online).

Glaucous bead necklace by Cate van Alphen

The other is a restringing of a bead I made ages ago. I think the simpler setting on a cable choker helps focus on the vibrant colours.

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.

Evolution of a wishpot

Tags

art bead, handmade, necklace, polymer clay, wishpot

I’ve just finished a commission for a wishpot which has helped me work out some of the technical issues I’ve had with stringing them. I began making these several years ago so I’ll show you some highlights in their evolution. Apologies for the quality on the older photos, I’ve tried to fix the colour balance.

This mother of pearl effect wishpot was one of the first I made. It is strung directly on the necklace. The bead stopper can be lifted to open the wishpot. The necklace string keeps it in place when it’s being worn.

There were a few things I didn’t like about this design. Firstly the necklace needs to be thin in order for the bead lid to be opened (the stopper bead plus cord on either side needs to fit through the mouth of the pot). Also unless it is a specific commission I get stressed about choosing the length for a necklace.

For my next version, I wanted the pendant to go on a thicker kumihimo cord. Since there was no hope of this going through the opening of the wishpot, I put it on a ribbon that created a bail to hang on the necklace. I included lengths of ribbon in the necklace to link the design together. This version was better, but still not massively versatile – I couldn’t picture the ribbon working on something like a chain.

My latest necklace was for a wishpot on a mala necklace. I used beads made from imfibinga seeds. The necklace needed a specific number of beads which made it pretty long. I wanted a way to allow the necklace to be shortened without adding a clasp. My solution was to add a button toggle to the wishpot attachment.

This means the necklace can be doubled over and the wishpot used to attach the two sides together. The wishpot can now also exist independently, so for example you could pop it in your pocket or wear it on a belt loop.

The thin nylon cords still allow the pot to be opened. and the bead and macrame knotted button hole on either side keep the pieces together. Hooray! It finally feels like all the pieces of this design make sense!

Happy Easter

Tags

earrings, handmade, jewellery, necklace, polymer clay

It’s unlikely I’ll be making an egg this year, however I have changed my window display to some happy yellows. (Please excuse the fuzzy photo and clunky editing.)

I have just listed this jewellery in my online shop, some of the earrings haven’t been available online before now.

Happy Easter!

Are we there yet?

Tags

bracelet, jewellery, necklace, polymer clay

It’s been ages since my last post. I have been waiting to tell you about my very own, fabulous, online shop. This is not that post! 😦 I won’t bore you with the technical details, other than to say the gnashing of teeth and tears involved in its creation continue.

In the meantime here are a few pieces of jewellery that I dropped off at the Craftworkshop in Sedbergh yesterday.

Yellow retro necklace by Cate van Alphen

There are a couple of necklaces featuring my polymer clay beads.

Blue flower necklace by Cate van Alphen

And a pair of elasticated bracelets.

Blue bracelet by Cate van Alphen

Purple bracelet by Cate van Alphen

Going, going…

Tags

British Red Cross, earrings, handmade, jewellery, necklace

Here’s a reminder that my auction to benefit the British Red Cross will be ending tomorrow, Sunday 9th July. The British Red Cross assist people in crisis. Their current appeals include assistance for the people left bereaved, injured and homeless in the Grenfell Tower disaster and those involved in the recent UK terror attacks as well as people suffering from conflicts around the world.

Please have a look at everything available and remember that the proceeds will be going to a good cause. The bids start at only 1 penny so you may get lucky and win a (practically) freebie.

Shards

Tags

Art Deco, Charity Auction, necklace, polymer clay, upcycle

Here’s my next selection of items available for sale in my Charity Auction. I didn’t make them specifically for the auction but, since they were made from shards of accidentally smashed crockery, I thought they were appropriate. They are a symbol that perhaps something can be salvaged from destruction.

Orange shard necklace by Cate van Alphen

This wire choker necklace has a focal pendant made from a piece of broken saucer. I have finished the sharp edges with orange polymer clay and added a gold shimmer. The necklace also has magenta dyed stone beads and matching polymer clay spacers.

Quirky hair clip by Cate van Alphen

My next shard creation became a hair clip. It includes an arrow shaped piece of floral ceramic edged with gold coloured polymer clay and accompanied by a blue rose and a small red glass nugget. The moulded flower shape originally came from a vintage brooch.

If you like any of these items please consider bidding generously – all the proceeds will go to the British Red Cross who are assisting the survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Love, hearts, pink and pretty

Tags

art charm, Charity Auction, earrings, heart, love, necklace, pink, polymer clay

I have been horrified watching the events unfold at Grenfell Tower. I felt the need to make something pink and fluffy as a distraction from the dark thoughts in my mind. I kept thinking about the charms made by Brooke Bock that I received in the 2016 Art Charm Swap. In fact this gave me the idea to run a Charity Auction to benefit the British Red Cross.

Charms by Brooke Bock

Here’s the necklace I made specifically for the auction. I paired Brooke’s pendant with some salmon/pink/magenta seed pod beads that I made myself from polymer clay. They are on a baby pink cotton cord with even more pink beads.

Heart necklace by Cate van Alphen

For the Love charm I decided to keep things simple. I added a trigger clasp so it could be used as a handbag charm. I added a dangle of green dyed lava beads. I liked the colour contrast and I thought it was fitting because they have come from fire.

Love charm by Cate van Alphen

I also decided to include these lava bead and wire earrings. They were sitting on my desk waiting for new photos to be taken and I thought since the beads matched they should go too.

Lava bead earrings by Cate van Alphen

Since I couldn’t get enough pink and pretty I added these bead earrings. They are made using very fine vintage beads with tiny rosebud flowers. They are dainty and sugary sweet.

Pink earrings by Cate van Alphen

I do hope you are tempted to bid. The auction ends on Sunday 9th July 2017. Until then, please also share the link.

Thanks!