18 Sun Jun 2017
Posted in jewellery
Here are a few pairs of earrings that I have made recently. I’ve also been playing around with the backgrounds in my photos. Please let me know what you think. 🙂
Violet pinstripe barrel bead earrings by Cate van Alphen
Purple flower earrings by Cate van Alphen
Yellow retro bead earrings by Cate van Alphen
Sunset square earrings by Cate van Alphen
27 Thu Aug 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, beads, My work
Tags
2015PCchallenge, bead, Cate van Alphen, handmade bead, Indigo, patchwork bead, polymer clay, polymer clay beads
I spent my clay time this weekend working on something else, so I went back to my comfort zone yesterday and made some more patchwork beads for this week of my 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge.
Indigo patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
They are always fun to make.
Indigo patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
But what was I working on this weekend? I’ll be baaa-ck soon to show you 😉
09 Thu Jul 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work
I spent far to long making beads this week, considering the amount of unpacking I still need to do.
Polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
I started off last week making some double-sided sequins to go with the water lilies beads. I made some earrings too which I’ll try to show you soon. (My to-do list is experiencing a bit of a traffic jam.)
Sequin beads by Cate van Alphen
Then I listed a pair of earrings on Etsy, and I thought it would be fun to make more gradient stack beads in blue.
Gradient stack beads by Cate van Alphen
The rustic stack beads came out longer than I had expected so I thought they’d be good in a necklace. So then I had to make some spacer beads to go with them.
Blue beads by Cate van Alphen
Then, because I’d made more than 3 beads the same, I came up with these beads which I think of as “tutu beads”. I made a pair, thinking of earrings, but I think they will become the focal of the necklace I have in mind. I just need to order some findings so I can complete it. I’ll put that onto my to-do list…
Tutu beads by Cate van Alphen
28 Thu May 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work
Tags
2015PCchallenge, Cate Bead, Cate van Alphen, green beads, handmade bead, polymer clay, polymer clay beads
Since I was disappointed with last week’s pendant I wanted to make something really nice this week, but I’m still cleaning the old house and at one point I thought I’d have to write a blog saying I hadn’t made anything at all :(. Then I realised it was Wednesday morning not Thursday so there was still time. Whew! I took the evening off from unpacking and made these green polymer clay beads.
Green polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
I made a cane with layers of green which I sliced/squashed using a credit card. Then I used my method of making a Natasha bead round (do you think I can call them Cate Beads?). The two patterns below are from the same cane, but I used different orientations of the Natasha cube to make the poles.
Green polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
Green beads by Cate van Alphen
Green beads by Cate van Alphen
I finally got round to making a pair of head pins for earrings. I also made another earring pair by making the beads oval and adding gold mica powder tips. They looked a bit lonely in their own photo, but they are there in the top right of the first photo in this blog.
Green polymer clay and coloured copper wire headpins by Cate van Alphen
Maybe next week I’ll have found all my tools and have time to make something amazing. 😉
18 Sat Apr 2015
Posted in My work
Tags
art bead, boho, bronze, Cate van Alphen, gold, handmade, lampwork beads, necklace, polymer clay beads, purple
I had so much fun making my Oddment necklace, I made another one in slightly different colours. This necklace includes polymer clay beads made by Rebekah Payne which I won back at the start of 2014. Can you spot them?
Bronze and Gold Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen
I also included polymer clay beads that I made myself, glass lampwork beads and filigree metal beads which I reclaimed from jewellery that I found in the charity shop.
Oddment beads by Cate van Alphen
Here are a few more photos since the necklace looks quite different depending on the rotation around the neck.
Bronze and Gold Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen
Some of the beads I used to make this necklace are currently available in my Etsy bead shop.
Bronze and Gold Oddment necklace by Cate van Alphen
I’m collecting up a few more stashes of beads so I expect there will be more of these necklaces soon 😉
09 Thu Apr 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work, WIP
Tags
Cate van Alphen, handmade bead, polymer clay, polymer clay beads, retro, tile bead, watercolour, yellow
This week I made yellow polymer clay beads again. I started off with some macaroni beads with random patches of colour made from leftover mokume gane sheet rolled to the thinnest setting and torn into small pieces. The result reminded me of painting watercolours onto wet paper.
Watercolour macaroni beads by Cate van Alphen
I also made a curved piece that I was going to cut up into smaller beads, but I like it too much as a whole. I think I’ll make it into a torque necklace once I’ve done a bit more sanding and tidied up the ends.
Torque necklace – WIP by Cate van Alphen
Then because it was the Easter weekend, I decided I had some time to revisit the retro beads I made earlier in the year. I thought perhaps if I made several all together it would be quicker and more efficient. It wasn’t really 😐
Yellow retro tile beads by Cate van Alphen
Almost as soon as I’d made them I wanted to switch some of the colours around. I have an idea about what’s worrying me with these beads and I’ll get back to you as soon as I’ve figured out how to articulate it.
Retro tile beads by Cate van Alphen
26 Thu Mar 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work
Tags
2015PCchallenge, bead, Cate van Alphen, handmade bead, polymer clay, polymer clay beads, yellow, yellow beads
This week I made yellow beads for the 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge. I made some more of my patchwork beads.
Yellow patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
Yellow patchwork polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
They’re beads, they’re yellow – enjoy!
21 Sat Feb 2015
Posted in 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge, My work
I usually post my weekly polymer clay challenge piece on a Thursday, but I decided to do it early this week as I wanted to make some kaleidoscope humbug beads and today is the last day of orange. 😮
Polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
I didn’t manage to get the beads the same size as each other, but I did get better at not distorting the kaleidoscope pattern. I also got the corners sharper on the later beads (if you compare with the first bead on the right).
Polymer clay beads by Cate van Alphen
I can’t believe it’s already time to change colour palette! I thought I’d get bored after a week, and need work with several different palettes based around orange. As it is I feel I was only just getting warmed up and I’m a little sad to be saying goodbye to orange.
27 Tue Jan 2015
Posted in My work
A couple of years ago I made a necklace of multi-coloured polymer clay beads. I call them Sherbet Beads because with the hint of shimmering clay and the rough texture they remind me of the sweetie necklaces I had as a child.
For some reason, although I love the beads, I never wore the necklace much so I decided to take it apart and use the beads to make earrings. Here are some of the earrings I made…
Some have already made it to my Etsy shop, some are on their way, and some have already found new homes :).
23 Sun Nov 2014
Posted in My work
Here are some of my new polymer clay beads that will shortly be listed on Big Bead Little Bead.
Black, White and Silver beads by Cate van Alphen
Emission Spectrum Yellow beads by Cate van Alphen
Blueberry Frit beads by Cate van Alphen
Stained Glass Pearl beads by Cate van Alphen
Purple Mosaic beads by Cate van Alphen
Have a look – they have a selection of artist made beads as well as a range of complementary beads and supplies.
