Sequintastic Flowers

Tags

abstract, beads, blog hop, floral, flower, polymer clay, polymer clay painting, sequin, sequintastic, stylized

I’ve been a little bit quiet in blogland as I have been suffering from almost constant morning sickness, and looking at the computer screen has not been good for the queasiness. I discovered the Sequintastic blog hop during the Bead Soup Blog Party and I thought “No problem, I’ll be feeling fine by September”… unfortunately not quite, and I have been so exhausted that I’ve hardly made anything at all.

As I have never done anything with sequins, and I have some special ones saved from my wedding dress fabric (it was already embroidered and I had to unpick areas so I could sew the seams), I decided to focus on this challenge.

I knew I wouldn’t have time for the Virtual Paintout this month, but I really wanted to do another polymer clay painting, so I decided to do an abstract flower and embellish it with beads and sequins.

“Jewel Flower” by Cate van Alphen
Embellished polymer clay 10cm x 12cm

I also made a pendant with another stylized flower painting in polymer clay with sequins and beads sewn in for the centre. I inserted it into a metal bail and then covered it with a layer of resin for protection.

Have a look at all the other Sequintastic participants. Happy hopping!

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Featured Painting

Tags

feature, landscape, painting, polymer clay, polymer clay daily, polymer clay painting, Virtual Paintout

Yesterday I had problems with my internet so I only discovered today that my polymer clay painting of Tasmania had been featured on Polymer Clay Daily. This is only my third painting using polymer clay so I’m really pleased.

I’m still not entirely sure why I prefer using polymer clay instead of traditional paint, but it seems I do! I even started a group on Flickr for Polymer Clay Painting so if anyone else has work (or tips) they’d like to share please stop by.

“Sisters Beach, Tasmania”

“Upwards, Thailand”

“Last Light, Latvia”

Worth the wait?

Tags

bead soup, jungle, painting, polymer clay, polymer clay painting, steps, Thailand, trees

I have finally finished my Thailand painting. I was getting really worried that the earlier parts of the painting would crack in the oven as the baked polymer clay “canvas” was arching upwards with the passing days, but there wasn’t a problem. Yay!

“Upwards, Thailand” by Cate van Alphen
Polymer clay, 10cm x 10cm

The original image is from google streetview. I have an earlier post about this painting in progress.

Other good news is that I may be one remake away from finishing an “official” Bead Soup piece. I’ve already completed some but not using the toggle or focal I was sent. So, head down till the big reveal on 11th August!

Virtual Paintout – Thailand WIP

Tags

jungle, landscape, painting, path, polymer clay, polymer clay painting, skinner blend, Thailand, trees, Virtual Paintout

This month’s Virtual Paintout location is Thailand. It is a really interesting location and I wish I had more time to explore, but I haven’t even managed to finish the painting I started.

**Edit – I’ve now finished this painting.**

This is actually only the background half of my picture as I’m only just starting to work on the interesting bits (have a look at the original location to see what I mean). Here is a look at the work in progress.

As you can see the painting is pretty tiny – 10cm x 10 cm. I started off with 6 colour mixes (see the tiles to the right of the painting) plus black and white. I made some skinner blends to increase my colour variety as I haven’t managed to get them to mix nicely on the canvas (as I used to do with oils). The flowers are pure carmine from the packet.

I’m working on a thin sheet of pale blue polymer which has been baked, on which I’ve drawn pencil guide lines. I prefer to do the whole painting before curing as I often go back and change earlier bits as I progress but at this point I’m worried the uncured clay will crack if I don’t finish soon.

I still intend to finish this painting so there will be another blog about it eventually. In the mean time have a look at the flickr group to see some other finished polymer clay paintings.

I also need to work on my Bead Soup pieces – due 11 August. At the moment I have actually finished some pieces but they don’t use either the toggle or the focals I received (I received a LOT of beads!).