16 Tuesday Oct 2018
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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.
13 Saturday Oct 2018
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I’ve been working on some fuchsia and lime polymer clay earrings. Here’s a selection of them (they do have partners, but I couldn’t fit them all in the photo):
My favourite pair is these green ones with a new shape bead that I like to think of as snails. I’m tempted to keep them, but I don’t wear much green. Maybe I’ll make another pair in a different colour.
I’ve also made a couple of bracelets.
06 Saturday Oct 2018
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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.
04 Thursday Oct 2018
Here’s a little sanding tip for when your polymer clay has wire embedded in it.
I’m working on a series of short tutorials around this project, but I’m a bit inexperienced with video editing so I started with something small.
27 Thursday Sep 2018
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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!
22 Saturday Sep 2018
My blog has been a bit quiet while I sort out a backlog of chores at home and excavate my workspace. Part of this process has been getting my jewellery listed online (it’s not entirely logical but I feel like I can’t make new stuff if there is nowhere for my existing things to go). The good news is that I have finally gotten some of my vintage teacup inspired earrings listed in my shop. I made them a few years ago, so here’s a reminder.
I have also finally completed a little tutorial video. It’s just a small tip for sanding your polymer clay when there is wire embedded in it (like for the triangle shaped pieces pictured above in the last row). It’s currently available as a preview for my Patreon subscribers, but I’ll be making it public soon.
05 Saturday May 2018
A few years ago I made a Bead Habitat. You may have noticed that all the pictures are fairly tightly cropped. This is because I hadn’t finished the edges.
I had intended to frame it as a picture to go on the wall, but my mother objected, saying that it was too tactile for that and needed to be explored closely rather than hung from a wall. After that it got buried under all the debris on my beading table.
As part of my recent tidying, I came across it again, and decided to finish it. I’ve done a bead edging and a backing fabric to hide my workings. I had to try really hard not to embellish the back too!
I’m not entirely sure what it is. It’s a kind of sculptural, 3D painting, abstract, mini landscape, ornament… thing. It’s purely decorative and quite small, so I’m thinking of it as “coffee table jewellery”.
It’s a mixed media piece including some of my polymer clay beads and components, silk covered wire, embroidery and glass beads on fabric.
Let me know what you think it is. Sometimes feel that I don’t make these things, I’m just there when it happens. 🙂
01 Sunday Apr 2018
Posted in jewellery
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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!
16 Saturday Dec 2017
Posted in My work
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My husband’s Christmas party this year was a masquerade ball so he asked me to make a mask for him. We decided on something inspired by the Green Man.
Green Man mask by Cate van Alphen
The base of the mask is paper mache (I used layers of gum tape) with a final decorative layer of my mono printed papers torn into little pieces. The leaves and acorns are polymer clay and there is a foil backed glass gem in the center. I also sprinkled in a few acrylic flat backs for some Christmas bling.
It was a fun project. I’m tempted to make some more masks although I’m not quite sure what to do with the finished products since I find masks pretty creepy.
10 Friday Nov 2017
Posted in jewellery, painting, Virtual Retreat
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.
