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

And another thing…

Tags

British Red Cross, Charity Auction, charm, earrings, jewellery, keyring, polymer clay, purple

There are a few more items included in my charity auction that I’d like to talk about. Remember – all proceeds will go to the British Red Cross who are helping people involved in the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower.

Purple earrings by Cate van Alphen

I chose to make these purple beads into chunky earrings because the texture matched the wings of my Angel painting. They look like ceramic, but because they are made from polymer clay they are still light enough to wear as earrings.

Macramé bag charm by Cate van Alphen

This stone bead and macramé handbag charm was one of a pair of earrings, but unlike the purple leaf earrings above I was worried that they were too heavy to wear. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them because I liked them so I didn’t really want to dismantle them . After making the love charm for the auction, I realised the weight wouldn’t be a problem if it were a bag charm.

Stone key ring by Cate van Alphen

Its partner became a key ring – just to be different.

Purple bead earrings by Cate van Alphen

I chose the next pair of earrings because they were waiting on my desk for new photographs to be taken, and because there can never be too much purple.

Bauble pendant by Cate van Alphen

This red, purple and green pendant goes with the earrings. It’s hollow polymer clay so it’s super light.

Please have a look at my other items and remember that if you do bid it will all be going to a good cause.

 

Forget-me-not again

Tags

British Red Cross, Charity Auction, earrings, pendant, polymer clay

I wrote about forget-me-not jewellery that I made earlier this year. I made another pair of faux soutache earrings which I have included in my charity auction for the British Red Cross. The Red Cross is assisting people affected by terrible incidents like the Manchester bombings and the fire at Grenfell Tower, so I thought the name (forget-me-not) was appropriate.

Forget-me-not earrings by Cate van Alphen

I’ve also included the stunning blue pendant I made as part of the Polymer Clay Adventure virtual retreat. It’s here because the colours matched.

Blue pendant by Cate van Alphen

The auction ends this Sunday, 9th July 2017. I’d love it if you joined in with some bids.

Peace

Tags

Charity Auction, earrings, Egg ornament, peace, polymer clay, white poppy

The British Red Cross is helping those involved in the Grenfell Tower fire. They are also supporting people who have been affected by the recent terror attacks in the UK, and other conflicts around the world. I chose to include this polymer clay egg in my Charity Auction because I made it following a previous terror attack.

Easter Egg by Cate van Alphen

I wrote about this Easter Egg back in 2016. The technique I used to decorate the hollow hen’s egg was a symbol of my wish that after all the injury and grief, beauty could still be found.

White poppy egg stand by Cate van Alphen

I made a matching stand for the egg which is included in the auction. Inside it I etched and painted a white poppy. The white poppy is a symbol of peace that embodies a rejection of killing fellow human beings for whatever reason.

White poppy studs by Cate van Alphen

Because you can’t have too much love and forgiveness, I’ve also included a pair of white poppy studs. They are made from pearlescent polymer clay, which I sculpted by hand onto surgical steel posts.

Earrings by Cate van Alphen

The last pair of earrings, in this blog post, looked a bit lonely waiting in the queue for new photographs. I chose them mainly because the colour matched, but I’m sure they too would appreciate a good home.

The auction will run until Sunday 9th July 2017. All the items are starting at 1p, so you might get yourself a bargain, if not it’s going to a good cause. 😉

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!

Angel of the Blank Canvas

Tags

angel, Charity Auction, Grenfell Tower, polymer clay

After deciding to do a charity auction for the British Red Cross, I knew I wanted to include an angel painting. She is made from polymer clay on canvas.

Angel painting by Cate van Alphen

The angel is based on Barbara McQuire’s class on Polymer Clay Adventure.

Barbara included the word “Hope” in her image, but as I was thinking of the unfolding layers of horror emerging from the Grenfell Tower fire I had no words. So she is the Angel of the Blank Canvas. I can only hope that the survivors are able to heal the holes in their lives and make space to start over.

Angel painting detail by Cate van Alphen

Still she is not completely alone. I’ve added some swirls to the surrounding space which when seen in the right light are silver. This represents all the people who are working to help the victims and the generous donations that are flowing in.

If you like my angel and would like to make a donation of your own, you have until 9th July 2017 09:50 BST to bid on her. 100% of the proceeds will go to the British Red Cross. Even if you don’t want to bid, you could really help by sharing the link – Thanks!

 

Charity Auction

Tags

angel, art, Charity Auction, necklace, polymer clay

There have been a couple of terrible incidents in England recently but the one that has haunted me most has been the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. I kept thinking: “If only I could send some of the love and care that I lavish on my beads to those involved.”

Angel painting by Cate van Alphen

Finally it occurred to me that the most practical way to do this was to convert some of the things that I’ve made into cash. Therefore I have decided to run a charity auction on ebay. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit the British Red Cross who are helping the survivors of the fire and those involved in the terror attacks.

Heart necklace by Cate van Alphen

I have made some items especially for the auction and collected together a few other things that I have made recently, or which seemed appropriate. I’ll be writing more about the items individually in the next few days.

Here’s the auction link, although items are only scheduled to go live from 10am on Sunday morning. I’ll be starting the bids as low as I can so you may get a bargain, but I hope you will bid generously.

Save

Blue summer pendant

Tags

blue, pendant, polymer clay, virtual retreat

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog. I have been making things, but I have also been doing some rearranging (my time, my room and my photography), so it hasn’t filtered through to the blog yet. The Art Fair went well, so I have been making more jewellery featuring my Spectrum Palettes. Here’s a pendant I made in my Blue colours.

The design is from a tutorial on the 2017 Polymer Clay Adventure by Elena Marunich. It’s pretty big so it’s quite a statement piece.

I have been experimenting with different backgrounds in my photos (trying both more texture and pure white product shots). You can see more examples of my experiments on my Patreon post.

Easter Egg 2017

Tags

Easter Egg, fairy garden, mushroom house, polymer clay

Every year I try to make some (or one) polymer clay easter eggs. I started this one on Good Friday and I finished on Easter Monday.

Really? It took that much time? It looks pretty simple to me. Yes indeed! But inside there’s a…

…tiny Fairy Garden. The lid is lined with purple velvet and studded with little silver beads to look like the night sky. Irritatingly I had to do this twice because the first time the velvet was too thick and the lid wouldn’t close. Luckily I found out before the glue had fully dried.

The idea was inspired by Lisa Loria’s Fairy Garden Ring tutorial on Polymer Clay Adventure. As you can see I got pretty carried away with the detail.

Here’s a picture to give some scale. The whole egg is about the size of a hen’s egg.