The end of the rainbow

Tags

beads, handmade, polymer clay, retro beads, scrap clay

The scrap ends of my rainbow cane had some lovely colours, so I couldn’t look at them sitting on my board for long without wanting to make something new with them. I decided to make some of my round natasha beads. I mixed some the bright colours with white to get some tonal variation in the finished beads.

These beads are ridiculously complicated to make, involving an extruded cane cut into cubes, assembled into bigger cubes, then cut into natasha beads and then made round. Halfway through I realised I liked the cube format too, so after much deliberation I decided to keep most of them half formed.

I’m still not sure which I prefer…

I also used Fiona Abel-Smith’s tutorial to make another extruded cane with the rest of the scraps and a few others lurking on my table. I like the vintage granny square look that these have. I textured the surface of these beads to add to the textile impression.

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Veneer bead tutorial

Tags

bead, free tutorial, how to, polymer clay, scrap clay

Here’s a video showing my method of making polymer clay beads using a core of scrap clay and a decorative veneer on the outside. Previously I did a picture tutorial of this technique.

Enjoy.

How to make veneer beads

Tags

beads, how to, how to make polymer clay beads, make beads, marble, polymer clay, polymer clay beads, scrap clay, thin veneer, tutorial, veneer

This gallery contains 16 photos.

This tutorial shows how to make polymer clay beads using a thin veneer of cane over scrap clay. Because some …

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January Blues

Tags

blue, cloisonne, january, liquid clay, liquid polymer, painting, polymer clay, Scottish Polymer Clay Guild, scrap clay, starry night

The Scottish Polymer Clay Guild has started a monthly themed challenge. For January the theme is “Blue”. I decided to make a mini painting – my idea was faux basse-taille meets Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”.

While I am happy enough with the colours and the image, unfortunately the metallic effect has largely been lost. I used a base of scrap clay and dusted it with silver powder, then I applied liquid polymer with added alcohol inks. I think my mistake was that I didn’t bake the base before adding the liquid clay so the metallic powder lifted and got mixed in with the glaze.

“January Blue” by Cate van Alphen
Polymer Clay, 6.5cm x 5.5cm

After it was baked I tried to clarify the liquid clay glaze by using a heat gun. Sadly this did not improve it much and caused blisters to appear. I’m not sure if the heat gun was too hot, too close or used too long. Does anyone have any advice?