Birdies!

Tags

art bead, Art Bead Scene, beaded, bird beads, birds, bracelet, cuff, faux ceramic, felt cuff, polymer clay, sequin

The first thing that sprang to mind when I saw this month’s Art Bead Scene inspiration painting was “Birdies!” (in the voice of my 3 year old).

Birds On Riser, 1944 by Adolf Dietrich
Oil on wood, 57.5 x 50 cm

I made some faux ceramic bird beads using polymer clay. I gave them all different colourings as in the painting. My initial idea was to have a row of birds making a bracelet like a paper doll chain, but some of the cheeky birdies turned inside out. Instead I put them on a white felt backing to create a cuff with a sprinkling of beads and sequins to represent the icy snow.

I made some extra beads, so this little birdy needs a home. Leave a comment below if you’d like to adopt him (he assures me he can even manage an international flight).  If you share this giveaway on facebook/twitter etc let me know and I’ll put your name in the hat again for extra chances to win. 🙂

 

I’ll let you know the winner on Monday 7th April 2014.

Tweet! Tweet!

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!