It’s Sheeptember

04 Sun Sep 2016

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black and white, craft, handmade, jewellery, Op Art, polymer clay, sheep, sheepfest

I have been working hard on making some new sheepy items for Sedbergh Sheepfest on 17th and 18th September. This year I decided to stick to a palette of black and white. Here’s a sample of what I made:

Wonky sheep cube necklace by Cate van Alphen

Sheep earrings by Cate van Alphen

White sheep earrings by Cate van Alphen

I also made a few pairs of earrings using the cross stitch sheep cane I made previously.

Cross stitch sheep earrings by Cate van Alphen

Of course working in black and white, I couldn’t resist making a few Op Art inspired pairs of earrings.

Op Art earrings by Cate van Alphen

And an obligitory kaleidoscope cane.

Kaleidoscope cane bracelet by Cate van Alphen

These, and more, are now available at the Craftworkshop in Sedbergh. And if you are in the area on the 16th and 17th, the festival is good fun too.

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Sedbergh Sheep Fest 2015 – part 3

01 Tue Sep 2015

Posted by fulgorine in beads, My work, painting

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Cate van Alphen, kaleidoscope, landscape, miniature painting, pendant, polymer clay, sheep, Sheep Fest

Here are the last of my Sheep Fest pendants. Click here for part 1 and part 2. These are a combination of polymer clay and heat set paint to pick up some of the details.

Painting pendants by Cate van Alphen

I made the green picture first to test the frame idea. It’s 100% polymer clay with a little acrylic paint to antique the frame.

Green landscape pendant by Cate van Alphen

The back is inspired by the ubiquitous slate walls in this area.

Back of landscape pendant by Cate van Alphen

For the next pendant I used marbled polymer clay to form the landscape which I accented with a bit of texture, and painted in the details of the sheep and background walls.

Sheep painting slider pendant by Cate van Alphen

Again the back was inspired by dry stone walls.

Back of sheep painting pendat by Cate van Alphen

Back of sheep painting pendant by Cate van Alphen

The last pendant is larger, more of a medallion than a miniature painting. Again I started with marbled polymer clay to form a basic landscape which I accented using heat set paint.

Sheep landscape medallion by Cate van Alphen

The bail and edging is intended to suggest the dry stone walls.

Stone wall edging of pendant by Cate van Alphen

The pendant is a hollow lentil which I made in two parts and joined together. The back makes slightly less sense as it is from a sheet of kaleidoscope cane veneer that I had left over on my work surface. It makes a nice pendant on its own, but perhaps it doesn’t work with the rustic stone edging. However, instead of making a more refined faux metal bail, I decided to be true to the front of the pendant. It probably would have made more sense to make a faux stone back too.

Back of sheep medallion by Cate van Alphen

Sedbergh Sheep Fest 2015 – part 2

29 Sat Aug 2015

Posted by fulgorine in jewellery, My work

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

cane, cross stitch, earring, handmade bead, polymer clay, sheep

I have been making sheep for this year’s Sheep Fest in Sedbergh. I’ve already done one post, and here are some more of the sheepies I’ve made.

Cross stitch sheep pendant by Cate van Alphen

I still had some of the polymer clay cross stitch sheep cane left over from last year’s Sheep Fest, so I reduced a length to make into beads.

Cross stitch sheep jewellery by Cate van Alphen

Cross stitch sheep earrings by Cate van Alphen

I had an odd number of beads, so I also made some phone charms.

Sheep charms by Cate van Alphen

These sculptural sheep are from a mould of an original sheep I made. I put some off-cuts from a sheet of green cane veneer on the back to keep them interesting from all sides.

Sheep earrings by Cate van Alphen

I have some more painterly sheep pendants in progress. They might feature in a WIP post soon if I don’t get them finished.

Sedbergh Sheep Fest 2015 – part 1

28 Fri Aug 2015

Posted by fulgorine in jewellery, My work

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Cate van Alphen, dry stone wall, polymer clay, sedbergh, sheep, Sheep Fest, sheep necklace

In my previous post I mentioned that I’d been working on something other than my Spectrum Year, and now I’m baaa-ck to show you what. From 12th to 19th September it will be Sheep Fest in Sedbergh, so I have been making lots of polymer clay sheep :).

Sheep pendant by Cate van Alphen

I started off by finishing the dry stone wall pendants that were a WIP earlier this year. I made a new stone effect frame for the sheep scene with a bigger hole to see the details inside. The back of the pendant is rough and cracked in keeping with the rustic stone wall theme.

Back of sheep pendant by Cate van Alphen

I made a new sheep scene to go into the original dome. I also got a little carried away adding moss to the wall.

Sheepscape pendant by Cate van Alphen

I used the crackled components I’d made earlier to complete a necklace.

Sheepscape necklace by Cate van Alphen

But I didn’t stop there – I made plenty more, and they’ll be following shortly in another blog. I’ll be taking these, and the other sheepy goodies to the Craftworkshop on Saturday. Sheep Fest was great fun last year, so if you are near Sedbergh, be sure to stop by!

Click here for part 2.

Dry stone wall and sheep – WIP

07 Tue Apr 2015

Posted by fulgorine in My work, WIP

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Cate van Alphen, dry stone wall, pendant, polymer clay, sheep, stone walls

I live in a beautiful place. One of my favourite things is the way lovely surprises peep out from behind the ubiquitous dry stone walls.

I love the texture of walls too!

For a while I have wanted to make a polymer clay pendant combining the rugged stone walls with the local sheepy views.

I decided to make a window dome like I did for the daffodil necklace with a sheep peeping through.

I used a heat gun to create a crackle texture to represent the stone walls. It came out just like I wanted, so I made a selection of matching components.

I reused the sheep mould I made for Sheepfest and then I spent a bit too much time creating an environment for my sheep. Because when I put them together…

all the details get hidden :(. I don’t think I can bring myself to trap my sheepy in such a small space, so I’ll have to rethink. I’ll probably use the two pieces separately, and end up with two pendants instead (or maybe more if I need to proceed to plan C or D…).

September Sheep

01 Mon Sep 2014

Posted by fulgorine in My work

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Tags

bag charm, cane, cross stitch, earring, polymer clay, sheep, sheepfest

I have been making some more polymer clay faux cross stitch sheepiness for Sheepfest. Well, when you’ve spent a whole weekend making a cane, you simply have to!