Groovy blast from the past

Tags

earrings, jewellery, polymer clay, retro, teacup, vintage

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.

Advertisement

Polymer clay challenge – week 45

Tags

2016PCchallenge, earrings, flower power, polymer clay, vintage

I have been a little waylaid from my polymer clay so I’ve pretty much lost track of the 2016 Polymer Clay Challenge. Since it has been a while since I last blogged, here is some of the jewellery I recently made inspired by the broken teacup I previously wrote about.

Long shard earrings by Cate van Alphen

Teacup shard pendant by Cate van Alphen

I finished some earrings and a pendant using the shards I wrote about in week 36.

Flower earrings by Cate van Alphen

I also made some earrings to go with the necklace that I made in week 38 using canes inspired by the flower power pattern on the vintage teacup.

And since I had some canes already made, I made more earrings.

High-heels for furniture

Tags

display cabinet, furniture, polymer clay, vintage, wobbly furniture

This blog post contains very little artistic merit, but it does show that polymer clay is the answer to everything (almost).

A few weeks ago we bought a vintage display case, and the only place it would fit in the house was on the landing at the top of the stairs. Unfortunately either the floor slopes (it’s an old house) or the carpets are folded under along the wall, the result is that when the cabinet was against the wall it leaned forward precariously.

Note the box of books supporting the front of the cabinet as it leans forward.

My usual solution for wobbly tables and sloping bookcases is a wad of folded paper. This would not work here as the cabinet has spindly ball and claw legs, and as it was at the top of the stair case, any corrective measures would be at eye level as you came up the stairs. Polymer clay to the rescue!

We turned the cabinet upside down, and I sculpted clay in a matching brown colour to the shape of the cabinet feet. I then made disks of black clay and baked them separately (I didn’t have a lot of brown and wanted to ensure I had enough to cover the finished shoes). When the clay was cured we returned the cabinet to its sloping home and I added disks until the cabinet stood straight (half an inch thick!). Finally I gave the shoes a camouflaging coat of brown.

Finished “shoe” on the cabinet. (The cabinet came with the dodgy repair job to the top of the leg.)

The finished “shoes” are not particularly beautifully, but they are fairly unobtrusive, and the cabinet now stands straight and proud.

Now I just need to make some beautiful things that are worthy of being displayed…