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Monday, November 7, 2016

October 2016 Design Challenge Theme: Emotion as Jewelry

Here are the entries from members of the SRAJD Organization for the following theme challenge: "Create a piece of jewelry that evokes an emotion"

Click on any artist's name to see their website and more of the awesome jewelry they've made.
 

Click on an image to see a larger version of the jewelry. 

Diane Perry of Catcophony Wearable Art

The love of a parent for their child.

The emotion I hoped to evoke with this pair of hand-forged earrings is "lighthearted." This basic shape popped into my head one night as I was trying to get to sleep, and I had to hop out of bed, sketch it, and play around with it a little. I think it would be fun to continue to see what I can do with this shape - somehow it makes me smile.
 
Tala Krygin of Tala Kay Studio on Etsy
I decided to go with the feeling of reminiscing. Not quite nostalgia, as that emotion is a longing for the past. Reminiscing with my design piece is creating something new and bright using the past as a role model. What once was regal will always be regal and have a place in history.



Kim Lyons of TapestryGal Designs
I'm not sure if it was the ease of the weave or the blending of the purples, but as I worked, I felt a calm come over me. I often find tranquility in purples. This piece was made from glass beads made in the Czech Republic.


Kim Forrer of Wild Rain Designs
This is the first piece I have made in weeks and I think it evokes a feeling of optimism....as I am starting to be optimistic about continuing down this path, amid the slowdown in sales.
 


Lucy Clasen of LuDesigns Creations
The emotion I am portraying is with these orange lampwork and sterling silver ear wire earrings.

 

Jo Pound of Jewelry by Jo Lane
Sadness
My piece of jewelry is the simple navy leather bracelet with a silver sunflower clasp. It represents three of the things my daughter-in-law truly liked. Navy blue was her favorite color, her favorite flower was the sunflower and she loved silver. She passed away 9 years ago and I miss her every day. She gave me my only grandchild and this bracelet truly evokes more emotion than any piece I have ever made.
 

Darlene Orlowski of The Irish Lassie Shop
The emotion I tried to evoke is grief. I used a vintage cemetery angel image embedded in resin. Since the Victorian era created a lot of customs for funerals and death, I used a center piece that had a Victorian feeling. Along with the black beads, I tried to create the deep sadness that comes with grief. 


Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs
The emotion I chose is "carefree".  These Bohemian style earrings are 6 inches long.  The quote that goes along with them is: "I thought she would be fun to have fun with." (James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room)  I do find that hanging out with carefree people has so many more rewards than hanging out with drama-intensive, overly-critical, or super anxious people.  These sterling silver and ruby earrings are dedicated to my friend (she knows who she is) who really is fun to have fun with.  


The next monthly theme is "found objects" (aka "the unconventional materials challenge").  Make some jewelry whose primary content or focal component is not traditionally associated with jewelry making.  Time to go outside the box! 

If you're an active SRAJD member, click here to submit something you create during the month of September for this design challenge.

And if you like a piece of jewelry you see here, please leave a comment for the artist and/or check out their shop (click on their name)!  


Thanks!














Sunday, October 2, 2016

September 2016 Design Challenge Theme: Jewelry Inspired by a Fictional Character

Here are the entries from members of the SRAJD Organization for the theme of:
Make a Piece of Jewelry Inspired by a Fictional Character

Click on any artist's name to see their website and more of the awesome jewelry they've made.
Click on an image to see a larger version of the jewelry.

Michele Dodge of Lava Jewelry
I chose to design an Art Deco-inspired pendant for Ms Lemon on the Poirot TV series. I've been reading Agatha Christie lately, but I didn't want to design something for such a fussy man. Laura Bracken suggested Ms Lemon, and that fit the bill perfectly. I loved the idea of trying to design an Art Deco piece.


Tammy Adams of Paisley Lizard
This necklace was inspired by the Greek Goddess Athena, who was often represented or accompanied by an owl. The cruelty-free feather pendant was hand-sculpted in polymer clay based on images of snowy owl feathers. The pendant hangs on antiqued copper chain with magnesite beaded links.

Wanda Haworth of Wanda Haworth Designs
This hand carved hematite cross (3 inches long) with the hand wired bouquet of flowers featuring red garnets, was designed for Sibylla the king's sister in Kingdom Of Heaven, the hand made and wired necklace portion is 16 inches and has hematite beads, goldstone and rose quartz accents, this would have been perfect for the battle of Jerusalem when she was in the small chapel before the main battle.

Laura Bosch of MultiBeadia
I choose Inara Serra from Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity. I think Joss Whedon is a genius and the women in his shows are strong, funny, intelligent, leaders & fearless even when scared. Most of them don't wear jewelry but Inara does. I approached this as if she were my friend what would I make her and this is it. Glass "galactic" beads (which is fitting for a sci-fi show and vaguely shaped like the ship) with 2mm fire polish spacers, peacock glass rondelles and the large glass pendant. 

Chris Donofrio of Not Just Metal... Jewelry
     This amethyst necklace was made for Diana, twin sister of Apollo, and goddess of the hunt. It was made, not as a period piece, but to honor Diana for saving Amethyst from tragedy. My love of amethysts (my birthstone) made me think of goddesses, and thus, the research into Diana and the maiden Amethyst.
(The following story is partially copied and paraphrased fromhttp://shinjyujewelry.com/id32.html)
     In Roman mythology, Bacchus, the god of agriculture and wine, wanted Diana, but she wanted nothing to do with him. He was very about her refusal, so he decided to drink the wine of his grapes, until he was very, very drunk, and extremely angry.
     Bacchus devised a cunning plan; he commanded his fierce tigers to devour the first maiden who came along. That would show the chaste and cold Diana!
     Just then, along came the lovely, innocent maiden, Amethyst. Bacchus released his snarling tigers at her. As they lunged at Amethyst, she had only a moment to plead to Diana for mercy and protection from the tigers.
     Diana used her skills to change Amethyst into a pure, clear crystal just as the tigers were leaping. When they chomped down on the crystal, they undoubtedly lost a fang or two!
     Bacchus immediately realized the stupidity of his rage. After all, it was Diana, not Amethyst, who had refused his drunken advances. He knew then that the innocent Amethyst had nothing to do with the bruising of his ego!
     Bacchus approached Amethyst, and begged for forgiveness for such a rash and awful act, and poured all the remaining wine he had onto the clear crystal.
     Thus, it was that Amethyst had been transformed from a beautiful maiden to the most remarkable of clear crystals, and yet again into the beautiful purplish gemstone that we know and love as the gemstone Amethyst.  

Maria Renata of Dreams of Gems
     My design's choice for this month's challenge is for Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix One. She is one of the characters in Star Trek: Voyager series (first aired in 1995). Her first appearance in on seasons 3.
     Seven of Nine is a member of a Borg collective, a hostile alien drone race that destroys civilizations of other planets and then "assimilate" the people into drones. They refer to themselves as "the collective", because all drones are connected through a main computer matrix called "the hive" and they all acted as one and their minds are interconnected. Seven Of Nine was captured by the Earth's star ship Voyager and was disconnected from the collective and then "reintegrated" into humanity by the help of Voyager's captain, Janeway.
     Seven Of Nine is a very unique human individual. She was captured by the Borg when she was 8 years old and was freed from the collective when she was 24. So she has spent most of her adolescence life inside the collective. So humanity is not known to her, she considers humans as "inefficient". Later after she was freed from the collective, she learned about humanity through Captain Janeway's assistance and she is devoted to the captain as well as to the crew of Voyager, in her own way. She is adaptive, strong, smart (because of her knowledge from the collective), but she is also cold, arrogant, hard-headed, and stiff in reacting to human's behavior.
     I chose her character because she reflects the desire of humans to be perfect (drone-like). She chose to keep a part of the Collective with her (her real name was Annika but she chose to keep her Borg designation, Seven Of Nine), and she is not afraid/ashamed to admit that she was once responsible for the destruction of many alien civilizations in space, but she redeemed that by helping out her friends, colleagues, and other alien races. She is superior because of her knowledge, but she tries so hard to be "human" and have made it so far, even though she did not have the desire to embrace the "imperfections" of humanity at first.
     Making her a jewelry was a great challenge and I embraced the challenge just like she tried to embrace humanity that was not known to her. I never made something for an alien before, so I did an extensive research to capture the shapes that I feel would reflect Seven Of Nine's personality. I use Labradorite as the focal and use ParaWire's steel blue wires for this purpose. I chose a bracelet because a necklace feels "inefficient" for her personality.

Karen Nelmes of Karen J Designs
This thistle pendant was made for the fictional character in the books and Television series"The Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. The Thistle is the perfect symbol for Claire Fraser, while she is not Scottish by blood she fell in love with its people, culture, and country. She is brave, beautiful and has strong convictions.

Laura Bracken of Bracken Designs
I designed and created this necklace inspired by the fictional character named Rowen who was Vortigern's Saxon queen from The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart.  I'm currently re-reading (for the fourth time) the entire Mary Stewart "Merlin" books.  While Rowen was not only a minor character in the novel as well as a non-sympathetic character, I felt she was the most likely to wear a piece of my jewelry.  Ha ha ha!  This is a 14k gold-fill Wyvern (two-legged dragon) on a sterling silver background.  His tail encircles a faceted bezel-set Prehnite.

The next monthly theme is designing a piece of jewelry intended to evoke a specific emotion.

If you're an active SRAJD member, click here to submit something you create during the month of September for this design challenge.

And if you like a piece of jewelry you see here, please leave a comment for the artist!  Thanks!

Friday, September 2, 2016

August 2016 Design Challenge Theme: Jewelry Inspired by a Favorite Song

Here are the entries from members of the SRAJD Organization for the theme of:
Make a Piece of Jewelry Inspired By a Song 

Click on any artist's name to see their website and more of the awesome jewelry they've made.
Click on an image to see a larger version of the jewelry.

Dinah Hoyt Taylor
One of my favorite songs is an instrumental by Los Lobos called 'Arizona Skies'. I have had these pieces of coral, turquoise, labradorite and rock crystal sitting around and the combination always reminded me of my times driving to Rillito, AZ to pick up lettuce for the eastern markets. I loved the mountains, the skies, the heat and the coolness of early morning. The clasps, the end caps and the mountain shaped center piece and earrings are all made by me using .999 or fine silver.


Julie Vargas
The magnesite red drops reminded me of red balloons and it came to my mind of the catchy 80's song "99 Red Balloons". The length of these earrings is 2 inches from the top of the copper ear-wires to the bottom of the copper loop.These copper and red magnesite drops earrings have a simple design but offer an eye-catching, bold and elegant touch to your wardrobe.  


Silvia Catarina
The song that inspired this necklace was "Wonderful Life" by Black, aka Colin Vearncombe.
"Here I go, out to sea again, the sunshine fills my hair, and dreams hang in the air..."
This song is melancholy and uplifting at the same time. While the lonely narrator walks by the ocean with his heart wrapped in sadness and longing, he sees that, despite his pain, all around him life is happening in all its beauty and exuberance.
The maritime theme is reflected in the piece of raw coral that I collected off a beach during a vacation. I used muted colors, such as a dark blue, a soft mossy green, grey and accents of light salmon pink. I grew up by the Baltic sea and was always fascinated by how, on the coast, all colors acquire a misty, muted quality. I sewed a garland of light blue lace flowers all around the main strands of the necklace to symbolize the richness and self-celebration of life I feel the song transmits. For the same reason, I also added lots of asymmetric detail, such as the pink accents, ceramic beads of which all but one are a dark pigeon blue, and irregularly knotted snippets of fabric.
"Wonderful Life" is a song most dear to me, just as its author. It has accompanied me since my childhood and has never lost its entrancing magic for me.

Gayla Weber
Build Me Up Buttercup was inspired by Beth Mellor's little bead cups, which I turned into little flowers with beads by Nia Nelson. I was singing it all the way through construction of the earrings and everyone who sees them sings it too! 


Jo Pound
Moon River, Andy Williams
One of my favorites so I put a moon clouds, river and opaline rocks along the river sides. The colors in the river represent the many reflections of the moon along the top. Lunasoft cab in pearl makes a very pretty moon with seed beads, crystals and diamond duos. Also lined with silver embossed leather.

Alixandra Browning
"Spooky Little Girl", The Zombies. Halloween is right around the corner and I had been wanting to make something pretty with a theme for some time. Sterling Silver Bats accent Sterling Silver Hoops with Genuine Jet and Amber Beads, creating a subtle and spooky, but cute pair of earrings. 

Chris Donofrio
"The Book of Love", by the Monotones, 1958. This was one of my favorite songs from my childhood, and brings back wonderful memories of watching American Bandstand with my older sister on Saturday afternoons, and playing her records (45's) on the record player.
These 1-1/2" long earrings are copper fold-formed and hammered lightly, and are an abstract representation of a book. They also have a heart made by Miyuki Long Magatama Seed Beads in Transparent Rainbow Red.


Tammy Adams
This necklace was inspired by 'Three Little Birds' sung by Bob Marley and the Wailers. Although I don't consider myself an optimist, the idea of waking up smiling at the rising sun, listening to the sweet song of birds, and knowing "every little thing gonna be alright" appeals to me. I used happy sunrise colors for the polymer clay feather and beads, and accented them with sparkling faceted glass on rustic copper wire and chain.


Kim Forrer
I have been in a major creative slump since July 1st. Was listening to Trip Switch by Nothing But Thieves and I guess it tripped my switch so I went to my bench and made these earrings from Copper, Turquoise and Kambaba Jasper. Hopefully I can get my mojo back.

Maria Renata
This piece was inspired by Vivaldi's "Winter"
The tunes from Vivaldi's "Winter" inspires me to create a version of a somewhat "warm" winter, where people are still attending balls and when the sunlight is still there, although somewhat fading. This piece was meant to reflect those feelings - a winter which is grand with all of its iciness and falling snow, but managed to let out one last ray of sunshine before everything turns solemn and quiet.


Darlene Orlowski
Trip Around the Sun - Jimmy Buffet

Nohline L'Ecuyer
Hair by Zen (1968)


Laura Bracken
My song inspiration is UPRISING by Muse.  I listen to a lot of Muse songs when I'm in the workshop making jewelry and "Uprising" always reminded me of a Viking "marching to war" kind of song.  Ha ha ha!  With that in mind, I went for a torque-style bracelet (the opening shows on the top of the wrist).  To work this the way I wanted, I annealed the copper about 10 times, between which there was twisting, forging, and texturing.  I opted for two small faceted Spinels as subtle decoration.

The next monthly theme is designing a piece of jewelry for a fictional character (book, tv, movies, mythology, etc).

If you're an active SRAJD member, click here to submit something you create during the month of September for this design challenge.