Each month they have a challenge, create a piece of jewelry inspired by a particular painting. It has to be original, and must include an original art bead.
"The inspiration for this month's challenge is Gustav Klimt's painting, The Kiss. Our theme this month was picked by Beverly Herman of No Easy Beads. It's the perfect painting for the month of romance! Your entry this month can be inspired by the colors, pattern or whatever you choose to focus on for your creation. Just remember to include at least one art bead in your design. A few places to start: wood beads, gold foil beads, frit lampwork glass in floral hues, brass filigree, and bronzite. We can't wait to see what you create!"
Immediately I thought of all the luscious chocolate and coffe au lait pearls I have. I had just created a necklace using these pearls, but alas, it didn't have an art bead, and I sure wasn't going to restring 5 strings of tiny stones to enter the contest. But I couldn't get this out of my mind. The contest isn't based on winning...entries are posted on the website and the winner of a prize is chosen at random, not necessarily because it's the judge's pick. And yet, I still couldn't resist.
Last weekend there as a bead show put on by Know Just Beads. I was wearing my new pearl necklace, when I discovered the beautiful work of Sher Berman...yep, lamp work beads that perfectly blended with my pearls. $35.00 later I had a bead to use in the challenge. Yesterday morning I finally sat down and put together a necklace that I'm really proud of. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35836077@N03/3313662893/
But why bother? Maybe it's just about stretching creativity. Maybe I just love a challenge of any kind, even if the only one I'm competing against is myself. Maybe because last month I became a contest junkie when I did win a judges choice for my winter necklace entry in www.making_jewelry.com
Inspired by the energy of New Year's Eve. I'd been pondering these sapphires for 6 months and suddenly they came together with a string of green quartz brios. I started off with a simple one strand necklace, but when my husband called it "cute", I got more creative and by adding a gold
chain was able to stretch one string of sapphires into a 2 strand necklace that is stunning rather than cute. I wore the necklace to a drumming/meditation (great way to bring in the New Year) and the theme of the evening was all about intentionality and dreams. When I got home I looked up the properties of the yellow and rose sapphires and it's all about intentionality and prosperity. It felt like an incredible way to celebrate the New Year by making a necklace that has such wonderful properties. I think every woman in the group wore this necklace for a while on New Year's Eve...and everyone had a hard time taking it off. I sold it on New Year's Day to my favorite customer...but she was lovely enough to let me hang on to it for a few days...I wore it constantly, and it even looks great with my leopard-print bathrobe."What did I win? A mention in a group within a group, and a bead kit. It's certainly not about fame, fortune and huge prizes. But it sure is fun. Maybe it's just the challenge of seeing if I can create something new and beautiful. That's never a bad thing.
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