Talk About :: Collaboration

It's "Talk About" time again for the Handmade Division. Each month the members of our group blog about a given topic. This month's topic question: "Is there an artist you'd love to collaborate with? What would you like to create?"

I've mentioned in a previous post collaborating with my friend, Julia. Another artist I'd like to collaborate with is my husband. Mark is a potter. (See his fantastic work above!) I'd love to carve my lettering and designs into some collaborative pieces. I think it would be amazingly fun to design and create pottery pieces together. I remember when we first met being intrigued that he was a potter since I'd always thought I'd enjoy learning to work with clay. While we were dating, Mark taught me to throw on his pottery wheel and we had such fun together in his pottery studio. We had intended to do more of it, but somehow we haven't. We're busy with our own work and projects, and some of the plans we had envisioned together have been sidetracked.

We do collaborate well. We've worked on stained glass projects together, we cook together, and we've enjoyed taking many creative classes together. This topic is a fantastic reminder to reevaluate our creative plans and goals as a couple and maybe even spend some time together in the pottery studio again.

These are the first two pottery pieces I made, with assistance and and instruction from Mark. Perhaps the next time I post about pottery it will be to show you the results of our collaborative efforts.

Be sure to take a look at the blogs of other Handmade Division members to see what they have to say about the topic of artistic collaboration:

Andes Cruz - http://andescruz.wordpress.com/
ceeb wassermann aka howlindoggie: http://mettledesignstudio.blogspot.com/
Rickson Jewellery - http://www.ricksonart.blogspot.com/
Purified - http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/
Susan Moloney - http://susarto.blogspot.com/
nanopod: Hybrid Studio - http://nanopod.wordpress.com/

Artisans Collective :: Team Challenge

I belong to a diverse and talented group of Etsy artists, the Artisans Collective. Members have the opportunity to participate in "team challenges"; a theme is chosen and those participating each create a piece inspired by the theme. Our latest challenge theme is Bees. For this challenge, I created a necklace featuring a bee that I designed and hand cut from a sheet of sterling silver with my jeweler's hand saw. It's always so much fun (and inspiring!) to see what others come up with for these challenges. Take a look at our team blog to see the wonderful bee-themed creations of other Artisans Collective members. Be sure to check out our new team website too!

Indiana Artisan

I am so happy to learn today that my work has juried into the Indiana Artisan program. Out of 97 applications reviewed by the art jury panel, 15 were selected and I'm pleased to be among them. I look forward to participating in this statewide program.

The necklace above is one of the pieces I submitted. It features a favorite quote by Thoreau: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams; live the life you have imagined.

Happy Father's Day

My dad is so supportive of my work. He checks in on my Etsy shop regularly to see what I've been making. Every now and then I get an email from him, commenting on a new piece. After receiving one of his emails last week telling me that he liked the new Hurt No Living Thing Necklace and the poem that inspired it, I decided to make him a keychain for Father's Day with the public domain poem by Christina Rossetti. The poem reminds me of him; he has such compassion for all creatures. I hand lettered the poem in a spiral and etched it into a hand formed sterling silver cup. It was a challenge to fit all of the words onto a piece small enough to work as a keychain element, and I'm pleased with how it turned out.

Below is the poem by Christina Rossetti. Happy Father's Day, Dad. Thank you for your compassion and care for even the tiniest of creatures.

Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.

The Handmade Division :: Talk About

I'm a member of a talented group of artists, the Handmade Division. Members with blogs participate in a team "Talk About," discussing a different topic each month. The topic for this month is a fascinating one and I thought it would make a great first post for this blog.

The topic question: Do you consider yourself only a jewelry artist or do you work in multi media application, and or draw techniques from other fields to use in the one you are working in?

I was a calligrapher first, before I began making jewelry, and without a doubt I do draw heavily on my calligraphy skills since I incorporate quite a bit of hand lettering into my etched jewelry. In fact, exploring a new medium for my calligraphy (metal) is what first sparked my interest in metalwork and then jewelry.

In addition to calligraphy and making jewelry, I also design and print letterpress cards with my friend, Julia. While printing on paper is quite different from metalwork, our letterpress cards and my etched jewelry share a dimensional, tactile quality. Many of our letterpress designs are deeply impressed into thick cotton paper; you can run your fingers over the card and feel the letterpress impression. Likewise, the raised or recessed etched designs and lettering on my jewelry invite touch.

Perhaps because of this similarity, I've experimented with sharing designs between the two mediums with satisfying results. I love how the same design can be interpreted so differently depending on the medium.

Below are more examples of designs used on both cards and jewelry:

Sometimes one design inspires another. I designed the "Forever and Always" for this letterpress wedding card, which inspired me to use this theme for some of my jewelry:


I enjoy discovering that a design created for one medium works well with another, or when a theme for one inspires a new design for other work. When I can share designs and ideas across mediums, it sparks new ideas and experiments and new ways of seeing. I have other creative interests, such as knitting and spinning, and perhaps one of these days I'll discover interesting ways to incorporate those techniques and ideas into my jewelry. I look forward to it!

Please visit the blogs of other Handmade Division members to read their posts on this topic:

Andes Cruz: http://andescruz.wordpress.com/
Thomasin Durgin: http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Jewelry by Natsuko: http://jewelrybynatsuko.blogspot.com/
Maureen BZ (Cosmo's Moon) http://cosmosmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/
Abhaya Fibers http://abhayafibers.blogspot.com/
ArtJewel Designs http://www.artjeweldesigns.blogspot.com/
Susan Moloney http://susarto.blogspot.com/
Tamra Gentry http://jewelrydesignchronicles.wordpress.com/
Bill Martin http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/