Collaborations are not unusual in the creative world, from paintings to books to, you guessed it, jewelry.
You may expect to see some HeatherCats now as inspired by the wonderful paintings of my friend Heather from Essencestudios. That is not the kind of collaboration I want to talk about today, though. Heather didn't originally paint her cats for me to turn them into jewelry. She painted them and after I made the patterns I showed them to her for approval and then turned them into jewelry. (And I know there haven't been any for too long, but something is in planning because I still love the paintings as much as ever)
Let me go back in time a few years instead. Back then we still had our old forum, the Starving Jewelry Artists, and we had the Starving Artists Team on Etsy.
This team collaborated on two occasions, the SATeam Holiday Wrist Candy Giveaways in 2009 and 2010. We had decided on bracelets because for a team whose members were situated all over the world it was the easiest way to make one piece of jewelry together.
Everyone would make a charm in their own style and then we would all send them to one member who assembled the bracelet and took the pictures. I have to admit I'm not sure anymore who it was, so I rather leave out the name instead of telling the wrong one, but she did a great job. The results were beautiful - one topic was "Flowers" and the other "Christmas".
I hope the winners still enjoy their bracelets, they were crafted and assembled with love. Just imagine the variety of techniques that went into them! We had lampworkers, we had wire wrappers, we had beaders, we had silversmiths, and more. I was mostly still wire crocheting at that time.
Of course I have some pictures for you to look at, too, if you are curious now.
You know, I think it would be fun to have a collaboration again. It sure has been a while.
Interested in what the other JAC members have to say? Check it out here.
Jewelry Art by Dawn
Violetmoon's Corner
I remember when the team made those bracelets, Cat. Not only did the bracelets turn out beautifully, but the logistics of actually getting it done have always impressed me. So much team work involved.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't on Etsy at that time, so not a team member, but looking back wish I had been able to participate in the team activities and been a part of the camaraderie.
I think I joined SJA in February 2009 and soon after - encouraged by all the members - I opened my first shop, very secretly ;-)
DeleteNext thing I knew I was part of the team. Do you remember the blog?
I remember the talk about these bracelet, but I think I joint the forum to late to actually have played with you guys.
ReplyDeleteBoth bracelets look fun to wear. :)
There certainly was some fun stuff on there! :-D
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