The April Challenge is On!

This month's challenge was selected by our last month's winner, Lori of StonePeace. She asks the question...who is your favorite artist? Do you have a favorite style of art? Do you love impressionism like me, or are you a minimalist? It's time to review your art history, or discover it for the very first time! For our next challenge I want to see designs of wearable pieces with a favorite artist or style in mind.



Can you create Van Gogh's Starry Night in metal?
Photo below courtesy of www.MajesticMetalArt.com

Are Monet’s Water Lillie's destined to be a ring or necklace?

Photo below courtesy of www.BeadandButton.com

Anything or anyone, past or present, 2D or 3D, Eastern, Western, Outsider. . .you decide.

Challenge entries are due by Friday May 13th at Midnight on the Flickr group. The poll will be posted here on Saturday May 14th.

And The Winner of the March Challenge Is....

Lori of StonePeace!! Congratulations Lori....the wee chicken house that you made is so original and unique....not to mention, just too darned cute for words! :)

Lori will be posting next month's challenge soon. Thank you again to everyone that participated for the March challenge...they were all wonderful works of art and design.

March Challenge Entries- Architectural Designs!

Our March team challenge was selected by last month's talented winner, Julie of Jamauerer. The challenge was to design an architectural piece, in any medium of choice, in two or three dimensions. Our team came up with some fabulous designs, and I know it's going to be hard to choose just one! The first piece you see below was designed and created by Julie of Jamauerer who selected this month's challenge. She wasn't quite able to finish this amazing piece...it will eventually be fired with enamels and be made into a ring, but you can see the basic structure she made out of copper, and what a great job she did on this three dimensional building! Next we have this darling little Chicken House made by the very creative Lori of StonePeace. It is so realistic, and made of copper and sterling silver. I love the wee steps going up, and the corrugated roof!

This beautiful pendant was made by Addie of ScrapMetal...it's a stylized Gothic Cathedral, made of fine silver metal clay, glass enamel, a paua shell cabochon and a peach moonstone cabochon. It hangs on a hand dyed and rolled silk cord...stunning! I love the details on this one!

Here is a sweet entry from the talented Joy of Joypeckjoy. It's a pretty little house pendant made of fine silver, and filled with concrete that she has dyed in different shades. What a unique combination of materials, and love the tiny details she has on it.

Esmeralda of SilverBlueberry decided to take the three dimensional approach, and made this amazing miniature replica of the Chrysler Building in New York! It is made of sterling silver sheet, and she hand carved all of the tiny details...what a fabulous piece!

Our last entry was made buy Asa of Asapdesigns. It is a creative ring which consists of a tiny home made of copper with a sparkly amethyst gemstone roof, perched atop a hand forged band of brass. Great use of materials and love the different textures and colors!

The poll is up and listed on the right hand side of the blog. Voting begins now, and will go through Monday at midnight, so please don't wait too long to select your favorite!

March Project Blogroll - Whistle while you work!

Music to My Ears - Cuff by Lori Lynn Designs

What do you listen to while you are working at your bench?

Do you rock out while you work? Or are you more the classical type? Perhaps you relish the simple sweet sounds of your hammer against the metal? This months blog post is all about what you listen to while working away in your studio.

See what gets these talented artists creative juices flowing by taking a look at the blogs below.

Kat - http://artistikat-scratchingpost.blogspot.com/
Stacy - http://www.formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
Clarity of Scrollwork Designs - http://www.thesquarepegnation.blogspot.com
Brandy - http://thefrogspond.wordpress.com/
Happy Tortoise Designs - http://happytortoisedesigns.blogspot.com
Claire - http://brightstar109.blogspot.com/
Silver Pearl Jewelry and Metalworks - http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com
Autumn - http://www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com/
hemlockhollow - http://gloria-hemlockhollow.blogspot.com/
Beatriz Fortes - http://cjbf.blogspot.com/
Resurrection Silver - http://www.resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
RadianTrace - http://radiantrace.blogspot.com/
nancycreations - http://nancysjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Jessica @ Abella Blue - http://www.abellablue.com/blog

March Challenge

Last months movement challenge was a lot of fun, and the entries were fantastic. Thanks for all the votes! I'm truly honored to be in a group with so many talented and creative artists and I can't wait to see what the teamies come up with this month!

This months challenge is to create something architectural, but in a literal sense, so houses, buildings, bridges, etc. Your piece doesn't have to be limited to jewelry so consider sculptures and household objects. It can be 2d or 3d. Here are some fascinating examples to get the creative juices flowing:

Etsy seller Ardent1's cute Little House Ring












Philippe Tournaire's wearable creations based on actual buildings and houses.






Kent Raible's fantasy architecture
like his amazing Floating City



















Lynn Cobb's Yurt ring





I hope these images have inspired you and started your creative minds racing! This challenge is open to anyone who would like to participate and we welcome involvement at all levels of the craft so I hope you'll all be a part.

So ready, set GO ON AND GET TO WORK! Deadline for Entries is Friday April 8th. Please upload your pictures to the Flickr Pool and tag them with "March Challenge" to keep us all sane.

And the February Winner is...

First I want to congratulate everyone who entered. Really this is the best turn out we’ve ever had… Thank you, Esme, for putting a really great task in front of us. I really hope that as time goes on we will continue to have this much participation. We’ve got 304 members on the Etsy Team… I, personally, am very proud of the group we’ve all built, and would love to see every active member enter something in the next year…..okay, off my soap box and on to what you’ve all been waiting for…


And the winner is…Julie of jamauerer!! Her spinning “rattler” ring totally walked away with the votes. It looks a bit like a bee hive (or a cartoon hamburger) and has some wonderful movement. Julie constantly amazes me with her creative designs. Thankfully she also makes tutorials in this shop (jewelstutorials) so the rest of us can try to glean some of that innovation!

See it in action!! http://flic.kr/p/9euf1h

Second Place is Lilian of GirlLovesGlitter. Her spectacular bangle with 6 tubes and 12 tube set stones was in tight running for a while, and really blew away the rest of the competition. Such a sparkly pretty piece and a never ending combination of stone colors! This project really took my breath away….she’s only been playing with the torch for a few months and setting stones for less than that!

Third place was a 3 way tie… Lori of StonePeace, Clarity of Scrollwork Designs and Asa of AsaPDesigns all collected a few votes…. Considering the amazing competition (17 entries this time around!!) I think we’re all just happy to have placed among such great work!

In a few days (maybe less) Julie will post her challenge for us…..I await it with baited breath!! Stay tuned for further updates!!

February "Movement" Challenge Contestants....

The February Aspiring Metalsmiths Challenge came to us from Esme of Silverblueberry. She wanted us to show movement….literal or the illusion there of. It was to be an exercise, like yoga, that would stretch each person’s individual talents and skills. And BOY! Did everyone do well! We have the most entries we’ve ever had….and many of them are first time participants!! YEAH!! Without further ado, here are the entries:

From Lori at StonePeace we have a 2 sided ring…one side is amethyst with a leaf, the other is citrine. It’s a really pretty ring, and would be fun to fiddle with all day long.




From Julie at Jamauerer we have a spinning “rattler” ring. It looks a bit like a bee hive (or a cartoon hamburger) and has some wonderful movment. You can see her polishing it here: http://flic.kr/p/9euf1h





Lilian from Girl Loves Glitter made a spectacular bangle with 6 tubes and 12 tube set stones! Such a sparkly pretty piece and a never ending combination of stone colors!





Ppennee from All Wired Up made a lovely Ocean Jasper pendant. This was her first hinge, and made from scratch too!



Asa from AsaPDesigns made a wheel. Well, a wheel pendant that will roll back and forth on a chain. She also made the hollow silver bead that acts as a counter weight from scratch. You can see it in action here http://www.flickr.com/photos/36638206@N04/5419894352/in/pool-aspiringmetalsmiths





Autumn from Autumn Bradley made a lovely window hanging…a pretty cardinal with “happiness” on his wing. This one has a lovely family story to go with it….Grandma had very good last words.





Villian Accessories made some lovely Osci earrings that harkens back to her engineering days… lovely osculating waves that go from vertical to horizontal depending on your movement and mood.




Clarity from Scrollworkdesigns out did herself again, and made a fountain. She learned fold forming and how to use her new rolling mill to make this amazing floral copper water feature. You can see it in action here http://flic.kr/p/9mgayf




Alicia of AliciaFaith created a very nice malachite pendant that will make your mind twist and spin!! You'll have to click the link to see that one.
http://flic.kr/p/9kZTqx

Resurrection Silver made a shawl pin that really twirls! A pretty copper whirly-gig that makes me think of childhood!





Angela of AJ Jewelry Designs made an out of this world pendant….A shooting star flying around a faraway planet, all in cool shades of blue!





Gloria of Hemlockhollow made some earrings that will make you fly! She’s been on a cicada kick, and these fine silver wings can adorn your ears and remind you of hot summer nights all year long.




Lori of LoriCitsay made her first spinner ring! It’s so pretty, and would give any worrier something to keep their hands busy (like she proved herself on Sunday!! It works!!!)




Esme from SilverBlueberry made a pendant that has some real movement! It’s a pretty little bird who’s wing flaps and beak opens and closes with a tiny tug on the tourmaline briolette.




Claire of BrightStar 109 also made a pretty spinner ring with pretty stones set all the way around, and around, and around....



Nancy from NancyCreations made these glowing earrings… bright and shiny leaves dangle from pretty labradorite stones. Even though one gave her fits, I think they are so lovely!!




Erika from ErikaMayDesigns has made a neat pendant from ages lost….a trilobite that spins in its frame to show off both sides.




Voting will be up through Thursday March 3rd....winners will be posted on Friday morning.



Please only vote if you are a member of the AspiringMetalsmiths team. If you're not, youc an use the links to check out our shops on Etsy and some of our other work in our flickr group stream.