mmmm, so what is a "Blog Carnival" and what is "A Ring A Day"? I hear you ask.
Well, to begin with I belong to a small group of metal artists where we set ourselves little challenges every now and again. the group can be found here etsymetal.com
There is a diverse range of techniques and styles and we principally are there to help one another in our craft. It is great to be part of. The group grows slowly when we invite anyone to apply to join twice a year (Jan & June). The group votes on those who we would like to join.
So that is the group, and within the group we set ourselves little challenges. It is not mandatory to join in, but just fun to do so.
We then also organise a "Blog Carnival". This is where those wishing to particpate, blog on the first Monday of the month, on a given topic.
So this month's topic is "What is you favourite from the Ring A Day?" Now before I go prattling on, the "Ring a Day" challenge was nothing more than a creative exercise to create and record the efforts of making a ring. The given ring had to be neither practical nor useful and any material could be used in the making of it. The exercise was not to produce a commercially viable piece, it was more about getting the creative juices flowing.
My personal favourite from my own creations was turning one of my jewellery books into a ring. As you have probably guessed, it has zero practical use but just makes me laugh.
I have tons of favourites from the other talented jewellers on Flickr, but I haven't worked out how to link to their pics from this blog, so suffice to say you will have to go and check out the Flickr page or more importantly at the bottom of this blog entry, you will find links to other bloggers. Go see what they are chatting about.
We then shared our efforts on a Flickr page.
The most interesting thing for me on the "Ring A Day" challenge, was the number of ideas that came to mind. I now have bags of ideas to make, but the practicality of running my business, creating commissions and being a family man, have meant that I haven't created a ring every single day, I don't see that a s a failure, as I kind of knew that life would get in the way.
Initially, I was thinking how on earth am I going to come up with a new idea every day, but as time progresses, it actually becomes easier.
I never got around to taking pics of some of my creations, but all of them are helping me to develop new designs. You can think of the process of as doodling with materials. Sometimes a texture, a pattern, or the scale of a piece will influence the design of a piece of jewellery that can be made into silver, gold, palladium or platinum.
It is Feb nd I have lots of ideas to make some more "Rings A Day"
I'll be posting those ideas here and on my Flickr page, so feel free to pop by and have a look or drop me a line.
So here are all the Blog Carnival participants. Please do visit and see what they have to say on this month's theme. " A Ring A Day." There are some fab blog entries out there.
Alisa Miller http://alisamiller.blogspot.com
Colleen Baran http://seeseebe.blogspot.com/
Danielle Miller http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
stacey hansen http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
Chris Parry http://chris-parry.blogspot.com
kerin rose http://kerinrose.blogspot.com
Sara Westermark http://sarawestermark.blogspot.com/
Victoria Takahashi http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/
Su Trindle http://quercussilver.blogspot.com/
Nina Dinoff http://ninadinoff.blogspot.com/
Maureen "Cosmo's Moon" BZ http://cosmosmoonjewelry.blogspot.com
Thomasin Durgin http://metalriot.blogspot.com/
Colleen Baran http://seeseebe.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr http://bcyrjewerly.blogspot.com
Caitlyn Davey/discomedusa http://discomedusa.typepad.com
Catherine Chandler http://catherinechandler.blogspot.com/
