Threaded Vessel Challenge

Presenting The 2012 Second Quarter Metal Clay Design Challenge by Etsy’s Metal Clay Heads Team. 

Entrants were posed with the challenge of designing a metal clay original work under the theme “1920s-1930s Era” including the technical requirement for each of the entries to be a threaded vessel.  Talk about a true Challenge!

Each Quarter, the Metal Clay Heads team members embrace the task of incorporating new skills and techniques to gain personal growth as designers and artists.  Sharing ideas, learning from each other, the highs and lows of successes and failures, each member is encouraged and supported along the adventure.

This Challenge was particularly difficult with several failed attempts and crossed-fingers, prayers whispered in anticipation and plenty of recycling!

Before revealing the entries, there is one very notable effort worthy of a spotlight:

Laura of ZOEOWYN, Art Jewelry Adornment designed a beautifully crafted threaded vessel. 

These photos are examples of the degree of difficulty and gorgeous artwork that come from these Challenges.  Although her vessel is still a work in progress, her design is duly noted and just a taste of what wonderful designs were entered by truly talented metal clay artists.



And now  for the entries submitted for voting in the 2012 Second Quarter Metal Clay Design Challenge!  In alphabetical order by Etsy shop name, here are the 4 entries, each and every one deserving of recognition for successfully conquering the Threaded Vessel Challenge!  Please feel free to click on the photos for more details of each entry.

Silver Perfume Bottle, handmade fine silver Art Nouveau bottle necklace-OOAK by Jennifer of Envydesignsjewelry

A beautiful Art Nouveau style perfume bottle pendant in pure (.999) silver. Made entirely by hand, by me from recycled silver, this is a definite statement piece, featuring a raised iris design, and a screw on lid, with a carved leaf crown. There is a different texture on the back.
I added the bail on the back to hang the bottle from an 18" sterling silver snake chain.
I gave the bottle a rainbow patina, then buffed the raised design, to bring out the highlights.
This pendant is 2 3/8 inches long or 87.5mm x 16mm x 15mm. (more)


Pagoda  By Anise of SeavBeach

 This is an entry to a challenge in a wonderful group that I'm a part of. The design challenge was jewelry from the 1920's and 30's. I researched jewelry from that era and found the thing that intrigued me the most were the perfume bottles that were made during this time. Very intricate bottles were made to hold the finest perfumes from around the world. In reading about the jewelry from that period I found out that Asia influenced a wave of Art Deco jewelry. This is just one piece. The pendant. The top being a roof of a pagoda. It will fit into a built pagoda which will later become the bottle holder. (more)


Hagar's Threaded Vessel Pendant in Fine Silver by Bev of StuckOnSilver

Hagar's threaded vessel pendant in fine silver by Bev of StuckOnSilver
The dynasty created by Hagar's and Abraham's marriage included her land (from modern-day Libya and Egypt to Canaan) and his (from Iran and Iraq to Yemen) --a huge expanse of the known world. The leaves on the pendant represent the shrub that shaded their son Ishmael in the desert.
This pendant includes recycled silver and weigh approx. 4 grams. Vessel and top measure approx. 20 mm in length. A retro leaf motif adorns the vessel and top. Sleek square vessel has a circular screw-on top--both are hollow and might hold solid perfume or a mini-scroll with the name of a loved one on it (not included.) Wire holding the top is solid low-tarnish Argentium sterling silver for low-maintenance ease. (more)

Petite Bottle by Lisa of WillowandMe

Constructed with COPPRclay, the vessel sides and threaded connections were formed separately and assembled together to form this triangular Art Nouveau inspired bottle.  I reserved the extra pieces cut from the vessel sides to place inverted which gives the vessel a unique bottle shape with angular sides.  The top is also constructed using the pieces trimmed from the triangle bottoms, giving continuity of design throughout the entire piece.  The bright red CZ is secured with prongs made from cut pieces of clay and set pre-firing.  Fully sintered after three firings, this vessel measures about 1 ¼ inches tall.


Vote Now!
Please cast your vote using the Public Poll at the right.  Voting will be open for two weeks and will close July 9th.  The Winner of the Challenge will be announced shortly after.  (The Technical Poll is for MCHs team members only.)

Please leave a comment below to be automatically entered into the next Jewelry Giveaway Drawing held soon!

Inspiration, Imitation and Copying : Trends and the Evolution of a Personal Style.

This post will be part 1 of 2 parts


Part 1.....
Metal clay as a material has limitless possibilities for design and innovation, its only limitation seems to be its expense. I’ve seen so many gorgeous examples of work here on the internet that inspire me and that often leads to a flight of design ideas and new possibilities.  Why don’t those come to fruition?  I’m afraid to be accused of “copying”.  How can I use this wealth of inspiration I see here on the internet to develop a style that is truly my own.

I suspect I'm approaching the topic as an art historian might.

Early 20th century artists and craftspeople have shared skills and worked in smaller groups, guilds and geographical locations and, as such, they could train/imitate/copy and still keep one another accountable. Forgery was frowned upon and could get someone booted out of their "school", guild, or even lose their apprenticeship.

A totally ruined career unless you were:
a :) talented enough to get a bunch of others to defect with you or
b :) could afford to move to another country and set up shop.
Mass commercial enterprise and the "net" have totally changed the rules of the art and craft world.

Everything is fair game and people are trying to "copyright" age old processes and designs in order to make their mark.

A whole industry has evolved to share information and I contend that it leads to a kind of stagnancy when we come to developing our own creative processes and style. Pictures, published materials and experts running workshops set the trends. Seeing the beautiful work is inspiring and can give rise to new and innovative designs and material use. More often, I think, we flock like sheep to copy the latest trend.
I’m guilty!!!

I’ve wondered whether jumping on these trendy bandwagons might be really inhibiting my own evolution of a personal style.

Most alarming is the trend for big off shore manufacturers to "steal” and use imagery, usually that of a craftsperson who makes each item by hand, only then to reproduce inferior quality items to sell huge volumes of these items. That`s new. It makes us all throw up our hands and mutter, ”Why even bother?”  if someone’s just going to rip it off.

Is it wrong to copy or imitate?.... and how is it fair that someone can take “your” idea and execute it, promote it and sometimes become much more successful than you were?

These quotes about imitation are cliché but they underline the fact that this issue has been around for a long time:

“Imitation is not just the sincerest form of flattery - it's the sincerest form of learning.”
― George Bernard Shaw

“Parrots mimic their owners. Their owners consider that a sign of intelligence.”
― Marty Rubin


Our inspirations are the sum of our parts, our physical and genetic makeup, where we live and where we have traveled; how we view the world and its beauty, its underbelly and all the wonderful natural idiosyncrasies. Originality is the stock and trade of most artists.  Some artistic visions are truly revolutionary, many are original but few exist without studying or at least having been exposed to other artists’ work.  It’s a pretty difficult pill to swallow when you’ve worked really hard to evolve a particular design and technique, perfect it and then see that same design mass produced or replicated.  With the advent of internet selling the problem becomes exponential. So many artists scrambling to have their work rank high on the almighty Google search criterion.

Ideas and trends evolve via inspiration, imitation, and sometimes outright copying. I think in the fashion industry it is somewhat expected.  There are thousands of books, CD’s, tutorials, and
industry publications.  Being published and selling one’s methods is often a big or bigger money generator than selling one’s creations.  We should not be surprised when people copy our work when the environment that surrounds us has a business model that promotes and encourages this.  Trends are highlighted, hot selling items and people are “featured”, magazines encourage DIY and expect artists to publish their process.

Historically, artists considered imitation to be a sign of respect.  I suspect many of those who teach and publish books subscribe to this view of imitation.  I think learning is really important.  One of the people I most admire is my grandmother, known for her fabulous recipes and baking; her motto was, “I’ll tell you the basics, and how hot the oven has to be but the rest you have to figure out on your own”.
She was an inspiration. No tutorials, just her voice in my memory and her handwriting in the margins of cookbooks I inherited.  I’ll never make cakes that look or taste the same as hers did, but she inspired me to learn.


Here are a few web based perspectives on this issue:

http://www.squidoo.com/inspiration-vs-imitation

http://www.tekniskamuseet.se/1/313_en.html
http://prettyshinysparkly.com/fbff-when-is-flattery-by-imitation-just-downright-copying/

http://udis-tmc.blogspot.ca/2012/02/inspiration-vs-imitation.html

I’m hoping this is enough info for us to have a bit of a discussion and entertain any comments on the subject then move to the next part in this series that will focus on where we can “find” inspiration and innovative creative processes.

Kathy


Visit Kathy on etsy at MostlySilver and MostlyStoneware