I recently came across a new Jewellery forum called Artisan Whimsy which I do like the look of. It is managed by Jewellery makers. So that’s competition, right? And you are showing off all your new designs and ideas to other jewellery makers, right?
WRONG!
The best people to talk to if you want to exchange ideas about your jewellery are fellow jewellery makers. Any good community made up of people confident about their own work is a good place. A community like this makes one realise that you are not alone. That’s what I liked about Artisan Whimsy. People are sharing more than just their latest creations on it. They are sharing tutorials, they are sharing ideas and they are encouraging each other through themed challenges and competitions. These competitions are thought up by jewellery designers, participated in by jewellery designers and judged by jewellery designers and I think it’s great! I need to get to know the people there better and in time perhaps contribute more than what I am doing now but at least I am in!
I took part in a challenge too. First one ever! The post about the challenge is on my “other blog” and you can read it here: https://jewellery-by-shalini.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/uk-inspiration-challenge-walk-on.html but I thought I would share something here as well…
So I made something that said to me Liverpool. OK so I am a fan of Liverpool Football Club but this is more than just that! A few pictures on the design’s progress…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
But I did get the piece finished in the nick of time before the challenge closed!
I really enjoyed it all. I didn’t win but I learned something very very important.
There is more to being creative than making pieces to sell. Its about challenging yourself to do something new, something different and occasionally something just to please yourself!
And all because I saw a challenge on a jewellery forum!
The nicest part of it all? The wonderful comments left by designers much more talented and experienced than me on the blog post I wrote about my entry!
So all in all I will just say Happy Shalini!