New Members: Fluxplay and Inbar Bareket

We're rounding out Etsy's Euro Week with two more of our new international members - fluxplay and inbarbareket!

Maria Whetman - Fluxplay

Maria Whetman aka Fluxplay - In my mothers’ photo album, there are lots of photos of me from as young as 4 peering into holes and picking things up off the floor, I liked to wander the housing estates I grew up in looking for snail shells, rusty metal and interesting rubbish and pretty pebbles. I grew up loving to collect the things that I found around me and making small artworks from bits of card and stuff reclaimed from around the house. That evolved as I got older into making small things that were about found objects then making small things that incorporated found objects…and here we are today. My interests in images, old packaging, old advertising, architectural details, history, textures and patterns are evident in my sketchbooks which in turn feed into my jewellery designs falling into the realms of narrative jewellery. I like my pieces to evoke memories and moods for people or perhaps feelings of curiosity for the story within the piece. There’s never enough time to make-up all the ideas I have, plus I love experimenting too much which is why I named my jewellery persona “fluxplay”, a play on words and a reference to change and movement.

Inbar Bareket

Inbar Bareket - To make the long story short I will begin here: In the last 10 years I was the system (IT) manager of a high-tech software company. About 18 month ago I decided that it's now or never-- I need to do something with my soul-- and I began studying jewelry making and I fell in love.

My jewelry is all created by hand. Most of them are one of a kind pieces. I work with precious metals, especially gold and silver, and precious/semi-precious stones.
I usually don't plan what I'm going to make - I just feel it and go with my emotion. I love the stones and the metal - I feel they are a part of me, and my hands are doing the rest.