Blog Carnival 09.05.10 "Back to School"

The first Monday of every month is Etsymetal's Blog Carnival.
This month's topic is:

Back To School
Where did you go to school? Are you still a student? What kind of student were/are you? If you had the opportunity to go back to school, would you? Where and what would you study?

Fall is often nostalgic as the new school year rolls around. Whether you are going back to school yourself, your own children going back to school, or simply seeing all those school buses back in business, it can bring up some fond memories, or maybe some relief in thinking "thank goodness I'm not in school anymore" !

Check out the entries from our participating members this month!

victoria takahashi - experimetal
caitlyn davey- discomedusa
Thomasin Durgin - metalriot
Danielle Miller
stacey - wildflowerdesigns
Ann Hartley
Konstanze - Nodeform
Beth Cyr
Jenny Baughman
Kathryn Cole

Charm Swap 6

Count down to charm swap begins... 27 days to dead line !

Ceeb Wassermann /Howlindoggie

Ceeb has send us a sketch of 3 different charms she had in mind (I love the Kimchi Kamon)

Maria Whetman / Fluxplay

Maria had finished her colorful game charms - they look so great together !!! I really want one !

More news in 10 days!

September challenge "Inspired by Ancient Jewelry"

 Our September challenge due to August 30 was....

"Inspired by Ancient Jewelry"

 We have 4 stunning entries this month

E² - Esther Eve

 "When I was a child I studied Egyptian relics, borderline obsessive, in particular the scarab. The Egyptians worshiped the beetle, and that was so fascinating to me. They believed that the young Sun God, Kephri (the beetle) pushed Ra (the sun) into the sky from the underworld each morning. They also adorned grave sites and tombs with scarabs to ensure safe passage into the afterlife."

The finished piece: " I used a trilobite fossil as a representation of my scarab, and etched some similar glyphs on a tablet suspended below"

Andrea -  Artigiano Jewel Box  

" Inspired by the Indian custom of hennas tattoo that I've been wanting to complete since last year..."

Kira Ferrer  

 "The inspiration, 12th century gold earrings from Iran."

Inbar Bareket 

 "We had an exhibition of ancient jewelry "Apple of gold in pictures of silver" All items were ancient jewelry from archaeological excavations. I picked up item No.93 An earring from the
Byzantine Empire 324-638 AD. Design as moon or Basket , filigree work with drops at the end. the drops are ended with loops probably for holding beads."

"I made a sterling silver pendant moon frame with 3 gold filigree loops and small charm with gorgeous 6 rays star sapphire."

***
Our October monthly team challenge due to September 30 is....

"Pablo Picasso"

Pablo Picasso was born on Tuesday, October 25,  in Born in the city of Malaga in the Andalusian region of Spain
He died on Sunday, April 08, 1973, in Mougins, France.

Etsy Metal Finds

With the start of hurricane season, and the impending Hurricane Earl threatening the East Coast, it's no wonder nature's scary and destructive, albeit fascinating, phenomenon is on my mind.

The Hurricane

Obi Tidal Wave Buckle from Gami Works

Salvaged Hurricane Katrina Wood Frame by Secondline Frames

Vintage Hobnail Milkglass Hurricane from Anna and Roy

Splattering Raindrops of Hurricane Ike Photo by An Alliteration

Project Runway: Season 8: Episode 4 - Hats Off To You!

Hats Off To You!

Project Runway Challenge: In this episode, the challenge was to create a look inspired by a Philip Treacy hat. Watch the episode

The EtsyMetal Translation: Create a piece of jewelry to go with one of the Philip Treacy hats

Victoria Takahashi / Experimetal

This week I chose to use my dogs as my muse accessories and make them metal replicated Philip Treacy hats to wear. I fabricated these out of Copper using hollowforming techniques. I then painted, used a pink highlighter pen, glued some fur and feathers on and strapped them on the pups! Philip Teacy you are a hat god!

Inbar Bareket

Esther Eve / evemmetalsmith

I chose to do a necklace to compliment this hat and outfit, partially because the neckline on the dress really begs for a necklace, and partially because I'm waiting on my silver stock and didn't have enough silver to do earrings in the size that I wanted ;o) I tried to mimic the sort of see-through cross hatching in the hat (hard to see on the photo of the hat) but only suggested it on my piece because I didn't want to get carried away and do the whole thing. The lemon quartz in reality is almost the exact same green as the hat, my camera just wasn't picking up on it.

Kira Ferrer

I designed this bangle to be worn with this hat. The idea I had was to make something geometric, but also delicate, to compliment the futuristic, whimsical look of the hat.

Guest Submission:

idreamicanfly

Next Week: Episode 5

There is an "I" in Team

Concepts & Textiles

Project Runway Challenge: In this episode, the designers split into 2 teams (Team Military/Lace and Team Luxe) and each team designed a six piece collection for Fall 2010.

watch the episode

The EtsyMetal Challenge Translation: Create a piece choosing a concept and a textile from the same list the PR contestants had to chose from (the textile can be literal or implied):

Concepts:

minimalist

50's retro & lady-like shapes

menswear for women

military

Textiles:

gold or other metalics

camel

leopard or cheetah prints

plaid

lace

Due Date: Friday, September 3, 2010

~Make it work~

**guidelines for guest participants:**

Please read this every week as there may be small updates and changes. The pieces you submit must be pieces that are made specifically for that weeks challenge. Then post a link to your challenge creation in this weeks comment area, they will be retrieved as they come in before the deadline.

*We only are accepting guest submissions from our blog comment area at this time, insert your links there. Then please cross-post this to your Blog, Flickr, Etsy, etc. And tag them with "Project Runway Season 8 Episode 3." Currently we will post your name with a link and a picture of your piece on our blog. The deadline for guest submissions will be Friday at 6 pm, Pacific Standard Time. The new blog posts and the new challenge will go up the weekend after the new episode airs.

Charm Swap 6

Kathryn Riechert is playing with ideas...
"I've been thinking about my charm and I think at the moment I'm leaning towards something critter like, but I'm still playing around. Who knows how they will end up... At any rate, this is my playing so far, made out of vintage flatware"

two days later: "I really think this is what I want to do. I'm having so much fun figuring them out! I think there will a few different designs/animals, with several of each to reach the 22 charms."

I want them all :-) Kathryn!

Maria Whetman AKA fluxplay : "So here is the final design for the Etsy Metal charmswap series 6.
There are 3 little holes into which you have to try and get the 3 ballbearings into...not so easy on a concave surface.
This little fella is infact number 1 of 22. He is one inch across exactly (the maximum size allowed for the charms). So far, I have made all 21 of the remaining oxidised copper shells, some are lightly oxidised and some are heavily oxidised, all with the star texture buffed back to clean copper, then waxed to seal. I counted the little teeth on this charm and worked out that I have sawn out well over 900 teeth for the batch, but each charm shape only takes me 3 minutes to saw out, as I am super speedy with a saw. I have 21 more glass bevel discs, 63 more of the teeniest ballbearings you can get (3 per pod) and 21 jump rings made up to the correct gauge. I now need to make a further 21 of the decorative steel inserts (every single one will be different) made by recycling old tins, and set them into the casings, under the glass discs". 

So much fun !!!

I cannot wait for next week !!!

Etsy Metal Finds

I was browsing through Etsy drinking a refreshing glass of water which gave me an idea for a search. L'eau, agua, d'acqua, vatten, ... we all crave it, we're all made mostly of it, and I'm really wishing I could go visit a large body of it...

Water

Canal View Fine Art Photo by Lesley Sico

Vintage Water Glasses from Saffron Colored Pony

Water Cycle Illustration Tee Shirt by Isotope

Glass of Mist Art Card by Found Days