The Bead Star 2014 Winners have been announced!
and the short story is – I won! I am a Bead star!!
Okay, its only honourable mention, but still its big for me.
So here is the long story
In one of the beading daily newsletters I came across an ad for the Bead Star contest. I was in two minds – On one hand I really wanted to participate and on the other I was unsure – of many things. Which category to choose, Will I find the time to work on it, will I be able to make a product that is (well) finished enough for an international jury and then the usual entrance fee question – is it worth paying??
Thankfully the fee wasn’t too high, but like most Indians I tend to think of $15 as not 15 dollars but 930 rupees. So I had just one thought in my mind – “If I pay the fees and enter, I should win; so I have to make sure that I win by making the best possible design in the available time frame, with the resources at hand”.
After much deliberation I settled on the metal work category and decided to do form folding and flame painting 😀 why ? one reason I am absolutely crazy 😀 At that time I had done metal work for less than 6 months and this piece combined a lot of cutting and form folding with flame painting and patina. Two – I was planning for a metal jewelry workshop on similar lines and felt that I could figure it out.
Design – Concept
My design – exotic copper blossoms is based on a simple concept of a child’s curiosity – why cannot a flower be in green color? Why should a flower be in orange or red color and a leaf in green and how will nature appear if the colors are interchanged. So here my leaves are in red-rust (excepting the clasp) and the flowers are green. I guess this is to be expected from a person who drew blue and red cats in kindergarten and was told that I cannot draw 😀
There are 4 main components on the metal side and each of these components are layered. The green thingies are form folded brass discs with patina inks. There is no base plate and they are all joined using cold connection technique of wire wrapping.
Challenges
I had a number of challenges with this piece – the chief being materials. While I was sure of my base material – copper, I wasnt sure of the accompanying materials. I wanted to pick something that was considered serious and good enough by an American jury at the same time have an Indian touch to speak about my roots. I finally settled on picking meenakari beads and faux polki focals that I found at a local store and chain that I had. (Thankfully these guys dont ask for a resource list!!). Its another story that I then ran out of copper sheet half way through the project, so I had to pay double the amount to get it from a local artisan. And don’t even get me started on the invisible wire wrapping, Phew!! Finally I finished it and sent pics and waited with a baited breadth – For Months!!
And then on one blessed June evening, Debbie Blair mailed me saying that my Exotic Copper Blossoms, has been selected by their panel of judges as an Bead star honorable mention. This means that it will be featured in the October/November issue of Beadwork magazine (will be available on news stands on September 16th). Along with other winning entries it was publicly announced and put on display at Bead Fest Philadelphia 2014
 |
| Special Thanks to Megan Lenhausen for sending me this picture of the actual bead star display |
I understand that honourable mention isn’t necessarily a prize, and there is no physical prize involved, apart from a publication, but I felt that it was besides the point. For so long I had wanted to attend a bead fest, any bead fest, especially Philadelphia, which I cannot afford to attend as a tourist without a sponsor and neither will I get a Visa to sell or teach. So my Design being exhibited there is prize enough for me at this stage.
Right now I am eagerly awaiting the September issue of the Beadwork magazine to reach me, so that I can see my design in print.
The next step – is to work harder and keep entering as many challenges and contests as possible.
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
Leave a Reply