Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Autumn winds

I would be lying if I tried to pretend I am not very pleased with myself for this one.

It all started with an invitation to donate an item for the silent auction at the Memphis River Arts Festival opening party on October 23rd. I have donated to auctions in the past, usually just little things. This time I decided that I could use this as an opportunity to challenge myself (it didn't hurt that artists whose work sells for more than a certain amount get a cut of the selling price and automatic acceptance to next year's festival-- excellent incentives to give generously!). I wanted to make something new, something bigger and more detailed than ever before, something that would really attract attention at the opening party and bring people to my booth the next day.

This necklace set is the result-- it's evocative of the season, but also related to the region-- you can't really read it here, but the panels on the necklace include the text, "Autumn winds roll through the dry leaves", a fragment of a poem by Arkansas poet John Gould Fletcher. The many paper pieces are reminiscent of a drift of fall leaves, and the spirals are the little whirlwinds that scatter the leaves around you.

I believe I have the start of a new line of jewelry here-- I want to make a few more showstoppers like this, but this style is also very appealing in a version with fewer pieces-- just a few inches of paper and metal 'fringe' at the center. And the earrings, well-- lots of fun on their own.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Totally, totally awesome.

Ginger and James said...

Lovely! How'd it do at the auction? Did you meet the price goal?

Ginger and James said...

Oops. So I'm a moron--it's later this month! I should read more closely...you don't have to post this one or the previous one! Silly me. Hope all is well!

Midge Weinberg said...

Amazing! I cannot wait until you bring it to Memphis next week so I can try it on!