Story Telling Thru Jewelry & an Earring Swap!

Yes, I was fairly busy this month. Seems I decided to participate in TWO ... well, not contests, but areas that stretched me a bit. Now, to some of you, doing two jewelry swaps/creative call-outs/participating in more than one thing may not be a stretch. For me, it is.  I'm the sort who sits down and plays with the elements on my table until my Crazy Creativity gives birth and something pops out.  That may not always happen the first time I sit down.  Or the second.  Or third or fourth or.... you get the idea.  I usually make something but not necessarily anything I'd want anyone to see.  We've all been there. We call it "repurposing" when we rip it apart and start over :D   So, I've got two items to share with you today.  We'll start with Erin's challenge.

I joined in with Erin over at Treasures Found to tell a story (or, in my case poem) thru jewelry. Erin was kind enough to let me use one of my military poems as inspiration for my piece.  I was able to go to Oahu with my family last summer and we went to visit the Arizona at Pearl Harbor. I'm not sure how any American can visit there, go thru the museum and then out to the Arizona, and not be touched by what happened. By what our men gave that day and all the days after.  My focal piece was a large lampwork bead that I scoured Esty for only to finally discover over at sky valley beads.  The rest are beads from Michael's or Hobby Lobby, but that one focal from sky valley just brought out what I was looking for. When you're on the Arizona Memorial, you can still see oil seeping up from below. A drop at a time every few minutes.  Even on days when the water's not calm, it's hard to miss those drops.  Those tears.  I think, even tho' it wasn't intended, sky valley perfectly captured what looks like that swirl of oil from the Arizona.
So here, once again, is the poem that was inspired by that visit and, in turn, inspired the jewelry:

Tears From The Deep

Tears are still wept, tho' the heart's made of steel,
For men nigh forgot tho' a Nation should feel.
They died in a war, tho' no battle fought they,
On what became known as an Infamous Day.

Tears from the Deep, tho' the heartbeat is cold,
For valorous men who will never grow old.
Entombed in the dark, by water enshrined,
Stood ready 'gainst all, by Freedom defined.

Tho' many have come, so few shed a tear.
They call to us, now, do the whisper you hear?
They are the reason this Nation stood fast!
The weeping, so soft, do you hear it at last?

Tears are still wept to help us recall,
Tho' few still remember they gave us their all;
From way down below, to the Oceans' safe keep,
Seeping up for reminders are Tears from the Deep.

© Copyright 2011 Pam Sears. All rights reserved.

Full view

Close up of focal ~ vivid expression of those "tears"

I chose the squares to represent the ocean in all it's colors and
the black oil slick swirls to represent... well... the flowing oil

the small rounds actually have an "oil slick" reflection that
didn't photograph too well. The red jasper tear shapes are for
the blood spilled and the silver wire I hammered are for both
the waves and the ships that rode them into battle.

We must never forget

 

Here's the rest of the participants.  Make sure you scroll all the way down past them to see the second activity I participated in (once you're done looking at what everyone else did, that is!):

Erin Prais-Hintz (story hostess!)

Rebecca Anderson

Rose Binoya

Lori Bowring Michaud

Shannon Chomanszuk

Marlene Cupo

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Kim Dworak

Beth Emery

Therese Frank

Amy Freeland

K Hutchinson

Jennifer Justman

Susan Kennedy

Linda Landig

Lisa Lodge

Lisa Lowe

Kirsi Luostarinen

Beth McCord

Melissa Meman

Sharon Misuraco

Tracey Nanstad

Melinda Orr

Kashmira Patel

Alice Peterson

Sally Russick

Niky Sayers

Pam Sears (you are *here!*)

Amy Severino

Tracy Stillman

Emma Todd

Melissa Trudinger

Lesley Watt

Shai Williams

 

And now, the 2nd quest (I guess is the best way to phrase it... since I'm crazy anyway! haHA!) was an earring swap hosted by Diana at Suburban Girl Studio.  We signed up and were paired up with two other ladies for whom we made earrings and mailed them off. A swap!  Not only did we have to come up with something for ladies we didn't know, we got something wonderful in return. Their beautiful efforts!  I was paired up with Amy over at Copper Diem and Lisa from Whimsy's Wonders.   Here's what I sent to the individual ladies (I'm sure they have theirs by now):

The ceramic discs were made by Chinook Jewelry for a
challenge by Michelle Mach and I loved them so much I
went to Chinook and bought a few more. Just LOVE them!

I wanted to have both cool and warm
off-setting each other.



I wanted a Moroccan/Middle Eastern slant
on this pair. The orange beads at the bottom
were made by Sue from Sue Beads and I've
been hoarding them for MONTHS!



I used gold, purple & teal to
accent the sari silk and bring
in the Moroccan/Middle
Eastern Vibe.

...and what did I get, you might ask?  Well, from Amy I received these lovely earrings. I just love how delicate they are! Makes me feel so feminine!

Plus, I love red and these add the perfect touch when I want a soft, sweet accent.  From Lisa? Well, Lisa got hit hard by Life (don't we all from time to time? Eh?) and is a weeeee bit behind. But she assured me, the last time we "talked" (emailed, whatever ~snerk~) she was mailing them out asap!  Since she has family and Life gets in the way no matter how well we plan, I'll just make sure to let you know as soon as they come in (which, know Life and Its sense of humor, will be when I get off work tomorrow evening! ha!) and will post pics of them.

Sorry, this was such a long post, but I didn't realize, when I signed up for both of these, that the reveal dates were the SAME date! Ah, well. Such is Life (haven't we already covered that!?)