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Its been a while....and it's Charm Swap time again!

I know its been a while since my last post....my blog has just gotten away from me! I am trying to get back into it again so I have offered to post weekly for Etsy Metal in hopes I can do multiple posts for multiple blogs....including mine!

I have been a member of Etsy Metal for quite a few years now and I am now co-curating the Etsy Metal Charm Swap again with Laney Clark of Silent Goddess. This is the 14th charm swap (CS14). Laney and I curated Etsy Metal Charm Swap 9 together and had a great time! The charm swaps work like this: we have a sign up sheet of 20 Etsy Metal members. Each member has roughly 6 mos to make 22 charms... 1 charm is for each of the 20 participants, 1 is to sell in the team shop, and 1 is to be hung on a bracelet that is sold in the team shop and consists of one charm from each participant. Once the charms are made they are shipped to one of the curators who divide them up and ship them back to each of the participants. You can see some of my charms from past swaps below. Check out the team shop to see and purchase items from past swaps and to see more of my jewelry you can check out my shop.

mini constricted heart charm CS7

mixed metal charm CS8

sunburst charm CS9

patchwork charm CS10

mixed metal eclipse charm CS11

mixed metal rose charm CS12

Lucky # 13 charm CS13

Etsy Metal Charm Swap 11

This is my charm for the current Etsy Metal Charm Swap.... these charms are made from copper, brass and sterling silver and set with a blue glass cabochon. I use a lot of color, shape and texture in my jewelry so these fit in perfectly!

 

Here are some of my past charms from other swaps....

 

 sterling silver, copper and brass.

 

copper and blue glass

 

sterling silver, copper and brass

 

copper and sterling silver- a mini version of my larger hearts

 

You can find all of these charms for sale along with other pieces in the collections in my Etsy Shop!

 



Etsy Metal Charm Swap 10

This is my fourth charm swap since being a member of Etsy Metal. Etsy Metal is a juried group of metal artists from all around the world and every 6 months there is a sign up list for the charm swap. The way it works is the swap is limited to 20 members (there are approx 100-150 members of the team). We each make 22 charms. 20 to swap with the other 20 swappers, 1 to sell in the team shop as a individual charm, and the other is put on a bracelet  for a total of 20 charms each made by a different member to sell in the team shop. The money from the sale of the bracelet is donated to a children's art organization chosen by the member who is running the swap at the time. (Each swap is run by a different member, I ran charm swap 8 and when that bracelet sells the money will go to Fleicher's Art Memorial in Philadelphia). Below is the progress of my charms for the current charm swap. They aren't due until the end of this month so although mine have shipped out it will be a while before I get all my new charms all back and I can't wait to see them!

My charms this time around were inspired by my patchwork necklace. They started with a piece of 1x1" copper.

 

Kind of like a puzzle,  I had to cut and fit together 9 little pieces of copper, brass and sterling onto each piece of copper. The little pieces were roll printed with various textures and patterns and each charm had 9 different patterns.

 

Once they were all cut and laid out they are ready to solder.

 

 Here are a few after soldering them all together.

 Then comes some filing, drilling, oxidizing, polishing....and then....the finished charm!

 

 Here is a group shot of all 22 charms. Each one is different from the next.

To see the progress of other members who are involved in this swap you can check out the Etsy Metal blog. Eventually the charms  will be for sale in the Etsy Metal team shop along with a individual charm from each of the swappers. Keep an eye out for all the new charms to be listed soon! In the meantime check out the team shop to see charms and bracelets from past swaps that are currently for sale!

Magazine Cover Contest Results

If you have been reading my blog you know I entered into a magazine cover contest back in July. There were 249 entries and although I did not make it to the cover of the magazine I did make the final 4 which got me a half page write up inside the magazine which is out now (October issue). For those of you who do not have a subscription to "The Crafts Report Magazine" here's what the spread looks like:

Magazine Cover Contest

Back in June I entered a facebook photo competition to try to get my "patchwork necklace" onto the cover of The Crafts Report Magazine. There were 249 entries in the competition which were narrowed down to 64 by the magazine. The 64 finalists were grouped into groups of 4 and everyday for 24 hours on facebook people were able to vote for their favorite  photo from each group. My image was up for voting on July 1 and out of my group of 4 I won! Now I am in the final 4 which is pretty amazing in itself because There were some really beautiful pieces in the running! The final 4 have been grouped into 2 groups of 2 and will be up for voting again on July 9th and 10th. I am up again on the 10th. I would love to win, but even if I don't it has been an honor just to be in the final 4. Below is an image of what I have submitted to the contest. It is made from sterling silver, brass and copper that has been roll printed or hammered cut into small pieces and soldered togehter to form each "quilted" piece. I would love it if you would help me get to the final 2 by going onto The Crafts Report Magazine's facebook page and "liking" the photo of my necklace on July 10th.

Tomi's Secret Sculpture Garden Project

Thomasin Durgin, a member of the Etsy Metal Team that I belong to, has purchased an abandoned and vacant lot in her hometown and decided to turn it into a Secret Sculpture Garden for the children in her area. To help her raise funds for her project members of the Etsy Metal Team have joined forces and are working on garden themed charms for a charm bracelet that will be sold in the team shop with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the Sculpture Garden. Below is the charm I made for the bracelet. It is 2 intertwined leaves made from sterling silver. For more info on this project and to donate click here.