Bead Arts Awards 2009

I have been sitting impatiently on this news for a while, but I can finally now formally announce that my piece, "Natural Selection", won Second Place in the Necklace category of the Bead Arts Awards 2009. The piece is part of the evolution of my "Cabinets of Curiosity" concept and is made from metal clay, and mammoth bone beads (remember those?) with specimens such as a fossilized walrus tooth and a shark tooth, a gorgeous fossilized sand dollar and various urchins, ammonites, trilobites and geodes.

I distinctly remember reading about the winners of the 2008 award (you can download photos of last year's winners by going here - I'm completely in love with Michelle Prosek's "Koi" which took First in the Beaded Object category) and thinking how nice it would be to earn a place among them. I just received my advance copies of the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Step by Step Beads, which publishes the winners of the Bead Arts Awards, and it's hard to express just how happy I am, seeing my piece in the showcase.

I had a lot of scheduling issues this year, and I haven't been able to spend as much time beading as I would like. This spring, I made a decision to forego (most) magazine submissions, cut back on blogging and anything else bead-related, in favor of working on two big pieces, namely "Natural History" and "Natural Selection", above. While there are things I would do differently in retrospect (and will do differently next year), making these pieces and entering the contests was a big learning experience for me - a good one.

I think I'm making progress, and I can't ask for more than that! Thanks so much to the folks at Step by Step Beads and the judges of this year's contest. You've really helped make this year a good one for me.

(Oh, and if you're wondering - we refer to "Natural Selection" as "The Breastplate" at home - it's huge. I designed it to be worn by someone with a longer neck than me - who would actually look good wearing a strapless black dress. Sigh.)