September Theme Challenge - Tree Inspiration

I’m back again with some of my favourite tree themed creations as inspiration for September’s theme challenge. 

If you missed it, this month we’re running a challenge with everyone invited to join us in creating a piece of jewellery, an object, or whatever you fancy with the theme of trees.

Forest Path

Inspiration has been taken from trees for all kinds of art. One of my favourite periods and a big inspiration in a lot of my work, is the Art nouveau movement. This decorative style celebrates the natural world with an organic style with flowing curves, leaves and trees.

Ernst Wahliss, tree-motif vase, ca. 1911

Art Nouveau style Gingko Leaf Chair by Claude Lalanne

My favourite jewellery designer of this period, and probably of all time, is Rene Lalique. He was a leading figure in the art nouveau movement creating stunning jewellery and glass inspired by the beauty of the natural world. 

An Art Nouveau 'Trees' choker plaque, by René Lalique, circa 1898-99. Gold, enamel, opals and diamonds

Landscape with trees on the bank of a lake

Lalique 1900 Hair-Slide Plaque-de-Cou: carved horn, set w/opals in gold collets in the form of sycamore keys

For some modern inspiration, I love the work of Tereza O…

Tereza O on Fler.cz

And Holly Gage’s work perfectly captures the beauty of tree limbs in silver.

Holly Gage Pendant

This challenge isn’t just about jewellery though. You might choose to create a painting.

http://janschmuckal.com

http://janschmuckal.com

Take a photograph.

Photograph by FizzStudio

Firefly Forest

Paint a pebble

Painted Rocks

Sculpt something in clay.

Ceramic cup by Ah Leon

MyMandarinDucky

Create a paper cut 

WhisperingPaper

Or create something a little bit way out….

Mark Jenkins’ Tape Sculptures

Well… maybe not sellotape carousel horses, but I wanted to get these in here as I think they’re brilliant! I would love to come across these in a forest!

Your inspiration could come from the beautiful colours or texture of bark or lichens. 

  

Tree Rings

Silver Birch Bark

Tree Bark

Lichen

Hollow Tree

Blue Acorns

Or creatures that make their homes in the trees.

Squirrel

Barn Owl

Or you could be inspired by leaves. Whether summer or Autumn, you can’t go wrong with nature’s palette.

Autumn Leaves

Shinichiro

If you’d like to join us for our Tree theme challenge, email me caroline @ blueberribeads . co . uk (remove spaces) or message me on Facebook with your blog address and email. The reveal and blog hop is on the 29th September... Hope to see you there!

Trees - Autumn Themed Challenge and a Giveaway.

Today is the launch of our September Theme challenge. The challenge is to create something using beads, jewellery or make a decorative item inspired by the subject. You could choose felting, polymer clay, ceramics, beads… the media and finished piece is entirely up to you.

Forest trail

With Autumn approaching, I have chosen Trees as the theme for September. From the Tree of life to the Heart trees in the Godswood in Game of Thrones. In fact or fiction, trees have had a special significance for us and have been viewed as sacred since the beginning of time. From religion to art, they have been worshipped, blessed, cursed, painted, sculpted and written about in every country and on every continent.

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” — Albert Einstein

Their branches, trunk and leaves have provided the raw materials for human survival, giving us the air that we breathe, creating energy, textiles and medicine. They filter water, provide shelter and cool cities. They allow us to communicate with written words as books and magazines and they give us a surface to express ourselves through art. And besides all that, they're pretty gorgeous to look at!

Trees - Joyce Kilmer

At the dawn of history, Europe was covered in forest stretching for hundreds of miles. Across the UK, Germany, Italy, Greece, it is recorded that a man could travel for 2 months without reaching the end.

Sacred Space

A study of Teutonic words for 'Temple' showed that the oldest sanctuaries were natural woods.

The Major Oak - Sherwood Forest

Druids worshiped Oak trees and again, their word for sanctuary is the same as the Latin nemus, a grove or woodland glade.

A Scottish Woodland Glade

The Hidatsa Indians of North America believed that the shade of different trees possessed different powers. The cottonwood was believed to have an intelligence and if approached properly would help the men in certain undertakings.

Cottonwood tree

Buddhist monks hold trees in great reverence, Buddha sat beneath a tree as he attained enlightenment. They also believe that souls are everywhere and to destroy anything is to dispossess a soul. Just as they would not break a man’s arm, they would not break a branch from a tree.

Buddha tree

Banyan Tree

There are many beliefs and superstitions relating to trees, and many of them have carried through to our modern day living. The Christmas tree, that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. It was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness. And that the evergreen branches were symbols of life, rebirth, and the stamina needed to endure the winter months.

Christmas Trees

Evergreens

It has been a long held belief that trees connect the underworld with the heavens. The Tree of knowledge connects the two, and the tree of life connects all forms of creation as portrayed in various religions and philosophies.

Ancient tree

But for me, I just love the feeling of being in the forest. Many of our holidays feature a trip to visit a woodland… you can’t beat the restorative feeling of being surrounded by trees. You can step in to a forest and instantly forget the hustle and bustle of the modern world. I like to imagine the things they have seen in their lifetimes, rooted to the spot and standing tall as the years pass by. I wonder if as different cultures believe, their spirits are watching and recording the events of past decades, or as in Game of Thrones, you could tap in to them and travel back in time.

The tree above the cave

Ancient Oak

Lichen

Autumn Leaves

And so we hope you can draw some inspiration from this wonderful environment and join us to create something inspired by our trees. It could be influenced by a tree that’s special to you, it could be leaves, or creatures that live in the trees. We'd love you to join us and take part and here's how...

Theme challenge details

1. Giveaway- This theme challenge DOES include a giveaway! ( This will vary each time.) I will be giving away one of these tree beads to two winners selected randomly from comments on this post. They are made from buff stoneware clay and decorated with underglazes and a china painted tree motif.

• Winners selected Sunday 4th September.

• You must have an active blog.

• Please leave your email and blog address in the comments to enter the giveaway


2. Goal - Have fun! Try something different! Be inspired to make something that fits within this theme. This can be an artist bead, a component, or a finished piece of jewellery, or decorative piece.

You are free to use any artist bead/component in your design, from an AJE team member, of your own creation or from another artisan bead maker...


3. Share/Reveal - The reveal will take place on Thursday 29th September
If you would like to be included in the blog reveal on the 29th, please email me caroline @ blueberribeads . co . uk (remove spaces) or send me a Facebook message. Messages need to be received by September 26th to be included.

if you're are looking for components to inspire your designs here are some from the AJE team…

These gorgeous Mythical ceramics are by Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jenny Davies-Reazor on Etsy

New member Claire made these stunning polymer components.

Claire Fabian on Etsy

Beautiful Lampwork by one of our newest members Laney Mead

Laney Mead on Etsy

And some of my own beads...

blueberribeads.co.uk

I hope I've inspired you to join us.... See you again soon with some more inspiration!

Fireflies in Mythology: The June Theme Challenge

From Wikimedia Commons: Artist: Shiokawa Bunrin Title: River Landscape with Fireflies 

Have you been working on your bead and/or jewelry designs for this month's theme challenge of fireflies/lightning bugs? The reveal is happening June 30th! If you want to participate and be added to the link list, you must email me at jennifer.glassaddictions (at) gmail.com by June 27th. Further details about the challenge can be found at this link to the original post.

Firefly/Lightning Bug image found here: http://managementscience.biz/lightning-bugs/

While Jenny Davies-Reazor is our resident mythology expert, I did some light internet research and found a few myths and legends about fireflies that span the globe.

Some of the examples of myths are from a page on About.com:

In China, it was believed fireflies were the result of burning grasses.

In Japan, there is a legend that fireflies are the souls of the dead. Variations of the legend state they are the spirits of warriors who fell in battle.

"There’s a Apache legend in which the trickster Fox tries to steal fire from the firefly village. To accomplish this, he fools them and manages to set his own tail on fire with a piece of burning bark. As he escapes the firefly village, he gives the bark to Hawk, who flies off, scattering embers around the world, which is how fire came to the Apache people. As punishment for his deception, the fireflies told Fox that he would never be able to use fire himself."

Victorians had a superstition that finding a firefly in your home meant someone was going to die.

Kerr Number:  K8007

Comments:  These insects have been classified as fireflys. This vase was not excavated at Tikal. It was confiscated from a looter. EG = Xultun, Chan Weel K'inich

Kerr Number:  K8007

Comments:  These insects have been classified as fireflys. This vase was not excavated at Tikal. It was confiscated from a looter. EG = Xultun, Chan Weel K'inich

Another website, Mythinglinks, has an abundance of writings, both fiction and nonfiction, about fireflies. You could probably spend several days reading the rich source of material. One example is a  a summary of Luis Lopes's work "Some Notes on Fireflies." (this is a link to a PDF and includes images of fireflies in art):

"The firefly is associated with cigars in Meso-American sacred scenes. The author points out that seeing a lit cigar on a dark night does indeed resemble a firefly's light -- and in ancient art, especially ceremics, the firefly often holds a cigar either in its mouth or hands. (Lest that image suggest a Groucho Marx comedy routine, it should be remembered that tobacco is considered highly sacred by many indigenous peoples and is used as an offering to the gods.) In the Popol Vuh, the hero twins trapped in the Dark House of the Underworld are each given a cigar and ordered to keep it lit and yet intact all night. The twins succeed by attaching fireflies to the ends of each cigar, which keeps them lit and yet still intact at dawn.

In the Maya period, the firefly was a "common metaphor for stars and cigar smoking." The "queen of the stars" is a firefly; other fireflies carry "lights from the stars." Elsewhere, "firefly" is the ritual term used for a cigar or smoking tube. Comets and meteors, called "smoke stars" in several Mayan languages, are also compared with cigars, which is to say, with the firefly. In a darker vein, several vases show fireflies witnessing and probably providing light for "grim nocturnal scenes" such as the "sacrifice of the Baby Jaguar."

From Digital Photo Blog, a photograph of fireflies using a long exposure

We hope you'll join us in this challenge! It's super easy to participate. 

1. Goal - Have fun! Try something different! Be inspired by the magic of fireflies! Make something that fits within this theme. This can be an artist bead, a component, or a finished piece of jewelry.    

       *You are free to use any artist bead/component in your design -

• from an AJE team member 
• of your own creation
• from another artisan bead maker... 

2. Share/Reveal - Reveal date June 30th

If you would like to be included in the blog reveal at month's end, please email Jen at jennifer.glassaddictions (at) gmail.com. Since this is open to all, this is the most efficient way to be included. Emails need to be received by June 27th  to be included.