Jewelry Making

Here’s yet another jewelry competition we’ve found. But this one is being held by a company that everyone should know, unless you’ve been beading inside a cave. Cut crystal maker Swarovski is holding their “Create Your Style” Contest and entries will be accepted until May 16, 2008.

You can enter in 3 different categories: Professional, Amateur and Student. But what’s cool is that the finalist prizes are quite significant and are the SAME for the first two categories (1st:Trip to Austria, 2nd: $3500 gift cert, 3rd: $2000 gift cert) - the student category prizes are a little less but still significant and are put toward tuition. Semi-finalists get $50 gift certs.

All of the designs have to be made of at least 80% Swarovski crystals. One note - if you win I think they keep your design in order to photograph it for various books. I’m also not sure if there is an entry fee, but I don’t think so. They’ll announce the winners on October 15th, 2008 in New York. Good luck if you decide to enter!

Visit: Swarovski: Create Your Style

I hesitated about a microsecond before posting this unusual jewelry making competition. There is a contest held by Land of Odds (and sponsored by a few other companies) to design the ugliest necklace possible. There’s a reason I didn’t picture any of the previous winning entries here. =) Have a look for yourself. The contest is currently open and they will stop accepting ugly necklace entries on March 15. Oh, the humanity!

Visit: Ugly Necklace Contest

Another upcoming competition for you jewelry makers: don’t forget about the Rings & Things 2008 “Your Designs Rock!” Competition. The focus here is on designs that you make that use Rings & Things products. The entries are being accepted until the end of this month February 29. There are several categories including Glass, Gemstones, Polymer Clay, Metal Clay, Mostly Metal and Alternative Materials.

Although the prizes are Rings & Things credit ($750 Grand Prize, six category $250 First Prizes and $75 Honorable Mentions), you also get a chance to have your design featured in their catalog and other promotions which could be a good chance to get worldwide exposure for your designs.

Just a quick note that it’s time to think about the Bead & Button show again. Sure it seems like it’s 6 months away - it’s being held June 1-8, 2008 in Milwaukee. But registration opened yesterday, and the Bead Dreams Competition and Exhibit is now taking submissions from now until April 4. Never to early to get a head start in the new year on planning out jewelry pieces to submit and figuring out what bead supplies you need to pick up at the largest consumer bead show in the world. They also have a ton of different beading classes and workshops worth looking into.

I can’t remember if I’ve already posted about the 2007 Bead Arts Award which is sponsored by Lapidary Journal. In any case, their deadline is coming up on April 1 of this year. The basic entry fee for this one is $25 and it’s open to anyone who makes beaded jewelry or art.

There are 3 divisions with a first and second place winner in each: the first is the general bead category, with subdivision for clay, glass and other mixed media beads. The second is bead jewelry with subcategories of bracelets, earrings, necklaces and “other”. The third is a “beaded object” category which can be either a functional or non-functional item (but it just can’t be jewelry). You actually enter by sending in photos of the item instead of the actual beaded piece which is sort of nice because I wouldn’t want to trust sending it to them by mail.

So if you’re looking to enter a bead contest, get started by visiting the Bead Arts Award Contest for more information.

Just a quick note that Master Wire Sculptor, Inc. (Preston Reuther’s famous rags-to-riches wire sculpting company) is holding a Bead and Wire Bracelet Contest. The entry deadline is the end of the year, which is coming up rather quickly. They also are going to announce the winners on January 14, 2007 which is rather quick too!

They’ve been holding various contests like these since about 2000. Up for grabs for this one is over $1000 in wire jewelry supplies along with various certificates and awards. The best thing about it, in my opinion, is that there is no fee to enter. That’s right, it’s free - something you can’t say about a lot of the jewelry making competitions.

More info can be found on their contest page at:

wire-sculpture.com/braceletcontest06/

Here’s another jewelry making competition that I had forgotten to post about this past spring. But I guess that means that now you have a good amount of time to prepare for entering next year’s event, which is due April 1, 2007. Time to get crackin’!

Actually, this contest is called the Jewelry Arts Awards and is presented by the Lapidary Journal. Although it’s open to any jewelry designers, to me it seems like the majority of the featured winners are pretty serious about the craft. I dunno if you’d be interested in this if you’re just beading at home!

Regardless, the winners were pretty amazing. There are 6 different categories you can enter under: Bracelets, Earrings, Pendants/Necklaces, Pins/Brooches, Rings and Miscellaneous Jewelry. The entry fee is $25 and you need to submit a slide or photographic image of your piece of jewelry. They judge it based on overall design, visual appeal, originality and execution.

There are some really beautiful and amazing pieces that have been featured as winners in past contests, so even if you don’t enter it’s cool to see what the pros are submitting.

Visit this page of the Lapidary Journal site for more info.

Ok, I have to admit that I was a little slow posting about this contest. It was on my calendar but I forgot to write about it until today, which is only a few days before the deadline. Well, consider it a heads up for next year’s competition.

This is the annual Saul Bell Design Award design contest which was created in honor of the Rio Grande founder in 2000. From the website:

This competition honors the spirit of Saul Bell and his life’s work. It is our hope that his influence will continue to inspire and enlighten jewelers everywhere… Designers are encouraged to unleash their imagination within any of several categories and push the boundaries of jewelry design.

I have to warn you that the jewelry designs that are entered in this competition tend to be rather elaborate; I have a feeling it’s geared more toward the seasoned designer rather than most of us who are either just starting out or making jewelry for fun.

However, that’s not to say that you can’t win with simpler strung necklaces. The necklace shown at right by Mary Smith of Beaded Jewelry by Design is called “Fall Leaf Necklace” and won First Place for the Beads category in 2006.

In addition, the $45 entry fee per item isn’t that prohibitive. But like I said, you’ve only got a few days left to enter. The entry form is due September 22. But maybe you can start on a masterpiece now to enter next year…

Also, the prizes are certainly nothing to sneeze about. The overall Grand prize nets a $10,000 gift cert at Rio Grande. There are four first places for each of the 4 other categories where you can win $2500, and five 2nd places that are worth $1000. All of the winners get their designs featured in Rio Grande’s publicity campaigns.

Visit the website for the Saul Bell Award Competition for more info.