Art Jewelry Collaboration

I have been so blessed with great friends in my life. You know, the kind you can call on when all you want to do is whine, the kind you can laugh and play with, the kind who encourage you to take risks and hold your hand and give you kleenex if you fail. Now I'm twice blessed! Since starting my on line store at Etsy, I've met some truly wonderful folks. One of them is Patty Lakinsmith, the lampwork artist from California, that I've featured here before.

Not long ago, Patty asked me to collaborate on a piece or two to submit to the ISGB contest called "convergence". The premise was to combine lampwork beads with another media - and she asked ME! I was thrilled to be asked, and we started trading ideas back and forth via email.

Along the way, we discovered a snippet on Utube from "Little Shop of Horrors", featuring the man eating plant singing "I'm a mean green mother". If you haven't seen it...please do! It's hysterical! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLO7IxKwruc&feature=related)

Anyway, it really got us talking and planning. It was wonderful to find out that we both embraced the idea of really thinking out of the box. We wanted to do something that would grab their attention. We traded pictures back and forth, explored ideas...and finally had a finished piece. When we submitted it to ISGB, I don't think either one of us thought we would be chosen as one of the pieces they would use in their exhibit at the Bead and Button Show. But not long after we submitted our pictures, we got the news: We were chosen!!! They liked it! Happy dancing all around!

Mind you, Patty and I have never met in person. But I feel like we've been BFFs for years.

In July we will meet for the very first time, at the "Gathering" in Miami...and Patty will get to see the finished piece in person, also for the first time. I'm so excited....about the piece and meeting Patty after all this time.

So....here it is. We called it "Mean Green Mother Earth". It's supposed to look menacing and like it would attack it's wearer. If you watch the video, you'll know what I mean.

Take a look at those marvelous beads! Patty is one of the best, if not THE best, lampwork artist I've ever seen. I can't get over all the detail on these "heads". If you haven't already done it, check out more of her fab beads at http://pattylakinsmith.etsy.com you won't be disappointed.

See you in Miami!

Toodles