Etsy Metal Blog Carnival - June 6

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival... So what is a blog carnival? I hear you ask.

A small group of Etsy Metal members with their own blogs write a short article on a given day subject. We will be doing this the first Friday of each month and our topic this fine June is how did your 'style' or signature style came to it? What inspired you to that signature style? And what inspires you to your favorite kinds of pieces?

I think that many artists and craftspeople don't see or realize they have a distinctive style when many times they do. I believe in order to create our own style we need to be true to ourselves and make what comes naturally to us. Most of the times it is something that lays very deep in our bones and souls. The important thing is to try to really see it and work with it, exploring and exploiting it as much as possible. This is when art happens.

For me, I am a spontaneous and unpredictable kind of person, and although I may admire different kinds of approaches, I would not try to attempt to recreate certain techniques and styles. I would not be true to myself if I did, and it would result in a forced piece were the character and soul would be lost. This is the reason why artists often exchange art between each other. It is not because they cannot duplicate something they've seen and appreciated, but because it would become a shallow, soulless object if it was not born within but just copied.

Fused Plastic Collection

My fused plastic collection was born by a desire to recycle and reuse. I found out about fusing plastic through an Etsy Virtual Lab I attended when I just started in Etsy. I thought it was a good idea to show fellow ecologists in my town (I am a member of a NGO) and perhaps teach the technique at our local schools to do book covers, re-usable grocery bags, and so on. I started experimenting and fusing different shapes, and was surprised by the beautiful results I was accomplishing during several tests. That is when I decided to put them to use in my jewelry designs as well.

Other EtsyMetal artists took part on this blog carnival. To read their entries, click on the following links:

http://andescruz.ganoksin.com/blogs
http://andescruz.wordpress.com
http://daniellemillerjewelry.blogspot.com/
http://sarawestermark.blogspot.com/
http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com
http://etsymetal.blogspot.com/
http://ashleyakers.blogspot.com
http://tangerinetreehouse.blogspot.com
http://ninagibsondesigns.blogspot.com/
http://discomedusa.typepad.com/
http://kerinrose.blogspot.com