Hi, everyone! Michelle has OK’ed the guidelines below, so here they are:
You are hereby challenged to create something out of beads or create beads themselves that are inspired by flowers. Some participants plan to actually create a flower out of seed beads, but the intent isn’t to limit you to any particular medium or technique. Guidelines for this challenge:
(1) Your creation must include beads.
(2) Your creation must be in some way inspired by flowers.
(3) You may enter up to three (3) pieces.
(4) You are not limited to creating jewelry; feel free to let nature’s beautiful blooms inspire you to create anything you wish.
(5) Entries must have been created between April 26 and July 18, 2009.
(6) By midnight on July 18, e-mail a maximum of two (2) photos per entry to bdsubmissions@interweave.com with “Flower Challenge” in the subject line. Include your name, title of your work(s), category entered, and e-mail address. It has been suggested that your two photos include one of the entire piece and one a close-up of an interesting detail. You may submit your entry any time between now and July 18th.
(7) There are two categories: Beginning Bead Artist and Experienced Bead Artist. Use your own judgment in selecting the category in which you should enter; however, as a very rough guideline, those who have been beading for less than a year should enter the Beginning category and those who have been beading longer than a year should enter the Experienced category. With that said, a bead artist who has been immersed in beads every day for six months and has polished their skills in multiple techniques should enter the Experienced category, whereas an artist who has only occasionally worked with beads for two years would probably choose the Beginning category. The intent is that a relative beginner would enter the Beginning category, while everyone else would enter the Experienced category.
(8) On August 1 the entry photos will be available online without any indication of the name of the artist. Anyone who is interested may anonymously vote for their favorite in each of the two categories, as well as providing constructive feedback on any of the designs. In the spirit of fairness, we ask that each person vote only once for each category.
(9) On August 8 the votes will be tallied and the winner in each category announced. The winner in the Beginning Bead Artist category will receive a packet of coordinating Swarovski crystal and handmade lampwork beads. The winner in the Experienced Bead Artist category will receive a copy of Diane Fitzgerald’s beautiful book, The Beaded Garden. The two category winners will also receive the privilege of proposing two (2) challenge topics each; the participants in the flower-inspired challenge will vote for their favorite, which will become the topic for the next challenge.
So that’s it, please let me know if you have any questions. And happy beading!