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Wire Jewelry Contest Winner Determined!

By on September 15, 2009
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September 15, 2009—Salt Lake City, UT.  Wire-Sculpture.com has announced the winner of their 2009 “Inspired Druzy” Jewelry Contest by naming Ms. Rhonda Chase, with her piece entitled “Crystal Cave,” the Grand Prize Winner.   As the Grand Prize winner Ms. Chase will receive a “Wired Retreat,” a convention held in Buffalo, NY, in October.

The value of this prize is $1797  and will feature instructor Dale “Cougar” Armstrong, an expert in the art of wire jewelry making.  She has several projects planned as well as some fun surprises for all participants!

Ms. Chase also receives free accommodation at the retreat, being hosted at the Buffalo Hilton Garden Inn, as well as meals.  The Grand Prize did not include transportation to and from Buffalo.

The essay submitted by Ms. Chase is poetic and is included herein along with a photograph to demonstrate what it takes to create a winning masterpiece when making wire jewelry.

Grand Prize Winner Entry - Crystal Cave“Plink. Plink. Plink.
A drip.
A faint glimmer.

The moonlike gleam of a stray ray of sunlight. Walk into the dark. Quiet. The world is gone. A new world awaits.

Turn on a light. And see. Like you’ve never seen before.

Enter the cave. Resplendent walls of crystal with fabulous spires and drops. A spectacular shining cavern and a silent secret river sliding past the stone. At the center of it all, a magnificent still pool, saying nothing, but drawing great attention by its beauty. Crystal formations lie just beneath the waters’ surface, shimmering with uncanny light in this dim world. On the banks of the pool, banded layers of gemstone laid down over eons. “

A crystal cave was the inspiration for my Druzy artwork. These fabulous caverns present a world within our own, mystical in appearance, but completely earthbound. The very core of the earth itself–rock. My beautiful Druzy looks like a still blue pool at the base of the cave. Look into the pool, and see the sparkle of crystals beneath the water, the reflection of gems above. Look around the pool and see a liquid silver river winding slowly past it and through the cavern. The Druzy appears to float in its setting so that it is not obscured from light or view.  I have enhanced my crystal cave with Botswana agate and Swarovski crystals carefully chosen to match and accentuate the Druzy. You can see the river break into swirls and eddies as it splashes into these formations. And as the water comes around the far side of the crystal pool, five free-hanging rivulets of fine sterling chain and hand-wrapped links create small, gentle streams. After this, the river will continue on, the cave will continue on, but we can see no further.”

Beyond the Grand Prize, a Public voting and the favorite pick by Wire-Sculpture.com staff prizes went to Stephanie Eddy for her “one Man’s Pond Scum” pendant and Marie Parker for her “Life’s Hope” piece, respectively.   Ms. Eddy won a $100 Gift Certificate from Wire-Sculpture and an autographed copy of Dale Armstrong’s new “Wire Working” book with personalized comments about her entry.  Ms. Parker also received the same for her wire jewelry entry.

The contest required that each contestant create an original piece of wire jewelry using at least one Druzy Gemstone  Cabochon, submit a photo and write an essay about the piece describing where the inspiration came from to create it.  Each entry was judged for its originality (30 points), for its creativity (30 points), and for the artist’s ability to tie in their inspiration for naming the piece and their essay with the created wire jewelry piece (40 points).  There were over 50 entries in the contest.

The term “Druzy” (also spelled as Drusy or Druse) refers to the tiny crystal which is formed within or on another stone in a large number. When the ground water that carries dissolved, silica is through force pushed into the porous area of rock, rapid cooling occurs and it causes the formation of minute crystals.

Wire-Sculpture.com offers wire jewelry making supplies, ideas, and education to hobbyists and professional jewelry-makers and as a result provide the jewelry-making community with a platform to run competitions.  These contests are not only fun but help jewelry makers find inspiration, learn new techniques, and build a community of artists that love to create jewelry pieces.

One Comment

  1. avatar

    Jewelry Making Supplies

    May 6, 2010 at 7:09 pm

    I loved the article! These types of resources are extremely valuable to anyone interested in making jewelry. I can’t wait to read some more of your articles!