A few months ago I gave a gift of gratitude to my friend for helping me spread the word about Sybarite Studio. Since then, whenever she wears the
Bat Earrings, she receives lovely compliments. One day a friend of hers asked if I did butterflies. My friend informed her that she would pass on the inquires. At the time I was quite involved with Pixzle.me but had not forgotten the request.
It's amazing how the creative process works. While some may think--"Oh, she's forgotten or doesn't care enough to pursue it" --- far from it; the seed was planted. But as it takes time for a seed to germinate so does creativity. When you finally start to see the first signs of a plant growing before long it's a flower blooming...that's how art is made...it takes time for the idea to gestate and evolve in one's head before it starts to take on form. After several rounds, that form starts to take shape and it's like a striking a match, all of the sudden there's the flame, it's there right in front of you, the vision.
Once that vision is in place it's a matter of making it happen, of giving it a physical shape, of defining it through textures and paint, and giving it meaning and love. Without the passion of creating; the dynamics of your work loses all meaning and interest.
I've always loved taking picture of creatures big and small... I started my journey by tracking down my photos of butterflies and turning them into something more. I let these photos be my inspiration for creating my butterfly designs. I used these designs to cut out the shape of my desired butterfly and then hand paint and mounted the jewelry findings to create my prototypes. Experiment after experiment, I slowly worked out the vision.
After several rounds of cutting out and carefully hand painting the butterfly wings it dawned on me to add some sparkle and seal it. I showed these prototypes, but the one that stood out was the one that had the sparkles. My goal was to make them into jewelry: both earrings and pendants. I made a few attempts and kept improving the look and feel until I had the closest desired prototype.
Alas, this version of the earrings was too large and just won't work. Back to the drawing board. So I reworked the design and made this second version.
I shared this on Facebook and it was pleasantly welcomed. Given the responses for my design I went ahead and ordered all the necessary items to make the #Purple #Butterfly #Jewelry #Collection available on Etsy. Sadly, I got sick, but it was okay since I had to wait for my items to be delivered. One night I was so tired of being sick and luckily for me my Kitties in Kittielandia were also up and about then I decided to have some fun with them. What do you think of my models?
Meanwhile, I kept tweaking the design and improving the look and feel. Once I had gotten my parts, I started to make the real items I wanted to put on Etsy. As I made each one, I took photos of them and place the finished item away. Time to edit the abundance of photos I took and narrow it down to the ones I wanted on Etsy.
I'm glad to announce that first of my Sparkling Butterfly Jewelry Collection is now live on Etsy. Feel free to share with loved ones, or if you have a loved ones who enjoys butterflies this might be the special gift you've been looking for.
