The Intergalactic Pug Traveler edition of the Inspiration Box, also known as Volume 21, Winter 2021. Also, pictures from the Fall Box challenge
Welcome to the 6th year of the Inspiration Box phenomenon! This one came up all too fast. Turns out I spread them out a bit uneven this year and winter followed on the heels of fall a little faster than usual. Well, might as well embrace the crazy the world was this year, right? Starting next year, things will be more evenly spaced, Spring coming out on March 1st, Summer on June 1st, Fall on October 1st and Winter on December 1st.
If all goes well, your mailbox will be lit up by the pretty shiny green envelope you will get your box in. Unless you get it in a matte metallic blue. ( Ran out of green almost at the end of packing them up.)
When you open your box, you will be greeted with a pretty swirly, malachite like pattern on the cover, hinting at the colors we will be playing with this winter.
Let's open this rascal....
The Intergalactic traveler Herself is now revealed, on the card that comes with the box. The inside picture is of a beautiful green-blue galaxy.
Oh, the goodies within! Opulent greens with malachite cabs and deep, dark, wonderful midnight blues.
Your delightful box contains the following items:
-A gorgeous malachite cab. You may be getting one, two or three cabs. One if it's a large one, two or three if they are smaller. They are randomly assigned.
-1 small cushion cut crystal in a setting
-midnight blue Czech glass cabochons galore! 4 different sizes 2-5 of each. Everyone gets the same amount.2 pieces of the 14mm, 5 pieces of 12mm, 5 of 10mm and 5 of 8mm.
-1 large Anna Bronze component in either silver, brass or bronze, randomly assigned
-1 vintage Japanese glass cabochon that looks like a jade gum drop. This item is at least 60 years old.
-2 whale charms OR 2 heart shaped sterling silver enameled charms that have enameled roses . This is not pictured, and only about 25% of the boxes has this instead of the whale. These are randomly assigned.
- 1 strand of small glass pearls in kale color
-1 strand of 3mm English cut cobalt blue beads
-1 small tube of 2mm Chinese bicones with Czech finish ( golden rainbow on crystal)
-2 tubes of size 15s
-2tubes of size 11 beads
-1 tube of small drops
-color changing fabric, at least enough to cover one bracelet ( green -red velvet)
-tie dye stretch velvet, at least enough for one bracelet
-distressed brown- teal metallic lambskin. This is a little bit thicker than my usual leather, you might need to use a glover's needle on it.
If something is randomly assigned, it means that I will not be able oblige any request for selections. Please only buy the box if you are ok this. When I am ready to ship them, these are already packaged in a box, wrapped in tissue paper and sealed in an envelope. All 100-200 depending how many I am making. So requests for customization are not going to be honored at this time.
I have one inspiration piece to get your creative juices flowing. Just to see these colors and shapes together.This bracelet was a little more time consuming than I planned, so instead of the usual handful of inspiration pieces, there is only going to be the one and only, pug eye inspired bracelet.
For the Intergalactic Pug Eye bracelet I have used all the midnight blue Czech glass pearl cabs from the box with a selection of two seed beads, the drops and the two hole cabs that are all from the box. I used my own foundation and button, not from the box. The soft, plush velvet on the back is in the box too. It's a stretchy, midnight blue tie-dye fabric that does not fray, which is a useful quality when one decides to use it for backing a project. The loop for the button is also constructed from the same fabric.
Dearest Nancy helped with the entire process: from box assembly to hair placement on the inspiration piece, her helping tender touch made a huge difference all the way throughout.
If you decide to make something similar to this with your box, my tips are the following:
Keep it free form. I glued the cabs down with E6000 randomly. Bezeled them, then figured out the outline for the bracelet.
I cut it out, filled the remaining space with two-hole cabs and drops. Made a velvet extension stuffed with foundation for the button, made a buttonhole loop, also stuffed that with foundation, so it's not just the velvet. Then, I attached both the loop and the extension to the ends of the unfinished bracelet. I glued and stitched them on, and only after this did I trace the whole thing onto the back of the velvet. I cut out the velvet, glued it onto the back of the bracelet and edged it with a brick stitch edge and voila, the hills have eyes. I mean the galaxy does. Pug eyes.
If you feel like participating in the challenge that goes with the box, that is done through the Facebook group dedicated to this effort.
It's a creative challenge, not a battle or a competition. There are prizes, because prizes are good,but since the prizes come from my own stash and every season they amount to a very serious chunk, they change and are usually announced around the time the entries come in. This time around, the challenge deadline is February 21st of 2022. ( Followed by the release of the Spring Box on March 1st.)
The point is really not the prizes or the voting who gets the prizes, but to think outside your own box. Not even inside mine, that much. It's not like you have to use all the goodies, usually it's just one or two items. In the case of this particular challenge, you have to use the vintage Japanese cab.
I had those in my stash for years, from a jewelry warehouse visit to NYC. I have always thought they were the coolest, and never got around to using them in a project. It would be delightful to see what all my lovely friends come up with, using that one component of the box. You may add anything from the box, your stash, as long as you use that gum drop like cabochon. Your deadline is February 21st, and you will have to upload 1-3 images to the album dedicated to this in the Facebook group. Then, we will vote.
A note on voting: The last challenge's participants had to use the small, enameled crab brooch from the Fall box. The results were so unique, creative and wonderful that I decided to send everyone prizes. This is usually not the case, as in -I wish I could wing this every time, but the prizes and the shipping are REALLY expensive, so there is a voting among the group for favorites.
Any voting is unfair by its very nature. How well the dear judge's bowels are working that morning may have more of a deciding factor than any objective worth of any piece of art. Art is personal, subjective. To reduce it to judging, one has to admit that any outcome is non objective.
A voting by judges is the silliest, because all is in the hand of one, or a few people who's tastes are as questionable as anyone else's who is not judging, yet elevated above all.
A popular vote is the most asinine. I have seen various groups tear themselves apart when someone's computer savvy nephew rigged the poll, or when the participants endlessly tortured everyone and their grandma to vote for them.One person can ruin the whole event for everyone this way.
So, my solution is that everyone in the group can vote. We like to see who you like best. And you get three votes to spread the joy. The votes that get counted though, the votes that determine who gets prizes are only the participants themselves. They have spent dozens of hours working on their piece, I trust their input most. Furthermore, they do not get to vote for themselves. All three of their votes get cast for their peers. I think that's the fairest solution to this voting. And it's the most in line with the intention of the whole challenge: spread some joy. Say something nice to someone about the things they decided to share with you. Lift someone up today, unselfishly, make their day just for the fun of it.
Keep in mind that if and when I have the resources to send expensive prizes all over the globe- because we are a very international group- I will. That however is usually not the case.
As to how the voting is conducted, I am not accepting any suggestions, criticism or any such. Perhaps the next person who would like to donate a couple thousand bucks towards the future prizes can have an input on how I run this part of the business, after their donation is made and after their careful consideration why and how the challenge is handled the way it is. Not till then.
But this time, at the end of the Fall Box challenge, I would like to share with you all the entries because they are all indeed very worthy of being celebrated and admired.
If you look carefully at these pieces, you can see that little crab popping up in the most unexpected, most creative ways. I just really, really enjoyed all these to much! I think all these artists need to be celebrated for their beautiful work.
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