The last few months have found me floundering a bit creatively.  Feeling a bit stuck and uninspired, in an effort to jump-start my creative flow I joined the Thing a Week Jewelry Design Challenge 2011 Flickr group.  Each week we design and create a piece of jewellery, and upload a photo of it to the group pool.  So, at the end of the year, we should each have created 52 new designs.  I thought that participating in the challenge, with the accountability factor of posting something each week, would be just what I needed to climb out of the rut I was in.

I added a proviso to my challenge to help me with my goal of focusing on creating more environmentally-friendly jewellery designs.  The pieces I create must be made from recycled, salvaged, or eco-friendly materials.  Ideally all 52 of the pieces will be made entirely this way.  We shall see how this unfolds as the weeks progress.  (I already had a lapse in week 3, but I am embracing it as part of the creative process. It was a very difficult week in so many ways, and it was either don't make anything at all, or allow myself to express what was going on in whatever way it wanted to be expressed.)

Week 1 was about easing back into the studio with an easy project, and exploring a new product idea:
 
 
A custom dog tag for my daughter's new dog.  Made from copper and sterling silver recycled from my scrap box.  I'm thinking of starting a line of custom one-of-a-kind eco-friendly pet tags made from recycled materials. 

Here is Lexi modelling her new tag:



Lexi (formerly known as Twister) was rescued from All Heart Pet Rescue.  Before arriving at this wonderful facility, she was destined to be euthanized.

I will post more of my THAW jewellery pieces next week.  So far I have no Thing a Week art projects to post.  I have not followed through with that goal at all, probably because I didn't join a group, and have only myself to whom to be accountable.  That is something I'm not always good at.  Anyone know of a THAW group for art?