Trash to Treasure 2011

2011 "Trash to Treasure" Beading Contest Winners!

It was so exciting for us to hold this contest again. Recycling and thinking 'green' is important to us personally at Happy Mango Beads. From the feedback we receive throughout the year we also realize how important it is to our customers. It's great to be able to help promote eco-friendly awareness through this fun contest. We wish there could be an award for each and every entry; we truly appreciate the time and effort which has gone into producing these works of art. Anyone who can see the beauty in a piece of trash (so to speak) and create wearable art/jewelry is a winner! Please pat yourselves on the back, you're awesome! Thank you to everyone who entered, you made this contest a success! PRIZES: Our overall grand prize winner won a $150 gift certificate to Happy Mango Beads and all 6 category winners each won a $50 gift certificate.

A few comments from the judges:

• "Honestly, I didn't expect to love the jewelry which was created for this contest as much as I did. What artists! You all deserve to win, I hope everyone realizes that!"
• "Such amazing art and fun too! I seriously would like to own (and wear) so many of the entries.  We had a hard time judging this contest, it took several hours and plenty of discussion. Amongst other things we looked for originality, workmanship, and sometimes a deciding factor would be - just how wearable is this piece?"
• "Yes, it was a very hard to judge contest and please realize that nobody really looses, you all did your best and your work is absolutely amazing. If you aren't planning to sell your jewelry, then wear it with great pride and be sure to tell everyone that you made it and it (in some way) is good for our Earth. Thank you for letting me help judge, I am very honored."

Grand Prize Winner!
Congratulations goes to June Wilson-Billing for "Greenpunk"
"The flowers and leaves on my necklace are made from plastic drink bottles, cut and melted in to shape. It's further decorated with parts from a broken necklace that I bought from a thrift store, and pieces from a couple of broken watches...face, cogs, hands etc., hence Greenpunk...a nod to Steampunk, but even Greener." ~ June Wilson-Billing
Visit June's Facebook page, Goddess-Jewels at www.facebook.com/GoddessJewels

Category: Scrap Metal(metal, old parts, chain)
Kathy Stracener for "Pasta Past"
"I found the old pasta cutter at an antique fair, took it apart and used the blades as the centerpiece of the necklace.  I added an old lock, chain, and misc. beads of glass, copper and bone, as well as wire wrap to complete the piece." ~ Kathy Stracener

Category: No Earlybirds (yard sale/second-hand finds revamped)
Meenu Devrani for "Old is Gold"
"This is an old silver anklet that belonged to my mother in law. She is 65 year old and she got it from her in-laws. It is at least 45 to 50 year old piece of jewelry. She told me that she never wore it as she always preferred gold, as most Indians (especially her generation) traditionally do. This is totally handmade. When I asked my mother-in-law if I could have it, she was surprised that I wanted this piece of old silver rather than newer gold and other more expensive stuff she possesses. I always felt that this was too beautiful and big to be worn as an anklet. This has been with me for 4 years now and I could not figure out what kind of beads would go well with it. Two things happened at the same time. This contest came along and I found these beautiful fire agate beads that seemed to be made just to go along with this old silver piece. The patina on the silver kind of takes on the colors of the beads and vice-versa. I used both silver and copper wire to again match the patina on the old silver. I cleaned the anklet (no harsh chemicals) and took out the silver chains (some of them were missing or broken) I then added the beaded charms (37 in all). I wanted the beads to do the justice to the beautiful ornate silver work; each individually hand-wrapped with two Sunstone beads using cooper wire and one Fire Agate bead on silver wire. Needless to say it was tedious but absolutely worth it. I am happy with the result and so will be my mother-in-law when she sees it, even though she would still want me to wear more gold than silver! As for me Old is Gold!" ~ Meenu Devrani
Visit Meenu's website, Vaasvara Designs at: www.vaasvara.com

Category: Compost Happens! (natural, organic, sustainable)
Lin Malley for "Moon- Foot"
"This necklace is made from the "foot" of the moon shell mollusk. It is a fragile horn-like wafer with visible spiraling-out growth rings. I found these washed up on the beach in Lordship, Stratford, CT over the past few years. They are difficult to find in good condition. The wind, sand and water wear them down to an almost transparent appearance. The seagulls eat the meat from the shell and leave the "foot". So, no mollusk was harmed (by me) in the making of this necklace! Included in one photo are examples of the smaller moon shells and where the "foot" is located! I used 2 large resin beads to balance out the shells and then horn, glass and amber chips in the remainder of the necklace. I epoxied seed beads to the backs of the shells to thread the wire through." ~ Lin Malley

Category: Is that my old windshield? (recycled glass)
Robert Pullen for "Blue & White Necklace"
"I handmade the beads in this twenty inch graduated strand using old broken cold cream jars and cobalt glass bottles that I found in a creek that runs through an old garbage dump.  The largest center bead is 13mm in diameter.  The string is waxed nylon and the toggle is found glass." ~ Robert Pullen

Category: I'm not a dang hippie, I just want to enter this contest! (trashy elegance)
Tara Roth for "Patina Paragon"
"I created this necklace as an homage to Lune Design's Roman Glass Necklace, which I love.  I used 3 kinds of HMB recycled glass beads from Indonesia, Bead for Life recycled paper beads, copper "beads" that I hand cut from my old kitchen sink pipes, matching copper sink fittings and hex nuts (with awesome patina!), a Honeywell thermostat cap, small vintage yellow plastic flower, an old green eraser that I hand carved into a flower, an itty bitty lightbulb, a tap (part of a very old tap and die set) that I used as one end of a toggle clasp, a drill motor and a drill sprocket (extracted by me from a non-working corded drill)." ~ Tara Roth
For a very detailed description of how Tara made her necklace visit her blog at: terravidadesigns.blogspot.com.  You can also see her other work on her website, Terra Vida Designs at: www.terravidadesigns.com

Category: Trash to Cash (paper, plastic, bottle caps, etc.)
Candy Tutt for "Polar Shift"
"Blue and White 'plast-cicles' dangle from iridescent white vintage seed bead necklace. Heat-treated recyclable plastic bottles helped shape this 'Trash to Treasure' contribution! In addition to being a fun experiment, this has been an eye-opener in terms of possible sources for material!" ~ Candy Tutt