Trash to Treasure 2013

2013 "Trash to Treasure" Beading Contest Winners!

This was our 4th annual Trash to Treasure beading contest and as always it was great fun watching the entries come in.  We like how this contest encourages so much creativity; after all, you have to be creative to turn trash into a treasure - and make it look good, too!  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.

Comments from the judges:
"I had such a difficult time deciding!  I had at least three different winners in mind for each category."  "How did I choose, you might ask?  Well, I really looked for those who completely repurposed every piece that went into their final work of art.  I love the creativity in repurposing materials to create a piece of jewelry that is 100% original and tasteful!"  "I really enjoyed the vintage artifacts that were mixed in!"

Grand Prize Winner!
Congratulations goes to Emily Grace Goodrich for "Kampala"
"One of my favorite things to do with jewelry is make pieces out of trash that don't look like they're made out of trash.  This beaded statement necklace was a challenge to myself to use material found on the floor in my workspace, things I would ordinarily sweep up and throw away.  I did find some easy ones, like scrap leather and seed beads, but I also found a plastic bottle cap, some drinking straws from juice boxes, a black plastic bag, a plastic ring from a jug of glue, and an old magazine.  The gold "cabochon" in the middle is made from a plastic water bottle cap and a scrap of leather.  The four white cabochons on the outside are cut from a plastic ring off a jug of glue. I cut little rectangle shapes and then sanded the edges to make a more oval shape.  The cone shaped beads are made from the magazine. The black braided cord in the center is a plastic shopping bag.  The square shaped white "sequins" are bits of straw from the juice boxes.  The gold chain was pulled off a broken bit of costume jewelry.  I'm living abroad right now, working with two companies that help women earn fair wages through their work. I've learned so much while living in this new city that challenges my presuppositions about the world, so I thought a necklace that challenges my presuppositions about straws and bottle caps might share the same name, Kampala.  It's also a nod to the women here that taught me how to roll paper beads, a very useful way to get rid of scrap paper, if you ask me.  I think I'll have to be a little more careful when sweeping from now on!" ~ Emily Grace Goodrich

Visit Emily's website at: www.emilygracegoodrich.com

Category: Is That My Old Windshield? (recycled glass)
 Leah Holmes for "Hopeful"
"Bracelet celebrates the shabby elegance of recycled glass: old glass buttons and recycled glass trapezoid beads, vintage chandelier prisms, and several authentic vintage glass-top typewriter keys. Old pearl and glass shoe buttons, together with salvaged tin work shirt buttons, also adorn the bracelet. My own handmade glass button, secured with glass seed beads, provides the bracelet's closure--a modern touch used here literally for "holding onto" to the past." ~ Leah Holmes

Visit Leah's website at: www.leah-holmes.com

Category: No Earlybirds (yard sale/second-hand finds revamped)
Simin Shepherd for "Aged Chains of Memory"
"This necklace is a meld of ideas thoughts as well as materials. I used square cut rose quartz beads that I wrapped in silver wire to make part of the main chain. The pendant the one that looks like a lock was repurposed from a broken old necklace I found while digging through stuff in storage it was in a box of buttons of all things. I suspended chains I cut up from old chains that were broken and added charms to them. I live near Lake Erie some of the shells are from my travels between going the Lake Erie which is near where I live as well as rivers near here. I have bits of this and that in it as well as memories; the keys are from my grandmother. I found them after we lost her and my family and I were cleaning out the house, I don't know what they went to--only that they were hers so now they have a new home. One side of the necklace is made up of vintage buttons taken off of old clothes and some I've picked up here and there at estate sales. The buttons are mainly pewter, bronze, and some silver. Art glass buttons round out the lengths to add detail. The long jagged pieces of shell were from an old pendant that I took apart to add some flair to the necklace. The beauty of this necklace is it can be taken apart to be made lighter or shorter in length. Each length has a catch on it, so if say one day you feel like having something light you can take the button portion off and wear it as a bracelet." ~ Simin Shepherd

Category: Compost Happens! (natural, organic, sustainable)
Karen Anderson for "Tribal Revival"
"I've always had a fondness for the warmth and organic quality of wood beads, especially for wood that has some 'patina' of age. This necklace was made from many types of wood beads, including patikan, robles, ebony, palm, and old coconut palm. Many of these beads came from five different vintage necklaces, all with a tribal character. I added the amber resin beads and horn rondelles for color and contrast. Two of the three resin beads came from a necklace my older brother brought back from Afghanistan in the 1960's. The large brass pendant came from a vintage African necklace that also included some of the wood beads." ~ Karen Anderson

Visit Karen's Etsy shop: Catching Waves

Category: Scrap Metal (metal, old parts, chain)
Cyndia Reddish for "Ghost Town"
"Philipsburg is one of the only living ghost towns left in Montana, an old miners' town bent on mining silver and sapphires in the 1890's. Every piece of scrap metal in this piece was found in the graveled streets and packed earth alleys of our small town of less than 900 people. Old antique cut nails made at the blacksmith's 100 years ago used for building construction, washers used as keepers for securing the wagon wheels to the hub, pebbles of granite and shards of brown glass bottles worn smooth over time and travel, forgotten refuse that found its way from the gutters behind the local dive bar to the little bit of history this totem pendant has come to represent. Strung on recycled sari silk ribbon knotted with leather saddle scraps and recycled linemans' copper wire." ~ Cyndia Reddish

Visit Cyndia's website at: www.blackwatersiren.com

Category: I'm not a dang hippie, I just want to enter this contest! (trashy elegance)
Lianne Glemboski for "I've Got a Handle On It"