June Challenge: Designing with Pearls

The Starving Jewelry Artists Monthly Team Challenge is a way of encouraging one another to grow as artists by stimulating our minds and our creativity to move in a new direction.

There is no voting.

There are no prizes.

There is fun, the joy of creating, and the pleasure of seeing how other jewelry artists interpret the theme.

June's traditional birthstone is the pearl. Pearls don't just come in ladylike strands anymore. They are sold in countless shapes and in every color of the rainbow. Is your style demure and understated or wild and bold? June's challenge was to show us what you can do with the gift of the oyster and mussel.

Pearls in a multi-strand bracelet by Galadryl.

Sylvia finished first with a beautiful multi-strand bracelet that combined soft gleaming pearls and sterling silver. There are some crystals in there for the perfect dose of bling.

Cat's use of texture makes this a stunning piece.

Cat gave us a feast for the eyes with a seven strand fine silver wire crochet (chain stitch) necklace with dark beads, lava stone in two shapes, peacock freshwater pearls, and hematite in different sizes and shapes. 

Pearls are a perfect wedding adornment in these earrings by Beadsire.

Caron provided us a glimpse of these elegant pearl earrings made for a wedding party in England. Don't they make you wish you could see the pictures of the ceremony?

Bonnie added pearls to a vintage rhinestone shoe clip for this bracelet.

My contribution from The FamiLee Jewels mixed vintage rhinestone jewelry with the softness of freshwater pearls in a seamless combination of old and new.

Beaded bead earrings by Island Girl

Lynne made beaded beads using pearls. She suspended them from delicate ear wires with fine silver chain for a feminine fashion statement.

As you can see from our accomplishments artists love a challenge. Won't you consider joining us in July's Fly me to the Moon Challenge?

December Challenge 2010

Written by Bonnie from The FamiLee Jewels

December’s Challenge was an easy one, and one that we were each doing anyway, making Holiday jewelry for ourselves to wear. It was time to celebrate and the SATeam sparkled with the best of them.


Camilla made a fabulous wire heart in her trademark style and hung it on a braided cord.

I am sure that she looked fantastic wearing it at her Christmas Eve celebration.

Bonnie’s party jewelry was made from chandelier crystals and broken rhinestone jewelry. She sparkled but her husband Fred’s Tasmanian devil tie was the hit of the party.

Cat made a fantastic pendant out of black tourmaline and multicolored tourmaline.  Her feet hurt too much to wear it to have a picture taken, but I bet it looks fantastic on.

Andrea made earrings out of sparkly pink dice. Won’t they be perfect for game night, or maybe a trip to Atlantic City?

Lynne showed us a beautiful cluster necklace that she made. She couldn’t get the cat to model it so is showing it to us on her mannequin.

Caron made a beautiful vintage looking necklace of ribbon and stones and plans to wear it to a night at the movies.

Jeanne beaded tassel balls for a necklace and earring set in beautiful red and green. Christmas yes but wouldn’t those earrings look great with a summery sundress too?

The SATeam has decorated the Holidays and themselves fabulously. Don’t you agree?

The SATeam monthly challenge is not a competition but a means of stimulating our creativity and channeling our thoughts in different direction. Please consider joining us in January. When we explore techniques that we haven’t tried before and use some of our cool Christmas tools.


The SATeam blog features artisan handmade creations by the Etsy Starving Jewelry Artists team. SATeam members create handcrafted jewelry and beads. More information about our team and its current Etsy shop members can be found at SATEAM.etsy.com.