Snow Day

P020310PS-0033
Originally uploaded by The White House

We've had a record snow in Texas. I'm working on my own snow pictures, but I wanted to share this beautiful photo by White House photographer Pete Souza. Click on the photo to view it on Flickr.


I love this photo, especially the way the flag is framed by the tree limbs and the window with the light showing. The White House is a symbol of our country and government, but all too often I think we forget that it is also a home.

What Inspires You?

My friend Billye and I went to see Avatar recently. Avatar is an extremely visually rich film of breathtaking beauty. The exquisitely detailed beauty of Pandora, to say nothing of the 3D and the cutting edge technology, makes the movie a must see.   

Billye makes jewelry also, and we both paid particular attention to the jewelry this time.  The jewelry appears to utilize natural materials, fibers, leather, and feathers along with beads. The beads look like glass, ceramic, or maybe pearl or gemstone.  There are bone ornaments as well, and lots of feathers in the Na'vi clothing.  The fibers often appear to be woven into macrame.  Sigourney Weaver's character, Grace, wears an interesting assymetrical necklace that appeared to be made of stones and macrame.

I googled Avatar jewelry and found some on Etsy. This terrific necklace by serenasgifts (shown below) is inspired by Mo'at's tree necklace. She kindly allowed me to post this photo. Click HERE to go to the listing. This is my favorite of all the Avatar inspired jewelry I've seen. The purchase benefits Haiti relief.

Some designers made macrame necklaces that were very close to the necklace Neytiri wears in the photo at the top of the post.  Others were inspired by the rich blues and used those colors in their creations.

Of course, there are the inevitable pendants using photos from the movie.  I'm a little bothered by those (and others) because they use copyrighted images for profit. 

I also came across this review of the movie by jeweler James Allen that mentioned an increased interest in natural jewelry.

I don't usually do macrame or seed bead work but I'm really thinking about making something inspired by Avatar. Probably it will be wire jewelry, or clothing. If I can figure out how to put lights in it...I do have an Arduino kit. 

Jewelry designers and artists, what inspires you?