Cross Pollination: Jewelry from Poetry

This is a picture of a bead. Isn't it spectacular? It was made by jeweler Pam Brisse, who is often inspired by words. Here's what she says:

"Inspiration is the easy part, it’s everywhere! I find it in the obvious places, of course, like nature and other art works, but I also find a lot of inspiration in words and books. Children’s books speak to me the most - my son and I read a lot and there is always a story or illustration that says “make me into a bead!” For example, Dav Pilkey’s Dragon’s Halloween inspired my Spooky Halloween Tree beads last year. Charms for Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons inspired a line of bead charms a few years ago that were very popular – I thought, `wouldn’t it be great to have a charm for an easy life; everyone should have one' – and so that was that. And then there is the name of my business which was inspired by a poem of the same name by Kristine George – The Blue Between. I’d been searching for the perfect name for awhile. I wanted something not-too-specific, because I like to change directions every once in awhile, and I wanted something that spoke to living artistically. Kristine’s poem was exactly it, and it serves as a reminder of how I want to live my life as well. Movies too, have power to inspire my art. A couple of weeks ago I saw the Imax movie Mysteries of the Nile and the next day a whole batch of tribal/African beads were created. Currently, I’m back to one of my main themes, which is the ocean – starfish, octopus, sea urchins, sand and sea -- but it could change any time, because as I said, inspiration is the easy part; it’s the staying focused long enough to create something from it that takes work!"

Go visit Pam's site. She makes amazing stuff!