Collecting Radical Jewelry Makeover Testimonials!

Dear Radical Jewelry Makeover Supporters and Past Participants,

We are inviting you to share what it is that you like about the Radical Jewelry Makeover and if you have donated to the upcoming project in Santa Fe, why you did so. We are posting two heartwarming testimonials below. The first is from a supporter and the second a past participant + supporter and both comments were voluntarily shared with us this week.

Feel free to use the comment section here to add your comments or you can use the Ethical Metalsmiths Facebook page. Looking forward to hearing from you! Plus, Click Here to donate.

From Ava Chan - RJM-NM Donor
Congratulations on this upcoming iteration of RJM. It's so wonderful this project has occurred in several cities and influenced the thinking of potential customers and hundreds of metalsmiths to think about their sources of material. Very cool how you've integrated organizing and art! I look forward to seeing the gallery of items that results from Santa Fe.

From Brittany Hartman - student participant during RJM-II - Lancaster, PA.
Hey Christina, I'm just glad I was able to pull some money together to donate, I wish it could have been more, but I know every little bit counts. I'm doing my best to try and get others to donate because I really want you guys to reach your goal. I would love to see the project continue to grow and for others to be able to enjoy the same experience I had when I participated in RJM at Millersville. It's one thing to see what comes out of the project, but its a completely different thing to actually be a part of it and really become aware of ethical sourcing of materials. And besides that, RJM is an amazingly awesome fun project that I wouldn't want anybody to be denied the chance of experiencing!

Ava and Brittany, thanks so much for your support and kind words!

ONLY 9 Days Left to raise $8,150 more for RJM - NM!!

Meeting the halfway point on a major fundraising effort that has already garnered the support of 85 donors is well worth a celebration. Thank you to everyone of you that have given so far. We really couldn't be doing this important work without your support.

Radical Jewelry Makeover - Santa Fe, NM is going to be a fantastic and eye opening, awareness building event for all of us. The project planning is coming along and once the spring semester is over, we look forward to bringing the entire Radical Jewelry Makeover - Santa Fe, NM team together for a "next steps" conference call.

In the meantime we have $8,150 to raise before midnight on May 1st, just 9 days away!

Click here to access the link to a video about the project and to donate (remember that your donations are tax deductible.

The list of 85 supporters below deserve a special thanks for their financial gifts. We are grateful for YOUR generosity and we're confident that because RJM is a celebrated project and because it already has your vote of confidence we can reach our final goal of $16,500! We promise to spend it wisely so that we can get the biggest, longest term benefit from your investment.

Thank you, and have a wonderful weekend.

THANK YOU TO:
Neal Anderson, Christine Clark, Sonya Clark, G Harker, Nick Tucci, HYART Gallery, Ann Lovell, Sarah Holden, ProVisions Productions, M Missner, Sandra C Close, Sylvia Richardson, Dennis and Naomi Bahcall, Agnes Ganch, Jennifer Bueno, Amy Tavern, Tracy Featherstone, Ardis Bartle, Erika Miller, Lois Boardman, Allison A. Dahle, Gail M Brown, Tom Spleth, Anna Hepler, Sarah Filzen, Amy Bacon, Tim McCreight, Liz Clark, Caitie Sellers, Tom Joyce, Ava Chan, Peggy Jo Donahue, Quirk, Kelly, Santi Matthews, Kathleen W Kennedy, Candace Beardslee, Harry Sellers, Meg, Whitney Couch, Helen Carnac, Patty Nelson, Arthur Hash, Kim Thomson, Susan Iverson, Jason Hackett, Gina Pankowski, Sarah Loertscher, Kristine Krissy Sack, Mary Cox, Carrie Frye, LTP, Aria Remer, Martha D. Kennedy, Julie Sanford, Rob Jackson, Anne C Dahle, Dan Ganch, Namita Wiggers, Stephanie Voegele, Heather Schlupp, Will P., Kiff Slemmons, Soyeon Kim, Sayumi, Erin Williams, Lisa Norton, Jen Townsend, LeBrun Frye, M'lou Brubaker, Mary Beth Owen-Zdanski, Brigid, Gary Schott, Brittany H, zumbrumdm, SP, Tim Bowring, Hoss Haley and seven anonymous donors.

Only 65 Days left to raise a total of $16,500!

Dear Radical Jewelry Makeover followers and fans,

This is the first time in the history of Radical Jewelry Makeover that we are asking everyone that thinks RJM is a good or worthwhile or interesting or curious project to lend some support. The embedded video will give you a good idea of what we will do with your generous gifts. Check it out, share it and if you can spare some change to donate to this project we would be grateful. Any amount is appreciated and "crowd sourcing" relies on many, many donors giving small sums. Six generous people have donated so far and want to see this effort succeed. If we don't reach our goal, everyone gets their money back and the project doesn't get funded. We'd love to raise a one-thousand dollars this weekend. Can you help?
Just in case the video embedding doesn't work, here's the link to the site.



Thank you! Christina and Susie

Radical Jewelry Makeover and You!

Dear Friends, Former RJM Participants, and EM Supporters,

We are pleased to announce that Radical Jewelry Makeover, our international collaborative community jewelry mining and recycling project, has been selected to participate in a new online community of America’s finest artists called USA Projects.

USA Projects showcases many creative projects of active, contemporary artists in one online community. The site is a unique form of social networking encouraging artists from a variety of disciplines to engage each other and the public and it also provides an easy to use fundraising platform for artists to personally share projects they need additional funding to complete.

The invitation from United States Artists has come at a great time for Radical Jewelry Makeover! As many of you already know our next and sixth edition of the project will take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico this October. The hosts, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Institute of American Indian Arts and Santa Fe Community College – School of Art and Design are generously covering our travel expenses and a small stipend, but this isn’t enough to cover the true project expenses.

We are using our first USA Projects fundraising opportunity to raise $16,500 for Radical Jewelry Makeover VI: Santa Fe, NM and we need your help to make it happen! The thing about USA Projects and similar “crowd sourcing” platforms like Kickstarter is that if we don’t reach our goal of $16,500 you get your money back and the project doesn’t get funded! Oh, and ALL donations are tax-deductible.

The best way to learn what we plan to do with your generous support is to watch our four-minute video and read the official project proposal HERE!

We are ready and willing to thank you for your donation with several perks (like fabulous RJM jewelry from past projects), Check it out!

If you read this blog entry and can give, please do so sooner rather than later. We only have 69 days left to raise $16,500 starting TODAY! That's $239.13 per day until this opportunity runs out!

If you can’t support the project financially, please help spread the word and tell your friends about it. You can follow-us on the site, write to us, sign-up to follow our progress and see the work of other talented and dedicated artists.

Thank you for your support and interest,
Susie Ganch and Christina Miller, Directors, Radical Jewelry Makeover

Radical Jewellery Makeover in Melbourne, Australia!

Suse Scholem, Honours student in Jewellery at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia is putting together an independently organized Radial Jewellery Makeover with Ethical Metalsmiths support.

The two-day event (Jan. 29th and 30th) is taking place at the Loophole Community Art Centre in Thornbury and is open to anyone interested in trying their hand at making new jewellery from old while learning about some of the material sourcing issues associated with jewelry. Jewellery donations can be made up until the start of the event. Find out more about the event here!

Suse attended the "Jewellery Practice as a Site for Enquiry" in Melbourne (Aug. 2010) where Radical Jewelry Makeover directors, Susie Ganch and Christina Miller presented about the project and the work of Ethical Metalsmiths. Suse has decided to take on organizing the first of what will be several Melbourne area Makeovers. We are supporting these Mebourne projects because Suse is maintaining the core values of the project and is contributing some great new ideas. We look forward to working with her and together growing the potential of the project to be organized by individuals or groups in other locations. The Melbourne projects will include the sharing of information about metal and gemstone mining as well as jewellery making skills and design strategies for using old jewellery.

Radical Jewelry / Jewellery Makeover is cultivating an international community of jewellers and jewellery supporters willing to look at the dark side of jewellery, challenge it and use it to communicate a new set of values. We hope that everyone wearing RJM jewellery is willing to tell the story of the piece, spreading the ideas and values the work represents.

Along those lines, in a video of appreciation for Ethical Metalsmiths' work, Gabriel Craig highlights what he has done since hearing a lecture by Ethical Metalsmiths co-founders Christina Miller and Susan Kinglsey.


Let us know if you are doing something interesting to grow the global grassroots community of Ethical Metalsmiths'.

Thank you for a great year!

This is a quick entry to say thank you for all of your support this year. We had a very successful Radical Jewelry Makeover in Brisbane, Australia because the project received support from you! Jewelry donors and jewelry makers gifted us their stuff and their skills. There would be no RJM if donors and makers weren't as generous as they are. Thank you for all of your support, determination and creativity! Here are just a few examples of work from the project.

Earrings - Amy Cochrane

Brooch - Sue Preston

Necklace - Shanna Muston

Now, with January first right around the corner, Radical Jewelry Makeover is gearing up for its 2011 event, which will take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Santa Fe Community College and the Institute of American Indian Arts will be hosting the making while the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian will host the exhibition of finished works. If you are a jeweler in the Santa Fe area or if you have old jewelry that you would like to give, please feel free to get in touch by emailing us at rjm@ethicalmetalsmiths.org

For those of you that haven't seen our 12 minute film about Radical Jewelry Makeover, you can check it out here or purchase the DVD for $15.00 through the Ethical Metalsmiths website.

Thanks again for all of your support and consider joining us in Santa Fe, Oct. 2011.

Have a Happy New Year!

Even the koalas were talking about RJM!

Okay, so the koalas weren't discussing Radical Jewellery Makeover - Brisbane, Australia, but many people were.

The impressive attendance at the opening exhibition was a great reward for all of the hard work invested by the jewellers and the organizers of the project. Artisan was full of festive, celebratory energy and the staff at the register managed the flood of sales beautifully. Artisan has estimated that over 550 people saw the exhibition and that 42 Madeover pieces are being worn by individuals today. Artisan’s curator, Kirsten Fitzparick had this to say about Radical Jewellery Makeover, “It was a fantastic project which really engaged the community in a way we had not been able to do before at Artisan, and the outcome was some truly unique work and a very successful exhibition.”

We would like to thank everyone that participated in the the many parts of the project for their commitment to the idea that jewellery can and should be made responsibly. The three primary groups participating in the Makeover had something special to offer. The jewellery donors offered a transparent supply of raw material. The jewelers were challenged to re-consider the ways that they had typically been sourcing their materials, how they design and how to digest a steady flow of information about mining issues while trying to make something someone would want to wear. The jewelers also generously gifted us with their skills and creative vision, they made the jewellery after all. Individuals who purchased Madeover pieces have made a commitment to both wear and share the story behind the piece when given the opportunity. Thank you all for your support of Radical Jewellery Makeover.

Jewellery created during the project will be exhibited online on the NEW Ethical Metalsmiths website. Due for publication soon! Jewellery that was not sold at Artisan is available through the QCA Jewellery and Small Objects program.

RJM-Brisbane, Australia created a new opportunity to address controversial metal and gemstone sourcing issues. Queensland College of Art's Jewellery and Small Objects program is receiving a small, but significant grant for student research to explore responsible jewellery projects. This winter Elizabeth Shaw, Convenor Jewellery and Small Objects at QCA, and Ethical Metalsmiths with determine guidelines for the grant and then begin inviting student proposals. This is the first time that Ethical Metalsmiths is specifically encouraged the host of a Makeover to continue the work after the project ended. We are looking forward to working with Elizabeth and her students in 2011.

We would like to take this opportunity to list the names of all the individuals who gave their skills, creativity and finished jewellery to the project as well as names of a few noteable volunteers.

Makers:

Vashti-Sita Bardsley - QCA student

Ann Chadwick - Jeweller / QCA Technician

Amy Cochrane - QCA student

Dan Cox - Jeweller

Leander D’Ambrosia - QCA student

Renata Fojtikova - QCA student

Kylie Gartside - QCA student

Kathleen Hunt - QCA student

Alicia Lane - QCA student

Catherine Large - Jeweller / QCA Faculty

Bibi Locke - QCA student

Andrew Lowrie - QCA student

Shanna Muston - QCA student

Clare Poppi - QCA student

Sue Preston - QCA student

Elizabeth Shaw - Jeweller / QCA Convenor Jewellery and Small Objects

Karah Sinden - QCA student

Katie Stormoth - QCA student

Joan Teo - Jeweller

Kim Thomson - Jeweller

Louisa Thurecht - QCA student

Susie Woodhouse - Jeweller / Faculty

Alex Forrest - Volunteer discount voucher designer

Jacky Owens - Logistics volunteer

Brett - Photographer (Dear Brett, you helped us document the project and we don’t even know your last name! Please contact us rjm_at_ ethicalmetalsmiths_dot_org )

Thank you all for your hard work and support! Please let us know what you have been working on since Radical Jewellery Makeover blew through QCA.