Thursday, May 5, 2011

My Forever Print is a finalist in the Miami Herald Business Plan Challenge. Chosen from over 200 entries, we made a video, filmed by the Miami Herald outlining briefly our plan in a 2 minute "elevator speech". People can now vote on the plan that they like the best.

There will be a winner chosen by the judges, and also a winner chosen by the peoples choice. We are the only artist chosen.
Come over and check it out!.......... and possibly cast a  vote for this awesome team mate!.

www.miamiherald.com/businessplanchallenge/vote/

Interview from Etsy.com blog:

My husband's family has a tradition of setting an extra place at the holiday table for any family member who passed away that year. I'm always moved by this way to celebrate loved ones who can't be with us. Jackie Kaufman, Etsy jeweler rockmyworldinc, sent us this note, and I asked her to share her story of how, in her way, she plays a role in thoughtful remembrance. This post goes out to those of you whose holidays are times of reflection.


Have you ever thought you could create an item that could actually help people and change your own life in the process?

I am a jewelry caster, and per a special request from a customer, I created a Heart Fingerprint Necklace, taking two actual fingerprints from the customer and blending them to create a heart necklace. It was a great success, and I decided to put it up on Etsy.

Then the requests started coming in. I was overwhelmed by the stories I was hearing. One woman whose child just passed away wanted one with her and her child's prints together. A caretaker who had an elderly patient who she loved wanted both their prints on a necklace. A child whose parents died within one week of each other wanted her two parents' prints together and enough of the pieces to give to each child in the family. A woman with a heart transplant wanted to give one to her donor family. An army wife whose husband is going overseas in January wants one that he can hang on his dog tag. I could go on and on.
Of course there are many happy occasions as well. But the most emotional ones — the ones that have changed me — are the sad times in peoples lives.

When I make each necklace, I run my fingers over the prints, and I feel like I am able to feel the person, and the life they have or had. It is quite emotional, especially when people let me know the history of the prints. I am so grateful and humble this season that what I do is able to give joy to people going through hard times, and emotional times. It has changed me forever.

2 comments:

  1. wow! how wonderful to have such powerful stories behind your art. gorgeous too. (reading that totally made me tear up...)

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  2. Thank you to everyone on the Fest Team!

    ReplyDelete