It’s time for the July Facet Design Challenge! We invite our readers and makers to create or share a work of jewelry in keeping with our July 2016 theme, SPIRAL.

Spiral: a curve that emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point. Wikipedia goes on to define a spiral in very mathematical terms involving helixes and vortexes, but geometry can only take us so far. You can spiral out of control. You can travel up a spiral staircase to a mysterious destination. You can watch the seed of a maple tree as it spirals gently to the ground. You can gaze into the night sky at a spiral galaxy, like our own Milky Way.

The question is, how will you interpret this word in your jewelry-making during July? We invite all beaders, metalsmiths, clay artists and other makers to interpret this theme in their own way and produce a work as creative as it is beautiful.

Any time between now and July 27, submit a photo of your work and a brief description of how your piece fits the theme. At the conclusion of the contest, the Facet editorial staff will vote, and THREE WINNERS will be awarded.  There will be three categories of winners: Stitching; Metal, Wire, Clays & Resin; and Stringing, Fiber & Cord. The winners will be announced in early August.

We will share photos of the winning pieces on our social media sites and in our newsletter, so be sure to include links to your personal website, Etsy shop, Instagram or anywhere else that our readers can view more of your work. If you’d like to participate in a Five Question Spotlight about your work and your inspiration, we’d love to run it on Facet!

You may submit two images for each monthly contest.

We can’t wait to have you share your work with the Facet community, and gain inspiration from the work of your fellow jewelers. You can view all of the submissions to the Design Challenge by clicking the "View photos" tab.