217 – Sketching some ideas for novelty necklaces. (Taken with Instagram)
necklace
Day 209 – When camping, one must make lanyards. One for each daughter. (Taken with Instagram)
Day 2 – Melted crayons into hearts and created a necklace.
A few years ago, my daughter and I sorted through all of her crayons and put aside all of the broken ones to remelt into new blended crayons. This is an easy and fun craft to do with young kids. The crayons melt in a few minutes in a 250 degree oven. This time around, I sorted the crayons by color instead of mixing them into blends. I had the idea of making them all into necklaces, so I placed a cut straw into the still moist wax after taking it out of the oven. Once the wax was completely set, the hole was easy to pop out. A braided cord finished the necklace. I’m partial to the black crayon because it is minimal and less obviously a crayon.
For Valentine’s Day, my 6 yr old daughter presented me with a silver wire sculpture that surrounds a red paper heart. "Mommy, you are the atmosphere that surrounds my heart.“ I melted. I loved the idea, the execution, the meaning – the whole thing. Then I became inspired to make a necklace based upon her design. I found all I needed at a local bead shop called Ritual Adornments. A simple iridescent red bead is threaded on 18 gauge silver wire and then wrapped like a cocoon. Since I’ve never made jewelry before, I relied on the friendly and helpful staff to add the clasp. I was so excited to wear the finished necklace and to share it with my daughter. At first, she was happy. "Now I have your heart, too.” Then her mood changed because she felt like my necklace supplanted her sculpture to me. I tried to explain, without success, that copying her design is the best complement anyone could give. We decided that neither of us would wear the necklace. So it now sits in a drawer. I hope to present it to her again when she is much older. I still keep her sculpture with me all the time in my bag.
by pauline 