Kid's Party

Someone in the last year wrote of making real bracelets at
children’s parties. I told my daughter in law about this and that I
knew a six year old who would like to do this. (Big smile here) Last
Saturday, I attended my granddaughter’s seventh birthday party.
There were six first grade girls waiting for me. It all went
beautifully. Even when I sat down and asked if anyone knew what a
pearl was and one little girl put her hand up and said “Is this like
school?” They had no problems stringing the C grade freshwater
pearls that I had brought. I also had black and green beads to use
as pattern accents. Thank you very much, they already knew what
patterns are and proceeded to string up some very nice examples. I
had even brought little shinny boxes with ribbons on them for the
presentation to the mommies in another room. Thanks to whoever wrote
in with this idea. It was a real hit. Now what do I do for the
eighth birthday party?

marilyn

Sorry, I missed this discussion.

Several months ago I offered to hold a workshop for a group of girl
scouts. The troupe leader is a very good friend ands always looking
for an activity for those kids. What can an older guy teach 12 & 13
year olds? I’ll have one day possibly two.

jerry

The predominant church around here has a summer camp for all of the
girls age 12-18. One of the best bracelet ideas I’ve heard came from
one of the camp leaders.

She had the girls divided into groups of 7 for the camp. She had each
girl make 7 identical stretchy bracelets (mostly small beads), which
they then gave to each member of their group. So each had 7 bracelets
to remember each girl in their group by. I loved it!

And yes, those young girls figure out pattern very quickly don’t
they? I do beading birthday parties here at my store and at the last
one a nervous mom said, “you’ll have to help them figure out the
order to string the beads on.” I told her no I wouldn’t… just
stand back and you’ll be amazed at what some of these girls come up
with! You go grandma! :slight_smile:

Kerry
CeltCraft Beads & Jewelry

I found that the older girls (12 and 13 or so) aren’t as much into
the stretchy bracelets. Here are some ideas for you:

  1. Leather wrapped anklet: Count on about 2 yards of suede lace
    thread for each girl. Get a bunch of beads with holes large enough
    for the leather to slip through. I used chevrons and some india
    glass beads. I would avoid the cheaper pony beads with this crowd.
    (Pony beads are not “cool”.) In any case, just have the girls knot
    the beads onto the suede, approximately every 3 inches or so. Have
    them leave enough so that they can tie the wrapped thread with the
    beads around the ankle (loosely).

  2. Another item popular with this age group is to glue swarovski
    flatbacks onto an item, such as the thong portion of a pair of flip
    flops (with the latter found at the local drug store for a couple of
    dollars each). If not flip flops, a small wallet or calculator is
    also popular.

  3. Create a keychain to hang on their backpacks. Again, avoid using
    pony beads.

  4. Create a simple necklace using leather and a few beads. Nothing
    elaborate…the style for teens is something fairly simple.

  5. Finally, make friendship bracelets out of hemp and incorporating
    beads is also popular.

Silver rings? Measure their finger with thin wire, cut them a bit of
stg strip such as 8mm wide and 1.5mm thick, then thet stamp designs
on the silver with steel stamps - or hammer the silver. Round up and
solder. Burnish with shiny steel burnishers.

Brian

B r i a n A d a m
e y e g l a s s e s j e w e l l e r y
Auckland NEW ZEALAND
www.adam.co.nz

Hi Jerry,

I’ve never taught that age group, but I bet they could learn to make
wire spirals. When you’ve never worked with wire, they look so
difficult and mysterious–and when people learn to make them, they
tend to feel like real insiders. Spirals can also be hammered, which
is always a big hit (so to speak). I have a cardboard chart to which
I have taped spirals–hammered heavily, lightly, and not at all, as
well as “closed” (easiest to make) and more open–indicating the
various gauges and lengths of wire used for each.

I’ve noticed that many people who teach absolute beginners how to
make earrings begin with head pins and “perfect loops.” It’s a rare
beginner of any age who can actually make perfect ones, and this can
lead to frustration (even if you have lots of time, some people will
get bored before they get proficient). One way around this is to use
finer wire and teach wrapped loops, which are somewhat easier. But
you then have other problems, e.g. needing to work with long head
pins–usually more expensive.

However, if you teach spirals, you can use standard sterling eye
pins, with a “perfect loop” already in place. Once they’ve practiced
the spirals (I would start with copper, then use silver “scrap”),
they can thread beads onto the eye pins and spiral the ends, to make
“custom” head pins. Then you can teach them the proper way to open
and close the loop on ear wires–you might want to bring a bunch of
jump rings, too. That’s a little trick that will serve them well
throughout their lives; even if they never make jewelry again,
they’ll know how to do the most basic repair.

Once they feel comfortable with pliers and wires, and have
successfully made some earrings, you could show them how to make
perfect and wrapped loops, jump rings, etc. Then they can design
their own necklaces and bracelets. You might want to bring along a
couple of wire jewelry instruction books, e.g.

http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books/us/product/157990002X.htm
http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books/us/product/188301073X.htm

Have fun!
Lisa Orlando
Aphrodite’s Ornaments