Creative Life: Jewelry

My newly-born earrings. Columbia, Missouri. April 2018.

The stars and planets aligned recently in Columbia, Missouri, with the announcement of a jewelry-making class.

• I would be in Columbia on this particular weekend.
• I had some earrings in need of repair.
• Although I'm not a pink sort a gal, I've been having an envie for pink earrings.

So it was that, following a morning hike at Three Creeks Conservation Area, a lackluster lunch, and a grand spillage of liquid onto my hiking pants (Note: Do not put a carbonated drink into a thermos and expect to open said thermos without theatrical consequences), I walked into the Heart, Body, and Soul Center for a jewelry-making class by Ms. Addie.

I'd brought my broken earrings with me. To create new earrings, I selected two pink stones and two tiny, gentle-green pebbles. I only spilled the contents of one container onto the floor.

Ms. Addie showed me how to make little wire curl-ettes at the bottom of the pink stones, to keep the stones from slipping off the wire. She pointed out how each of three tools at my little station - all of which looked like generic pliers to me - served different functions: cutting, turning, and moving.

She showed me other smooth moves, too, but like dance steps, I haven't retained them. So I will likely, as she suggested, seek tutorials on youtube.

Jewelry tools (pliers). Source: Vickie O'Dell.

The above photo shows five kinds of pliers. Above my pay grade, but you can learn more about jewelry-making implements here.

Ms. Addie especially likes making jewelry out of found items. Hearing her story of re-purposing pearls she'd inherited from her grandmother inspired me to make something new from my own grandmother's heirlooms. Some day.