Groovy Guitar Pick Bracelets: How To

Fridays guitar pick workshop was pure chaos. I found myself surrounded by thirty teens instead of the usual fifteen. The turn out was great, just wish I'd knew it going to happen. We avoid preregistration to encourage more last minute attendance, I brought enough supplies for twenty five teens which is ten more than usual. After a frantic head count and some quick math I switched the two banded bracelet design to a single band, and realized that I would have to limit the girls to two guitar picks each.

Buying guitar picks for a group can be expensive, I advise purchasing economical twelve packs. I took advantage of my son's employee discount at the Music Center to provide the group with a selection of brands and colors. If you're just making a couple of bracelets you can splurge and select individual picks with gorgeous graphics and textured plastics. Just remember to stick to the medium to hard varieties that can withstand drilling and wear.

Materials:

8" length of Round Leather or faux leather Black cotton cord.

2 coil crimps

2 6mm jump rings

1 lobster clasp or spring coil clasp

Tools:

Chain nose pliers

Scissors

Drill with 1/16" bit

Working over a wood scrap, drill a hole straight down into the center top of the pick, 1/8" from the top edge. My husband Jon kindly pre-drilled all the picks before the workshop. Over the years he's drilled so many small items for jewelry making he's comfortable stacking them together and drilling through multiples.

Use chain nose pliers to open the jump ring laterally, slip on the pick and then close the ring. To read more on opening jump rings please see my 'Summer Earring' tutorial. Repeat the process until each pick is strung with a jump ring.

Thread one end of a 8" length of cording into the open end of the coil crimp. Grasp the wire end with your chain nose pliers and squeeze it into the center. The bent wire end should trap the cord in place. I won't lie many of the girls found this difficult. We had a two fold problem a shortage of pliers and the cording was on the thin side (remember I was planning on doubling it) it would pull out from under the bent wire. It would be much easier to trap a solid thickness of real leather.

At the end of the program I realized I could have avoided the frustration by simply threading the cord all the way through the coil and tying it into an overhand knot to prevent it from slipping back through.

Making decorative overhand knots down the length of the cord adds texture and help position the picks. Slide the picks onto the cord, then finish making additional knots. Check the size of your bracelet by wrapping it around your wrist. If necessary use scissors to trim away extra cord before crimping the second coil in place.

Open the round end of the coil crimp and slide on a spring or lobster clasp onto the wire and then place the ring in it's original position. The clasp hooks directly onto the round end of the first coil.

I hope your adventures in guitar pick jewelry are less stressful than running this workshop. The good news is that the girls were happy and proudly shared their creations with their parents. Some were even motivated to make matching earrings.

As always I'm grateful to Curtis Teen Program for their support and the great kids who put up with me photographing them and even hang around to help clean up!

You grab a line I'll grab a pole...let's craft a fishing game.

This morning fifty children joined me to make a fishing game craft.  I had wonderful high school helpers and the materials on hand but hadn't planned a book selection. Nothing like having the library director pitch in to help me with a search minutes before the program began. We stumbled across a great book entitled 'Piggy and Dad go Fishing'. Father and son don't want to hook smiling worms so they bait their hooks with  pieces of their sandwiches. When they do catch a fish they fall for his smiling face and release him into the water. In the end they abandon the fishing rods and begin a new tradition of feeding the fish. After this crowd pleasing tale I shared the following instructions to make the fishing game.

The fishing rod is made with a 12" length of 3/8" dowel rod, which my husband had kindly cut down from one yard lengths last night. You simply tie one end of a 15" piece of string to one end of the dowel rod. Sandwich the other end of the string between to sections of adhesive magnet. Magnetic tape is sold by the roll and is easily cut with regular scissors.

The fish, octopus, crabs, mermaids, boots, pirate treasure... are all made out of construction paper and markers. I gave a quick demo showing how the shorthand drawing for a fish doesn't work. When you cut a fish symbol the connection to the tail is too narrow and it breaks off. My next drawing featured fish complete with lips and fins to encourage my young artists to flex their drawing skills.

Halfway through the activity I suggested the older to children award their pieces point values to turn the game into a fun math exercise. Each fish needs to have a paperclip slipped over it's paper mouth, so that it can be caught by the magnetic fishing line.

While everyone was busy drawing and cutting their fish I went around the room transforming the two liter pop bottles into ponds. I cut the tops off the bottles with a sharp pair of Fiskar soft touch scissors. I suggested they keep the tops as they make a great funnel for the beach or sandbox.

We used additional paper and clear packing tape to affix drawings and wavy water to the outside of the pond, the finished fish are simply placed  inside the pond.

In my experience kids love making something that they can play with when they're finished.  Many thanks to the wonderful parents and children who let me photograph and share their creativity. I'm also grateful for the continued support of Curtis Memorial library.

Teens flip for flops: free tutorial!

This is the time to hit summer sales and stock up on flip flops, you can pick up a pair for a dollar or two! They're so many ways to craft them into something spectacular. I did a web search and found a plethora of ideas: from tying water balloons and fabric strips around the straps to applying rhinestones buttons and beads. I loved the inspiration but the reality is we live in Maine and one soggy downpour would completely destroy fabric or feathered footwear. I also wanted to avoid eating up my DIY workshop budget with toxic glue to attach embellishments. I had both a bucket of wood beads and roll of hemp in my studio and decided to simply try wrapping the hemp around the plastic straps to give the flip flops a natural look. I was thrilled with the results, the hemp 'grabbed' the plastic and stayed in place without needing glue.

The group of 15 teens loved the project, it took seconds to explain: provided well over an hour of entertainment, an opportunity for personal expression, and countless days of wearing enjoyment!

Materials

Assorted wood and shell beads, be sure to select beads with large enough holes to accommodate the hemp.

The flat shell beads are Natural Elegance from Blue Moon beads, the patterned wood beads are JoAnn Fabric brand.

Roll of narrow hemp, usually used to make thin macrame jewelry, if you have a group of more than ten people I'd suggest picking up a second roll.

Start by cutting a three yards length of hemp of the roll. Tie one end around the base of the strap and then begin tightly wrapping the hemp up strap, be sure to catch the end in your wraps.

String a bead onto the hemp and slide it down the cord, position it on the top side of the strap. This takes a second to check, it's easy to mistakenly position the beads on the inside especially at the strap base. Make sure you wrap the cord several times around the strap after each bead addition.

When you reach the end of the cord tie it around to the last wrap on the underside of the strap. When you add a new strand make sure to cover both the new and old hemp ends in your wraps.You can always use a darning needle to slip an end under existing wraps.

Once you hit the center of the strap you'll need to make additional wraps on either side of the toe strap.

It takes two to three strands of hemp to get around each flip flop depending on the size of the shoe, beads and tightness of the wraps. Follow the directions above to start or end new strands. Once you start your second flip flop you'll be a pro!

I loved watching how differently each of the flip flops turned out. Many thanks to the creative teens at Curtis Memorial Library that let me photograph their hands in action.