Week 15

Since this is the last week, we started to plan our end of genius hour project. We decided that we are going to set aside a section where we have materials that people could try making their own jewelry. We are debating over whether we are going to do a poster board or a slideshow presentation. We are leaning more towards a poster board, because it would be easier for multiple people to look at once. We made a shopping list of materials we need.

Price Update 2- Titanic Necklace

We recently created the Heart of the Ocean necklace from the Titanic. There are many replicas on the market, prices ranging from $10 to over $100. As proven in our last price comparison, you are better off making your own, because you are able to incorporate your own interests and touches to the product. We will be comparing our necklace to one we found on Amazon.

Ours

Price for materials: $3.63 (a rhinestone, a chain, and smaller diamond rhinestones)

Theirs

Price: $20.50-$100.00

Now although we couldn't find a heart-shaped rhinestone for the center, most craft stores should be able to sell one like the one on Amazon. But overall, our product is far cheaper and looks just as nice as the store bought necklace, so this was a success.

Week 14- Interview

After two months of trying to find someone to interview, we finally got a response from Jan Huson-Dreith, Creator of I'm Wired Jewelry.

1.) How long have you been making jewelry? What got you interested?

I made my first piece of jewelry was when I was about 8 years old. It was a wire twisted ring that looked like a bunch of flowers. That was 52 years ago. Being creative is natural for me. I was drawing at a very young age. When I was about your age my teacher encouraged me to come up with a design for the yearbook cover. It was a competition. I was very surprised I won. I like doing different kinds of things such as oil paintings, ceramics, macrame', sewing, sketching, interior design, drafting, landscaping and construction. I became interested in making jewelry I loved the color and feel of seed beads. There were not a lot of materials available when I started making jewelry. I liked working with vintage seed beads too. Then someone asked me if I could make a piece of jewelry using their favorite rock. I said I would give it a try. I did and she loved it. That got me started selling my work. That was in the early 80's. I liked trying different material such as leather. As the art wire came out I then tried that. It was great. I loved science in school and that helped with understanding how to work with wire. How to "temper" (make it hard) and using sulfur to antique different metals.

2.) What types/brand of materials do you use? Do you use this for a particular reason?

My materials/brands. I try all sorts of materials and I try things that are not normally used for jewelry making. When I am trying a new material or design I make it for myself first to test it out. It is important to me to make durable and comfortable jewelry. The materials I use also have to appeal to customers. Materials that meet these standards I will use again.

3.) Are there any brands that you would avoid? (ie they rust easily/cause skin to discolor)

This is a more difficult question then you might think. There are tons of ways to make jewelry and different materials. It's important to know what material is best for what project you want to make. There are some brands of supplies that are put in Walmart or craft stores that are low quality. I don't purchase my supplies from those stores.

4.) How do you price your jewelry?

Pricing: Everyone has a different way to do this. I want to be sure to capture the cost of the materials. I add some for my time but I don't have a formula to do that. I watch the prices other people put on jewelry and I watch people to see what price range they are buying in. This helps me determine what to spend on my materials too. I know that my goal is to have fun making and selling jewelry. Meet people and make friends. I am not trying to earn a living from my jewelry. I think knowing this about yourself if very important.

Week 13- Update on What We Have Made

1.) The necklace from Titanic

Surprisingly, it was much more difficult than we thought to find a blue rhinestone shaped like a heart. Instead, we used a rhinestone from a gumball machine ring. We cut the ring off, and then glued diamond like beads to the outside. We added a wire hook to the outside, and then we added a chain.

2.) A Tree of Life necklace

This was our most complex piece yet. We started by cutting a medium piece of wire and shaped it into a circle. We then cut several smaller pieces of wire and twisted them all together for the trunk. We slowly separated them as we reached the branches and roots. We then had to find a way to connect them to the circle by twisting, which was not easy. We then added a wire hook, and attached a chain.

3.) Hippie Earrings

Cork was very easy to deal with. We shaped one like a feather, and then one as a simple circle. We attached wire hooks to either side. On the top, we attached a pink gem-like bead and an earring hook, and on the other, we attached a chain/s. For the circular one, we made another feather, and on the other, we just attached assorted beads.

Week 12

Because we are so limited on time before the final project, we have decided to throw out the idea of doing specific themes, especially with media-based jewelry. It had not occurred to us that the jewelry made in tv shows and movies were made by professional prop builders with experience. So, we decided to go back to our original idea-wire designs. We started making a shopping list for Michael's when we go on Sunday morning, and then we watched DIY videos for the rest of the class.

Week 11

Today, we started making the Paperclip Ring from Legend. We struggled with rounding everything around the original base, so it came out looking sloppy. We will try again next Sunday when we meet at Felicia's house to work on making the jewelry. We also messaged another woman who makes jewelry on Facebook in attempt to get an interview. Hopefully, she will respond to us unlike the past three.

Week 10

Today, we sent a tweet to Dawn, the wire jewelry maker from Twitter. It turns out that the woman from Scotland does not have a computer, let alone an email account. After that, we finished coming up with questions to ask her if she responds. We also began to figure out a plan for how we will do the media jewelry. We figured out what it was that made our food theme a fail, and how we can improve it. After this, we are going to do nature themed jewelry. We will film our first video for making one of the pieces soon, but for now, we are forming a list of the things we are capable of doing.

• The Paper Clip Ring from Legend
• A light saber necklace from Star Wars
• Pokemon gym badges

Week 9

Today, we started planning out questions for an interview with someone, but we haven't decided on who yet. Catherine knows a woman from Scotland who makes and sells jewelry, but we are unsure of how we will contact her yet. We also found a woman who runs a jewelry making business on Twitter.  We also want to try contacting Maddie Bradshaw, a girl (now in college) who started a million dollar company in jewelry making that was on Shark Tank, but when we went to search for her, we got several stories involving her on a lawsuit. We think we will have the best luck with the lady in Scotland, because she does have an email that we can reach her with.

Week 8

Today, we began searching for people we could conduct an interview on about jewelry making. Catherine's parents are friends with a woman who owns her own shop in which she makes her own jewelry. We also began to find people on social media who can help us out. We also started coming up with questions that we will ask her if she responds.

Week 7

Today, in the spirit of Valentine's Day, we started to sort out clear Candy Hearts from the package so we can possibly make Valentine's Day themed jewellery. We had to sort out the good ones, so we don't accidentally use one that isn't clear. We have quite a few good ones sorted out, and we will start making the jewellery next week.

Week 6

Today, Felicia redesigned our blog so that it is more subtle. Although this does not apply to the outcome of our question, it will make it easier for the reader to see the text.

We also began doing research on the other half of our blog- comparing store bought jewelry to the replicas that we made. We started out with our Harry Potter ring. We found a replica on Etsy that we began to compare to ours.

This ring is-

• $25.00+tax and shipping
• Open in the back (meaning it is more likely to break than a closed one)
• Has to ship from Greece (which is almost 6,000 miles away from the US)
• The lightning bolt is not attached to the glasses, meaning there is the possibility of it losing its position.

Our ring is-

• At most $5.99 (if you do not already own wire)
• Connected at the back
• The lightning bolt is connected, which prevents the risk of it losing its position.

Obviously, the store bought ring had several perks such as their wiring being shinier, and you would not have to run the risk of messing up while shaping it. But overall, our homemade ring outscored the store bought. Next week, we hope to start creating a tutorial for making it.

Jewelry We've Made

One of the items of jewelry that we have actually successfully made is the Harry Potter ring, seen in a previous post.

Harry Potter Ring

Two more pieces of jewelry we have made is a necklace and Harry Potter earrings, shown below:

Week 5

Finally after so long, we have began entering into our first project- making jewelry out of food. We tried three things that we have found on Pinterest-
-An Oreo friendship necklace with a heart carved into the center
-A Dum Dum necklace
-The penne pasta necklace that we found a few weeks ago

Since this was only a trial and error, we did not mind as much that two of the three failed. The Oreo necklace did nothing but break when we tried to use it. So, we have decided on using clay for the next time we try to redo that. None of the 100 Dum Dums we brought were decently shaped which made it unfit to create as a piece of jewelry. Once again, we could always make a lollipop out of clay. On the bright side, the class enjoyed some nice snacks that day.

We began to paint pieces of pasta that we will use for the necklace. We were surprised to see that whole grain pasta worked just as well with the paint. We unfortunately didn't get to do much more because we ran out of time. Overall, this was definitely our most productive day so far, and we hope to have many more like it.

Week 4

Today, we were having our rusty tools cleaned. So, we decided to try making paper charms. Felicia learned how to make an origami dragon using a Post-It note that she will make into earrings when our tools come back. Catherine began to make pendants for bracelets. Here is one of the things we tried:

Week 3

Today, we had less time than normal. So, we decided to start some small things. While Catherine made a small beaded ring, Felicia started making a cat ring (not the one on the side). Catherine finished while Felicia will most likely finish next week.

Week 2

Today we began to experiment by making several rings. Unfortunately, they all failed. We did not have  enough wire for anything big, and our container with the beads spilled all over the desk. So, we gave up on making the jewelry for today. We did more research and found pictures of charms and bracelets that we plan to make. We also discussed how we plan to present our project at the end of the year. We are debating through two ideas that we think the class will enjoy, but they are a surprise! Although making the jewelry failed, we still got a lot of work done. Here is a picture of one of the rings we plan on making next week-

Harry Potter!

Week 1

Today in Language Arts Class, we did more research about jewelry making, and we are also looking into making out own jewelry display. We have also been making more jewelry in our free time, for example a tree of life charm. We did tons of research on new objects that we can make into jewelry. We found out that we can make a beautiful necklace out of penne pasta! We plan on starting to work on making these things next week.