Charm Swap

For the past couple of weeks I have been working on some charms for a small swap between six friends. In working with these tiny pieces of art, I have determined that I am totally out of my comfort zone. I did enjoy making the charms but turning them into an item that would hang properly was another whole thing.

I find that doing something frustrating takes the pleasure out of the fun part. Who would think that a tiny "O" ring could cause me so much trouble. My good friend, Inka, offered to come and help me but hubby had problems on the scheduled day so I had to cancel and thought to myself, "I can do this." I don't even think an expert could help me master the art for making a simple "O" ring. I am totally uncoordinated with six thumbs trying to hold wire and pliers.

For the swap, we were to make two charms for each participant. My first charm was created by stamping my image using green StazOn ink on a white zipper pull and enhancing the image with glitter and attaching a gold tree charm to the center. The reverse was also stamped and colored and I added an alphabet piece with the initial for each participant. The charms were coated with Diamond Glaze. These were fun to make!

The second charm started out as a gingerbread boy charm. The metal charm was concave so I filled the back side with liquid polymer clay, baked it and when cool colored it to match the front which I had also colored with alcohol ink pens. Then, I coated the charm with Diamond Glaze to prevent the inks from rubbing off.

It was the final step that did me in. Making them hang. The very positive aspect of this swap was knowing that jewlery is not something I want to do. I'm better off sticking with paper and inks and creating items that may be a challenge but not so frustrating.

I am also grateful that I did not sign up for a bead workshop in another group. Can you image . . . I would have turned into a maniac attempting to make wire and beads work together when I lack the ability to work with a single loop of wire.