Class in Jackson

I gave myself a birthday present this year of a class from Jim McIntosh. He wrote a book I purchased last year and have enjoyed. So that was my gift to myself. The class was held at Bead Culture in Jackson Michigan.

I got up and got a cup of coffee and took off out of the house and picked my friend Betty up before 7a.m. The drive from my house to the bead store was supposed to take an hour and a half. My class started at 10a.m. Betty wanted an early start and I agreed - you never can tell with the condition of the roads. I stopped and got a bagel and then I programed my GPS for the address and off we went. I put the car on cruise and we talked for the time it took to get there. We arrived way too early and found a place to sit but then I had to go to the bathroom. I saw a hardware store and off I went to see if there was a coffee shop open at 8:30a.m. on Saturday. There was but the directions this one guy was giving me were confusing so another who was standing there told me that he would show me where it was. I grabbed my stuff and Betty as I passed her and we trailed off behind him. As we were crossing the street "John" got teased by a pedestrian and by someone in a car that had to stop for us. The guy in the car honked and yelled at John to hurry up he was taking too long. Now John was easily 6 ft+ and had long legs that made me run to keep up with him. We got to where we could see the coffee shop and we were on our own. So Betty and I continued on to the coffee shop.

This shop was one of the "artisan" kind so they were cooking the coffee right out front and then once it was cooked it was ground right there too. It smelled wonderful (too bad I already had my one cup of the day) The lady behind the counter asked me what I wanted and Betty asked me what I wanted to do first - both of them at the same time. I told both of them that I was going to pant for a bit, go to the bathroom & then get a cup of coffee. They laughed at me. Hrumph! I thought it was a great plan! So we sat down with all my jewelry "stuff", I caught my breath, went to the bathroom and got a cup of iced chai.

We then went back to the bead shop and I went in to my class. I sat down and pulled out all my stuff and got ready for the first project. I had a great time. My wire didn't co-operate but I managed to wrestle it into submission enough to make my spiral ring. I was very glad to see I wasn't the only one that had problems. Then we got to make another ring with a larger gauge wire that was easier to work with. I like this ring and I think I will be making a few. After lunch we got back together for instructions making a pendant. I got the basics of the pendant done and then had to leave. I will post photo's of all this wire fun as soon as I take photo's!

It was a great birthday present!

Has it been that long?

Isn't it interesting how time just flys along. I bought a book on crafting jewelry out of wire and I have been working my way through the book.

I learned how to wrap a coil of wire and make it into a bead.

Then I learned how to make a different kind of coil and make a cage for a bead.

Once I put these together Voila!