Finding a Hobby in Craft

Last week, I finished up making several different types of beads. This week I am working on making some hemp jewelry for my sister for her birthday. I had motioned in an earlier blog that she really loves hemp, so I cannot wait to see how much she likes the anklet and necklace I am making her. I will be using the only glass bead I bought at Hobby-Lobby. I will also be using the spiral hemp knot pattern to make her necklace, so it should be really interesting to see how that’s going to turn out. Her anklet I made out of one of the mushroom clay beads I made and the navy blue hemp with a flat hemp knot pattern. The other clay bead that I made last week I will be using to make hemp jewelry for myself. You see this By Hand project has turned an assignment into a craft or hobby of mine. I love to make hemp jewelry now and I have learned so
many things about art, craft, and Do-It-Yourself along the way.

What I enjoy most about hemp jewelry is that I get to spend my time making presents for others. There is no greater joy than seeing the smile on someone’s face when you give them a handmade gift. The pieces of jewelry that I make are so different from ones that are mass produced. Mine are not standardized and they are extremely personalized. I can make a piece of hemp jewelry any way I want to. I found that crafting is a good way to straighten your community and social relationships, when I made some hemp jewelry with my little brother and boyfriend. I have found that I may not be efficient or make a whole lot of hemp jewelry, but the stuff I make is far from being cheap. It is very durable, good quality, unique jewelry. I have found a lot of value in my project because of the durability, style, and price. I can make a variety of different types of jewelry with fairly decent workmanship. My product is somewhat “sound,” meaning that it is made to withstand ware and tare in the way that the designer intended with no hidden flaws. I am not perfect at making these necklaces so I am sure there are some flaws present somewhere. It is also “calmly” because it has the aesthetic look I intended it to have. I have experienced a lot of the pleasures of work. It is calming to do the repeated motion with my hands. The aesthetic value of the piece of jewelry after it is finished is wonderful to experience. Craft is a tangible accomplishment with makes it pleasurable to work on. My by hand project has given me new inspiration to do other DIY things like grow my own garden.

Craft Inspiration and Tradition

Much of craft has to do with inspiration and tradition. In the Barbara Kingsolver book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; A Year of Food Life,” she found inspiration for growing her own food for her family. She wanted her family to be healthy and eat healthy, fresh food. Also, inspired by the horrible conditions of food production, she did not find it overwhelming to deal with all the manual labor and upkeep that came with her craft. The inspiration of a crafter shows a lot about the final product. If the crafter is not inspired at all the final product will not have been made with the time and care it otherwise would have been made with. This is why during assembly line crafting of a product, people do not care if they make a mistake or two. Money driven food corporations do not care what kinds of chemicals they add as long as the food can be preserved for longer. My inspirations for making my craft are the people I have been giving my products to as gifts. I want them to really enjoy my gift, so I take my time on it and make sure I make it is made the best it can be.

Craft is also very much about tradition. Many aspects on the process of making the craft are traditional to Native American crafters. Morel mushroom hunting is also a lot about family tradition. Hemp jewelry has also been a tradition for many, many years. This week I have been inspired by the morel mushroom presentation and I have been making traditional mushroom hemp beads. These types of beads are very popular and are usually made out of glass. Hemp jewelry is a very earthy kind of jewelry which is why many of the bead designs have been inspired my other things in nature. Next week, I will be making some necklaces and bracelets for my sister because it’s her birthday next weekend.

I will include pictures of all my final crafts on my next blog post.

Learning About Craft from Hemp

I have learned many things about craft while making my beads and hemp necklaces. First of all, it can be extremely time consuming. It takes me two to three hours or more to make a couple beads and a necklace. It is extremely frustrating when I cannot get my design exactly right and I have to start over several times. Patience is the key in crafting. I like to find motivations for doing my crafted items, like making a gift for somebody. When I have a goal in mind I feel much more accomplished when I reach it. Farmers have to make very specific goals for when they are going to plant and harvest their crops. Fortunately, my goals can be slightly more flexible because hemp necklaces are always in season. I do think that hemp jewelry targets the younger customers. This is probably because in the 1960’s, when it became extremely popular, mostly young adults made hemp jewelry. I have had a lot of trouble being creative with my bead making. I am not very good at coming up with designs and I am running out of ideas. I am going to start looking online for inspiration as well as asking the people around me what designs I should try making next. The best thing about craft is forming a product you are extremely proud of and you know others will really like it as well.

Finding Value in My Product

This week I have been working a lot on my bead making. I am using different colors of the bake in the oven clay to construct various designs. I will be posting pictures soon. While I was sitting down kneading the clay together to form the beads I realized how much supplies I had. I can probably make over 20 different types of necklaces and bracelets with all of the supplies I have. I spent forty dollars on all my supplies, so I am making an item of hemp jewelry for about two dollars. At a store people will usually pay around fifteen dollars or more for a handmade hemp necklace at a head shop type store. Ones that are sold premade are also usually at least ten dollars. I am saving large amounts of money by making my own hemp jewelry. I am finding a lot of product value in my handmade items. The materials I am using are very durable. Hemp lasts for a long time and the oven baked breads are also extremely durable. After firing, the clay beads are very hard to break. I have a large variety of items I can make, and the best thing is the price tag was really not all that bad when I think about it. The hemp jewelry is very functional. It makes really comfortable necklaces and bracelets that will always be in style.

Teaching Hemp 101

I went back to my home town this weekend and decided to do something new with my by hand project. I still continued to explore the more traditional hemp jewelry work. I made a bracelet and some beads, but this time I had some help. I decided to include a couple of people in my project for the week. I wanted to teach my little brother how to make hemp jewelry because he liked the bracelet I made him last week so much. My boyfriend was also at our house and he decided to join in on the crafting. We started out by picking our supplies. I let my little brother pick what hemp he wanted to use. He chose the navy blue hemp twine again. We also choose to make our beads out of the oven clay. Then, we measured out our twine lengths and started playing around with the clay to find what type of bead we wanted to use. The beads had to be crafted before the bracelet was completed because they had to bake for ten minutes to harden. I made a blue rectangular bead with a white marble swirl pattern. My boyfriend made two square beads with a similar pattern using the blue, green, and purple clay. Once we put the clay beads in the oven we began crafting the bracelet. I attempted to teach the knot pattern used to make hemp jewelry to my little brother, but this first lesson was most definitely unsuccessful. He is only 11, so the knot pattern is very confusing for him. He attempted to do a couple of knots but never could get it right. He had me finish the bracelet for him, but hopefully we can try again another time. Even though my brother didn’t learn how to make hemp jewelry he enjoyed watching me make it for him and enjoyed spending time with me. I also enjoyed spending time with my little brother and boyfriend. Crafting can bring social networks closer together. You are all doing something together and you all feel accomplished together when the project is finished.

First Hemp Bracelet

This week I made my little brother a hemp bracelet. I used the navy blue hemp and a white clay bead that was left over from my keychain project last week. Ever since my little brother has heard about the hemp projects I am doing this semester and seen my first couple of projects, he has been begging me to make him something. He told me he wanted a bracelet that was very simple and did not have a bunch of beads on it. So, I told him I had some navy blue hemp I could make him a little bracelet out of so it wouldn’t be too plain and boring and he loved the idea. I started out measuring the hemp around my wrist because I figured we have relatively the same sized wrists. I then made this length twelve times its size because remember the two outer twines must be six time the length of the final product since they are the ones that are being knotted. I wanted to make a loop at the end so it can work as a clasp with the bead at the other end. I folded this twine in half and I had my loop and the two outer twines six times the size or the final product. Then, I cut another twine that was twice the size of the final product, folded it in half, and I had my two inner lengths of hemp. I made the bracelet with the flat hemp pattern again because I thought it would look more masculine and professional. I am getting very good at these knots. I did not make a single mistake in this project! Last, but not least, I tied on a white clay bead at the end so it would serve as a clasp with the loop. The bracelet looks awesome and I can’t wait to give it to my little brother. I am going to get lots of hugs for making it.
During this project my brother was kind of like the patrons we spoke of in class and I was the artisan. He told me what kind of hemp jewelry he would like me to make him and gave me some guidelines about what to include and what not to include. I, in turn made some of my own subjections and we came out with a product that he will really love. During this project I was in the Lifestyle DIY category that Atkinson speaks of in his article. It was construction with a conspicuous consumption. I made the bracelet for a class project, as well as to get hugs from my little brother and be his favorite sister for the weekend since I do not get to see him that often.

Colts Keychain

Last week I made an Indianapolis Colts keychain out of hemp as a gift for my boyfriend’s birthday. I thought this would be a really great present for him because he loves the Colts and his birthday was on the same day as the Super Bowl this year. It was a perfect gift for the occasion. I started by making the beads that I eventually put on the key chain. I made the beads out of the clay I bought. The clay can be baked in the oven which causes it to harden. I rolled up several little balls of blue and white clay. Then, I took a tooth pick and poked it through the middle of the little clay ball to make a hole for the hemp to go through. I had to make a bead with a big enough hole so that the thicker hemp could thread through. I simply used the tooth pick to hollow out a big enough hole on the bead and then attempted to thread hemp through the hole to make sure it would fit. I made eight blue beads and eight white beads, but ended up not using all of them. To make the Colts pendant bead I put on the key chain, I used the blue clay to construct most of the bead and then used the white clay to construct the Colts emblem onto the bead. First, I rolled up a bigger ball of blue clay and then constructed the Colts emblem with the white clay. I then stuck the emblem onto the bead and added small blue dots along the Colts horseshoe. Again, I used a toothpick to hollow out an opening for the hemp to thread through. The bead did morph a little from its original shape as I created the hole, but it still looked pretty good so the beads were ready to bake. I baked the beads at 300°F for ten minutes, took them out of the oven, and let them cool for a few minutes. Finally, I made the keychain using the flat hemp pattern and alternated blue and white beads on the outside of the keychain. At one end of the keychain I put the Cults pendant and at the other I beaded on a round, metal key ring. My boyfriend really liked his gift. He said that now he would never lose his keys!

I have been making very functional projects that differ from the traditional hemp jewelry. This was not my original intention when I picked hemp jewelry for my By Hand project, but I thought it would be really cool to make things other than your typical hemp necklace or bracelet. We have discussed in class that a lot of the time a crafts form will reveal a lot about its function. This is true about my crafts as well. The dog color I made has a clasp on it for easy removal and a metal ring for a dog tag and leash to attach to. The key chain is very long so it can serve its purpose as well and keep keys from being lost easily. According to Atkinson in his article “Do-It-Yourself: Democracy and Design;” I would fit into the Pro-active DIY category. I fit into this category because I have manipulated the design of my projects to differ from original hemp jewelry in order to make functional products that I could use or give away to people as gifts. For my next projects I will make more traditional hemp pieces like bracelets and necklaces, but I will also be giving them away as gifts to some of my family members.