Jennifer Perkins' Jewelry Design Class @ Make

Today I had the pleasure of attending a jewelry design class taught by Jennifer Perkins of The Naughty Secretary Club at Make Shop & Studio. Make is located in the Bishop Arts District of Dallas, Texas, a funky cool historic area full of great shops. I am one of those people who has always sworn up & down that I would NOT get into jewelry making. It's too meticulous, too time consuming, just not for me - the list of excuses was a mile long. But after attending Jennifer's class, I am ready to being my great jewelry making adventure!

Jennifer is a laid back kind of gal that you feel like you've known forever even if you've only just made her acquaintance. She has a fun way of explaining her techniques while sprinkling her directions with her own terminology, my favorite being 'doodle,' as in "squeeze this little doodle..." She brought a large stash of beads, pendants & other jewelry making supplies for us to choose from. Each of picked out the items we wanted to use in making a necklace & a pair of earrings and we were given a handy bead design board to lay our piece out on. We then proceeded to follow Jennifer's instructions & began stringing our necklaces. Once we finished that assignment, we moved on to making a pair of earrings which I especially enjoyed.

My biggest challenge when starting a new hobby is knowing which supplies to purchase & how to use them. Jennifer's book, The Naughty Secretary Club: The Working Girl's Guide to Handmade Jewelry has a terrific section explaining the various supplies & tools and tips on how to use them. I purchased the book today, so I haven't had much time to peruse it. However, at first glance I can tell you that the pictures & step-by-step instructions look to be well-written, detailed & easy to understand. The book is very well printed & is full of great eye candy. I would highly recommend taking a class at Make, a terrific shop & studio owned by Julie McCollough Kim. There is a wide variety of classes that are offered ranging from screen printing to sewing. And the atmosphere is so fun & relaxed. The only disappointing part about today's event was that it had to end. I was ready to keep designing & crafting!

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loved your article. I'm glad to here that someone is doing well close to home.

Denise, from Texas

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