Creating jewelry in CPL’s Teen Space

Throughout this grant, the Community Ambassadors have been faced with the challenge of helping our sites find “projects that matter.” No two sites will have identical “projects that matter” because each site has unique individuals who have varying interests. We as Community Ambassadors can share ideas but ultimately, each of us listens to our sites and helps them do what they wish to do.

We bring up this idea because currently we are seeing it in action at Champaign Public Library (CPL). Sarah heard from the teens that they were interested in making jewelry using the vinyl setting on their Silhouette machine. Seeing the interest, Sarah went out got supplies. The “basic” kit Sarah complied consisted of dominos (base of piece of jewelry), pliers, backings (to apply to domino and then loop a chain/string through), various chains/strings, brushes, Modge Podge, and E6000. We’ve included a photo below.

Sarah and her sister (a frequent volunteer at Teen Space) made up a few mock pieces for the kids to get some ideas. Here are their samples:

To make these dominos necklaces, the teens measured the dominos, made sticker designs that would fit, cut out their stickers, applied them to the dominos, and then used Modge Podge to seal over the top of the domino as an added layer of protection. Through experimentation, Sarah and the teens discovered that E6000 had some pretty strong fumes, was too goopy, and couldn’t be cleaned up easily. Modge Podge worked much better (and easier to clean up). Sarah reminded the teens that Modge Podge is water-resistant, but not water-proof, so they know to wipe off water and not dunk their jewelry in the sink or something.

While the initial, driving interest for the jewelry workshop came from the girls of Teen Space, as the workshop went on, more boys showed interest. Sarah called it a domino effect (no pun intended) — once one teen sees what another teen has done, interest is sparked. The first kid to make a necklace (he’s made two so far) has worn one of them each day.  It takes a little coaxing to get them to do the more hands-on parts like sealing and gluing. Sarah thinks the gradual spread of interest has something to do with it not being solely a computer-based activity, so it’s a bit more intimidating (more hands-on steps, a combination of both digital and non-digital skills). Sarah’s theory is that the idea of making jewelry will truly take off as soon as she slaps a minion on a necklace, as that literally seems to be the one true constant in getting their interest. Here are some more photos of completed projects!