wires and beads

 

tools that look like little chimney sweeper brushes

Roughly 3 weeks ago (I am playing catch up on my blog), my thoughtful and super fantastic friend, Shannon, took me out on a surprise birthday celebration. Although my birthday isn't actually until the middle of July, the "thing" that she wanted to do was only offered once every several months which is why we celebrated a tad early. Where did she take me? To a jewelry making class! I had thought about starting this new hobby roughly a year ago, but like with many of my hobbies, I tend to start and not follow through with any of them - not out of lack of interest, but more because of poor time management and my surprisingly busy life.

the Devil's Workshop is the little black shop on the left 2 doors down from the green Fresh shop

She enrolled us in Wire Work Basics at The Devil's Workshop. It was a small class with only 3 other people that day. The instructor was friendly and most of all, very encouraging. It seems that I am a natural at working with wire! It must be from that one independent project that I did in high school for my art class that involved making a head our of wire. We were taught how to make 2 types of earrings (I should maybe consider getting my ears pierced one of these days...) and 1 ring (we had seen a similar one being sold at the One of a Kind Arts & Crafts show for $20+).

Shannon hard at work at her workstation

What made the day even more wonderful was knowing that Shannon is not one to participate in such activities but she took the time and effort to plan the event and actually go through the class with me. I later told Nathan about Shannon's birthday surprise and told him that he has a lot to live up to. He then said that he wouldn't be able to top Shannon's gift so he's decided to just not do anything for my birthday this year. Men...

 our unfinished rings