Jewelry games

I had a pretty hard time figuring out what I was going to write about and keep it games oriented. Then I remembered this game that came out when I was in high school.

Pretty, pretty princess lets you collect pieces of jewelry. I think the winner is determined by who gets the last piece of jewelry first.

Okay, that wasn’t such a great post.

Hmm…. Oh! I know!

You can use the jewelry design process with younger children (use pony beads if you do this) to help teach and reinforce counting and pattern skills!

• Set up a pattern of beads and have your little designer copy it.
• Give your little designer a “pattern” by telling them how many of each color and shape of bead they need. Then let them develop their creativity by exploring how to order their beads.
• Ask them to make a piece of jewelry of a certain length, and make sure to have a ruler handy.
• Let them set up a stand to sell their jewelry. They can practice counting money.
• Go the library and find books on the jewelry of different cultures (your local children’s librarian will be able to help). Read some stories from the selected culture with your little designer and then let them design a jewelry piece that fits in with the culture.

Many of these really are more educational than obvious games, but at the younger ages, playing is learning, and if you create the right situation, it can be a game for the older ones, too!

Inspiring designers

I know, you’re wondering how the game theme affects jewelry.

Well, I thought about it and realized it would be pretty tight, but I figured out a couple of things.

The first isn’t so much a game as it was a toy. As a kid, I was always designing. I had my Fashion Plates that I was always playing with. I kept around scarves and bits of material, along with an army of safety pins to create outfits for some of my dolls.

I also had the neatest toys for creating jewelry. I started out with pop-beads, a simple, yet versatile concept. You linked beads together in whatever color pattern and to whatever length you wanted. They were just flexible enough to let me design bracelets, necklaces, and headpieces for my model dolls.

Then Click-Its arrived on the scene, and I had to have them. They added a fantastic shiny element to my designs. I even made a few for myself!

I keep telling people that I started designing jewelry in the spring of 2002, but that’s not true. I started designing jewelry as a kid with whatever toys I could fashion into wearable pieces.

Patterning the original designs

For reasons unknown, I’ve managed to go nearly five years without writing down the patterns for my original designs. This came back to bite me the other day when I was wearing my beaded box chain and someone inquired if I could make one for her. I came home, flipped through my design notebook to see what I was charging for that particular design, and discovered it’s nowhere in my book.

Looking through the book, it would appear that neither it nor my beaded Byzantine chain are in the book. They were my first two designs. The beaded Byzantine is still my favorite one to date. I created a page for the beaded box chain, and hope to have one written up for the beaded Byzantine by the end of the weekend.