Jewelry By Jessica Featured on Evergreen Moms

Evergreen Moms features artisans from the Pacific Northwest, and today, they've featured me! Editor Heather likes the "floral motifs and airy vibe" of my work. Nice : ) Pop over and take a look, and grab the special Evergreen Moms 10% discount code while you're there!

Another New DIY Kit: Three Circles Window/Wall Ornament

Another Jewelry By Jessica DIY kit exclusively at my Etsy shop: the Three Circles Window/Wall Ornament Kit. Seriously, these are so much fun. I could make a new one every single day!

New DIY Jewelry By Jessica Kit: Three Hearts Window/Wall Ornament

Another DIY kit is up at my Etsy shop - yay!  This one provides everything needed to make a window or wall ornament made up of three hearts. It includes two sets of three pre-cut (by hand!) shrink plastic hearts (two sets because I want to give people room to experiment without that "I-only-have-one-chance-to-get-this-right!" pressure), and a really beautiful braided cotton cord, which I now have in blue, green, orange, white or black (folks can choose a color if they have a preference).  

This is really a perfect gift to have a child make for a mom, grandmother, teacher or the like. Even really little kids can scribble colors on shrink plastic, and it ends up looking lovely in an abstract expressionist kind of way. (Case in point - the ornament in the picture above was scribbled by my 3-year-old.) Because it's so quick and clean, it also makes an amazing party activity and/or party favor - I've road tested it with girls and boys ranging in age from 2 to 10, and it's been a big hit with all of them.

Of course, you grown-ups can also make one for yourself - more sophisticated designs look beautiful as well, and you can trace images, use rubber stamps, or draw your own bits of loveliness. I hope people have a wonderful time with these DIY kits!

Etsy Treasury: It's All about DIY

Hey, lookie there. My DIY Shrink Plastic Necklace Kit made it into an Etsy Treasury  (a themed list of stuff curated by an Etsy member, for those of you unacquainted with Etsian parlance). The kits seem to be a hit - they're flying out of my shop! Now to force people to send pictures of the pieces they make...I want to see!

My New DIY Shrink Plastic Necklace Kit!

Available now at my Etsy shop! http://www.jessicapoundstone.etsy.com

I'm pretty excited to have finally pulled this kit together - I'd been wanting to make one for quite a long time. Now you can make your own necklace, or help a small friend make one for themselves, or for their mom, or grandmother or teacher. Or use them as party favors, or as a party activity!

I've done shrink plastic projects with a number of our smaller friends (in the 3-5 year old range) and they love it. It's so quick and satisfying to color on the plastic and shrink it and have something to wear or give right away. Older kids and adults have a whole lot of fun with it too - they can draw their own picture or trace a picture or use rubber stamps: the possibilities really are endless. (For tons of ideas, enter "shrink plastic tutorial" into any search engine.)

The kit contains:
• Detailed instructions
• Two pre-cut circles of shrink plastic, which will shrink to make a 1.25" circle pendant (two pieces of shrink plastic are included so you have two chances to make one you love - or you'll just have two if you love them both!)
• Magnetic necklace clasp
• Waxed cotton necklace cord (specify green or blue - see pictures for colors)
• Three colored pencils to get you started

I'm hoping to make more project kits available in the future - if there's one you'd like to see, get in touch!

New For Spring 2008 :: Intersections Pattern

Available now at Jewelry By Jessica!

New For Spring 2008 :: Transverse Waves Pattern

Available now at Jewelry By Jessica!

Intersections Necklace Styles

I know I designed them and all, but I really do love these Intersections necklaces. I am wearing the dark teal and poppy one a whole, whole lot. Available right here. {Earrings to come - hopefully soon...}

Planet June's Shrink Plastic Ring Tutorial

I've dabbled in making shrink plastic rings before, but never had any come out to my satisfaction. If I try it again, I'll definitely be using the instructions here courtesy of craft blogger Planet June.

While we're on the subject: anyone out there with experience wearing shrink plastic rings? I'm wondering if the slight expansion/contraction of taking a ring on and off your finger might be enough to cause small fractures in the plastic that would cause it to weaken and crack over time...

Jewelry By Jessica Featured on Modish!

Modish is an incredibly cool blog that features work by lots of amazing independent designers. Jena Coray, the writer and editor, has created some new features on the site for 2008, aiming to showcase the workspaces of designers (Handmade Spaces), musings from readers on why buying handmade can be so satisfying (Handmade Faces), and DIY projects and business tips (Handmade Traces). That's where I come in: my shrink plastic flower pin project is the first feature on Handmade Traces! Thanks to Jena for including me. And if you're not already a Modish fan, definitely get over there and see all the great stuff Jena is cooking up.

My First Ever Tutorial: Go Make a Shrink Plastic Flower Pin!

I have made a tutorial - written instructions and a video - on how to make the shrink plastic flower pin pictured above. It was a heck of a lot more work than I anticipated (I now know how to use iMovie... sorta) and the video is pretty darn amateurish, but I think it does the trick.

I got inspired to do the whole tutorial thing after watching a video of a fascinating talk: "The Global Microbrand: using the web to stay small whilst selling all over the world," given at the Etsy Labs in Brooklyn by Antonio Gould (did the "whilst" in his title give away that he's a Brit?). Among other things, he said that if you make a video tutorial on your specific area of expertise, you will likely be the very first person in the entire world to do so. Well, when you put it that way, how could I not do it? So please do go watch my unique contribution to the wide world of shrink plastic jewelry making - it's right here! And if you decide to make a pin of your own, please send me a picture, or post it to the Flickr Group I started. I would so love to see it!