When I was in fifth grade, one of my favorite parts about having a friend was making her a friendship bracelet. Hell, half of the time I just made bracelets for girls hoping they would be my friend in return. I would casually ask, "So, Amy, what are your three favorite colors". After the response (Amy's was brown black and white, and I do remember hesitating on that) I would go home, find those colors in embroidery floss, and braid them into a bracelet. I would take a safety pin and pin the strands to my jeans as I held them taught and got a nice tight braid. I would return the next day with a piece of adornment that would promise a friendship of secret keeping and boy avoiding.
My father has worked in a machine shop my entire life. He basically has the ultimate metals playground of big machines and scraps and anything he doesn't want to throw away (which is everything he has). I used to love going to work with him and knowing that anything I could draw on paper, he could make. It might be out of tin and plexiglass but it would exist. Back at age 12 when I wanted to pay 19.99 on a Topsy Tail, my dad would say "Oh I can make that", and he did! It was probably weed wacker wire super glued to spare tubing, but he did in fact make it. So then, in high school when we had to make our own book of poetry revolving around a theme, of course I made my book out of metal! It was my first time soldering. We used an actual blowtorch in our basement and that is when I discovered the best 'superglue' ever!
So now that I think about it, I am right on track with pursuing jewelry. All of its aspects have been a part of my life thus far, best not to fight it!
