Wednesday, January 6, the Cherry Hill East

Art Club met in F068 to work on creating jewelry to sell at East’s upcoming Coffee House to raise money for the New Jersey CARES institute.  Art teacher Mrs. Sandra Sharp has been serving as a guest advisor for the club for the past four weeks to teach the club members technical jewelry-making methods.  To prepare for the Coffee House sales, students have been working on a different technique each meeting.

“We use mixed sized beads, different stringing patterns… and learn techniques about using the different tools,” said Sharp.

Today, Sharp instructed students about creating rings using wire and beads.  They looked through different jewelry-making books for inspiration when devising ideas for designs.  In the past few weeks club members learned how to create bracelets using a system of knotting called macramé, in addition to making dozens of earrings and bracelets.

“It’s interesting learning the techniques and it’s fun,” said Courtney Ma (’13), an Art Club member some know as the premier ring-maker.  “[Making jewelry for a good cause] makes me feel proud to help out other people.”

The Art Club used a portion of its funds to purchase all of the materials, including a basic bead set and tools.  Students work until the late bus departure almost every Wednesday after school and store any uncompleted projects in protective small clear bags.

The Art Club members are still working out the pricing for their products but believe they will most likely range from three to ten dollars.