When my kids were young I turned to making more jewelry. The projects were usually quick (under a couple hours), easily stashed out of reach, and didn’t involve things like knives or torches. Wire is one of my favorite crafting media, and I still like this wire wrapped stone with braided wire necklace I made in July 2007. I feel the photography on this piece also shows skill improvement.

Ironically, when my kids were babies, I stopped wearing necklaces and earrings so they wouldn’t be targets for little hands. Over that time I developed a neck sensitivity and can now only wear a very light necklace for an hour tops before it bugs me and has to come off. Heavier necklaces like this one don’t last 30 seconds.

Happy Fourth of July, may your neighbors celebrate quietly and early, and may your animals be calm.

P.S. My apologies for email subscribers on a partial post yesterday. I started writing tomorrow’s post, stuck my phone in my pocket, and the post published itself, incomplete. The full post should go out tomorrow, barring more technology hiccups.