Guest Post by Jennifer Gaspers, Monday Evening Tutor
Family Matters had a great opportunity, thanks to fellow Monday night tutor, Jenn Kloc. Her company, Jellyvision*, holds a silent auction every year and chooses a non-profit to donate the proceeds to. This year Family Matters was chosen! Jenn invited Family Matters students to create some items (art pieces, jewelry, etc.) to sell at the auction on May 16th.
My tutee, Ivette, and I wanted to participate. Learning how to brainstorm, Ivette created a list of things she might like to make. Once we formulated a list, we narrowed it down, eliminating things that would be cost prohibitive. We decided to make jewelry – bracelets with matching earrings – out of colored rubber bands using a loop loom. Ivette had received a loom and colored rubber bands for Christmas, and she assured me it was easy to learn to use; she would teach me how to do it. And I offered to bring the earring hooks and show her how to attach the hooks with a jewelry tool.
For the next three tutoring sessions, we set aside time for making bracelets and earrings, creating four different styles. We paired four earring and bracelet sets together, and packaged them in colorful, handmade origami boxes for presentation at the auction. Finally, we had to decide how much the minimum bid ought to be. We estimated the cost of the rubber bands together with the time it took to make each set, and settled on $15/set as a minimum bid.
Working on the jewelry
It was so much fun to create a project with Ivette that was completely directed by her creativity and comfort level! She learned how long it took to make a jewelry set, how to brainstorm her creative abilities, and how to price items based on time and costs. And what did I learn? I learned how to loop loom using rubber bands from Ivette. This experience also reminded me that I can learn something new at any age, from anyone.
The finished product!
*Family Matters is so grateful to be the recipient of this year’s proceeds from Jellyvision’s auction. Thank you, Jellyvision!
