Atopic Dermatitis Safe Necklace

Strings and Baubles

The first time I heard the term atopic dermatitis was when my sister was a teenager and I was in my freshman year of college.  I had come home for a break and my sister had just been diagnosed.  For years I had seen my sister break out in these crazy painful looking rashes around her neck, ears, and wrists etc.  Her skin would look cracked and would bleed. Even worse it looked like I could pull chunks of her skin off if I tried. I can only imagine how much it actually hurt.  I am sure it was even more frustrating that she had a diagnosis but it still took a long time to figure out all of the triggers.  She has to be very careful with anything that touches skin, even for what I would consider fleeting moments.  This level of allergic reaction I can now understand on a different level since I have a son with food allergies that could kill him in minutes.  I still don’t think I understand in the same way as the one who has to deal with the allergy.  I won’t ever know what it’s like to not be able to eat something I want or wear something I like because it could kill or disfigure my body.  However, I am aware that this is a struggle for some.

 So what do you do if you have an allergy that is severe? You really have very few options.  You can change so you don’t kill, disfigure, or put yourself in extreme pain all the time.  Or you don’t and you must deal with the consequences.  I wouldn’t really consider that much of a choice. To be blunt, I think it sucks.  There is nothing I can do to make it better. No magic potion to drink or spell like in Harry Potter to get rid of these allergies for my loved ones.  So I make the choice I can make; I adjust how I interact with them.  It’s not discrimination its consideration.

So when I considered my sisters allergies, which I still don’t have completely mastered (YET), I thought about how I really wanted to make her a steam punk inspired necklace last year.  However, a lot of those components are things she is allergic to.  I could try to paint some clear barriers on top of the metal but then I am left wondering; is she going to break out from the coating, what if the coating rubs off, what if I don’t paint it thick enough?  It seemed too great a risk to take with her skin. You know you have given a really lame present when it literally causes them pain. At least when it’s not the: I laughed so hard my face, and stomach hurts and I nearly peed my pants pain, I am ok with that kind of pain.

 

So I started thinking about what components are safe. Plastic seems to be safe and a thread I have that is designed for crocheting dollies.  Crocheted dollies, now that’s a funny picture in connection with that sister.  I apologize, side tangent.  Which lead me to think, where can I find plastic gears??? And things along those lines.  I tried to pull things apart as I thought about it to see what was inside.  I often guessed wrong. I did find some very interesting shapes sometimes on the inside that were plastic but not a lot of plastic gears.

 

In the end I took the plastic I found and added little bits and bobs to it with the dollie thread.  (Sorry I don’t know the real name of that kind of thread.)  Slowly adding layers of things till it look right to me, which I never fully reached..In the end I knew it was missing one component to make it perfect and I couldn’t figure out what it was.  I was stuck.  So I tried to listen to the Holy Ghost to see if He could prompt me on what I was missing.  The answer I got was frustrating and yet I was still grateful for it.  “You don’t have the part that you can tell is missing. You will not be able to finish it” After that I got that answer I sighed and accepted that it would have to be the best I could do.  And after a few minutes of thought, I smiled; I will have to just keep trying.

“Purple Pearls”

“Purple Pearls”

   

How wealth is defined in society today varies greatly on who you are talking with.  Some define it by the job you have, income level, education etc.  Some cultures base wealth on having things that are rare or difficult to obtain.  I could argue on similar scale wealth is still gauged this way today.  A person is wealthy because they have a lot of money and most people don’t (rare item).  A person has a PhD. which takes a lot of money, time and (theoretically) skill/knowledge to obtain that level of education (rare item).  A person is in charge of a large company with many fancy titles for their occupation and the big paycheck that comes with it (rare item). Some of my husband ancestors are Eastern Band Cherokee and from what I have read they had status symbols as well. As far as I can tell necklaces were made from beads from seeds, bones, pearls and seashells. Beads made from shells that were purple in color and purple pearls wear a status symbol because of how difficult these were to obtain (rare item).

Everybody has a picture of what wealth looks like and how to get it or even how to keep it if they have it.  I think wealth in its most lasting form is defined by the love that exists within a family.  Do the parents love their children?  Do the kids love their parents?  Do the husband and the wife love each other? I believe that love within a family is wealth (rare item).I am aware this is an opinion.  My own kids my feel differently as they become aware of their own opinions about society.  One of the ways I like to show my kids I love them is by making things for them that show them that I was thinking about them as an individual.  My oldest daughter is really proud of her Eastern Band Cherokee ancestors and asks me for stories about them frequently.  So when she my oldest daughter and my husband got invited to a daddy daughter dance at church and the theme was to dress up like your ancestors she was so excited.  I don’t have pearls I can string for her; we don’t have that kind of wealth.  However, we did have seashells from a trip we took to see family. 

Step #1

I made cold porcelain beads and let them dry.  This took about a month.

Step#2

I sanded the beads smooth when they were dry.

Step#3

I painted the beads with a metallic purple paint I mixed.

Step #4

I painted a thin coat of a white metallic color to make the bead look more like dark purple pearls.

Step#5

I took a dremel and drilled a hole in the sea shell for the rope to go through.

Step #6

I threaded the rope threw the sea shell and knotted it.  Then I added a “purple pearl” on each side of the shell. Making a knot before and after each bead.

My daughter loves the necklace and I love that I can make her something that she loves.

Materials

Cold porcelain - I already had the ingredients in the kitchen  0.00

Acrylic paint- my husbands that he keeps around for projects 0.00

Black cord- left over from another project                  0.00

Seashell- from a family trip                                0.00

Total Cost

                                                             0.00 

Grannies Necklace

Grannies Necklace

My kids Grannie thinks a lot, about everything.  Everything she does screams, loudly, about the amount of thought she puts into her gifts for others; the work ethic she puts into her job, the care she takes in selecting Christmas present for her grandkids, even her battle to have the wrapping paper not ripe in shipping.  I am convinced she would be a Teris genius from how she fits so much in one box.  She also is someone who thinks about the earth and how she and others care for it.  She goes around in her spare time and cleans up beaches and other areas where people litter. She is diligent in her care of things and people, which again shows how much she thinks.

So for Christmas this year I wanted to make something for her that would tell her how much we love her. I was thinking about how she recycles; how she tries whenever possible to buy product that are made from recycled materials. So I thought maybe I could make something for her out of recycled materials.  It accrued to me that she collects soda tabs for a good cause. There is always a container on her counter where she is collecting them. 

I thought, “I could make her a necklace out of soda tabs.”

However, I was worried about the sharp jagged part of the soda tabs that is left over from the can when you pull the tab off. So I took some needle nose pliers and slowly folded over all the sharp ends so it would not cut her skin.  I was able to crochet the tabs together in a pattern that I believe looks elegant.  I feel that it also represents her level of thought and care.