Volunteer
Necklace Maker
Healing the Culture offers "Four Levels of Happiness Necklaces" to families, groups, churches, schools, and organizations, as a fun way to teach the Life Principles to young people. Sales of these necklaces benefit our ministry! Anyone can help by donating hand-made necklaces to Healing the Culture. It's a great project for your family, organization or youth group! Simply make as many necklaces as you like, and mail them in protective packaging to our offices in Kenmore, Washington.
- You will need:
Fimo Dough purchased from a local craft store (pink, brown, yellow, red, and white)
straight pins
toothpicks
cookie sheets
fishing wire, string, or strong carpet thread
plastic coffee stirring sticks (black is preferable)
scissors
an oven
Your hands will get colored from the dye in the dough, and will transfer colors to the dough. To avoid "bleeding" colors, make the cross first, the star second, the ice cream cone third, and the heart last.
The ice cream cone represents "Happiness Level 1" (physical pleasure)
The star represents "Happiness Level 2" (winning, success, or being better than others)
The heart represents "Happiness Level 3" (contribution to others / making a difference)
The cross (or Eucharist) represents "Happiness Level 4" (love of God)
- Preparing the dough:
Take a small piece of dough, about the size of a nickel. You will need to work the dough by rolling it between your palms until it is soft. If, after working the dough for a few minutes, it still crumbles to pieces, your dough is too old and has become dried out over time. You will need to return the dough and get new blocks. Make sure you begin with the white dough. (You are making beads from lightest color to darkest, to minimize transfer of colors.)
- Shaping the beads:
Slightly flatten your little dough ball, and form the shape using your hands or other tools, according to the drawings above. Part of the fun of wearing these necklaces is that they are handmade, so do not worry about perfect shapes. If it somewhat resembles the shape you are trying to make, you have done well!
For the ice cream cone: Notice that you will need to use two smaller pieces of dough - in two different colors. Push the ice cream and the cone together as best as you can, and attach them by sticking a straight pin through the top of the ice cream and into the cone. As you can see from the picture above, if you use a straight pin with a red-balled head, you will have an instant cherry!
For the cross (or Eucharist): We recommend not making an actual cross, as they tend to break easily. It tends to work better if you make a white circle and impress a cross into the center using a sharp object like a knife, toothpick, or fingernail.
- Finishing the beads:
Before baking, take a toothpick and poke a hole all the way through each bead to form a place for the string to go. You will not be able to do this after baking, as the dough will be too hard! Make sure that you are poking the hole sideways through the bead (as shown in the drawing above), so that the bead will lie flat on the chest after it is strung. If your bead was flattened too thin to begin with, and has no sideways thickness for a hole to be made, you will need to start over. Once the toothpick has been inserted, move it around a little to make an adequately-sized hole. Then, remove the toothpick. If you bake the bead with the toothpick in it, the toothpick will stick to the bead and you will not be able to pull it out.
- Baking the beads:
Line up your beads on a cookie sheet. If you have made many beads for multiple necklaces, you may place them on the cookie sheet as close together as you like. They will not expand in the oven. But don't let them touch, or they may stick together. Follow the directions on the packaging for baking temperature and time. When they are done, they will be hot for a while. Let them cool before touching.
- Stringing the beads:
If you know how to make a professional string with a clasp attached, this would be ideal. Otherwise, most of our necklace-makers simply string the beads with fishing wire, string, or strong carpet thread, making the string long enough to fit over the average person's head, and tying the ends together with a sturdy knot.
In order to keep the beads separated on your string, and avoid having them all clump together in a pile at the bottom of your necklace, you will want to make separators. Cut your coffee stirring sticks into half-inch pieces. String a separator between each bead (as shown in picture, above), so that you have: ice cream cone, separator, star, separator, heart, separator, cross (or Eucharist). Make clasps (if you know how), or tie the ends together, and voila! Your necklace is done.
- Mailing finished necklaces:
You will love your "Four Levels of Happiness Necklaces" so much, that you will most likely want to keep some for your friends and family. The rest, you can place into packaging that will keep your necklaces safe from crushing or breakage, and mail them to:
Healing the Culture
P.O. Box 82842
Kenmore, WA 98028