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Friday, April 13, 2012

Are you rrrrrreeeeeady to Scrumble?

Scrumble. (rhymes with rumble) Noun. A free form piece of craft, often crochet or knitting, but can be applied also to jewelry, wirework, bead weaving. Freeform pieces, often made with leftovers or as a practice piece, or just for relaxation. Multiple scrumbles can be joined to make a larger piece. 

I thought - given that Jen is taking a break this week, and she usually does some sort of challenge or inspiration on Fridays - that I would offer you this challenge, or inspiration.

Make a scrumble! A scrumble is a freeform piece, made up with whatever you have at hand. It is relaxed, easy going - has no particular purpose or point, you just have fun making it - using whatever is leftover from the projects on your desk or are available at hand without getting up and going looking for anything. You could think of it as an "end of day" piece - where you use up the leftovers. Sort of like a stew, or a jambalaya.

I've been making these for a few years - often I just make a little charm - I have a few hanging off  the desk lamp here. You could turn them into a cell phone or purse charm - wear it as a pendant  - hang them in the window as a light catcher, or in the car. They are just fun little decorative doo-dads.

Generally - I start with a piece off wire - as there is always lots of that on the desk. I'll wire on a bead on the end, add a few more, maybe branch off with a pendant bead, or make a loop at the end. Maybe wrap the wire back down over the beads and then go off in a different direction. If I was stringing instead of using wire, I might do something where I loop it back into itself and then work back towards the beginning. The idea is to relax, have fun, and be non-judgemental.

Here's a recent piece - to give you an idea. There were rather a LOT of leftover crystals on the desk - so I just kept going - and wound up with a piece that was almost - not quite - long enough to wear as a bracelet. The technique I used is fundamentally the same as the Cluster Drop earrings, but as I had lots of wire left over, I wound it back over the two twisted strands to hold them together better.


 In fact I liked this enough that I put a clasp on it as a bracelet - and then, when I realized it was too short - added another clasp - and it is long enough to wear. With the two hooks on it - I could hook it to some chain and wear it as a necklace too.








And if I ever need those beads to finish a piece, heck, I can just take it apart!

(Watch for the projects that these are the leftovers from in upcoming inspirations!)

Happy scrumbling! You can email me your pics, or if you are on our facebook group, just post a picture when you are done for everyone to enjoy!

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