The Emma Edition: D.I.Y. Time: Candy Jewelry

My school’s cafeteria goes all out for "theme" days. For Halloween, the lights are always dimmed and the Monster Mash plays on a boom box. Every Valentine’s Day since I was Elementary School, the room is decorated in hearts streamers and posters and has a special ice cream sundae station set-up. Although I’m usually ambivalent towards Valentine’s Day, this year I got really into it and sent my friends secret candy grams. For art club I brought in candy sweet hearts, licorice, heart lollipops and jelly beans to make into jewelry for a super-fun crafty project for us to undertake. Licorice especially is such a pretty (and tasty!) candy; I’m surprised nobody has done a runway collection inspired by it. Although the other members of my arts club weren’t as ecstatic as I was to be working with candy (note to self: I think they are secretly robots), I created my own candy crafting corner and really got into the zone, making a lot of fun jewelry that I will actually wear out...that’s the best, when art is both visually-satisfying and functional!

If you want to make any of the pieces seen in this post you’ll need these:

· A mix of different colored pipe cleaners

· Glue guns + extra glue sticks

· Clear nail varnish (to put over the candy so it doesn’t rot or melt)

· Barrette clips/headbands/picture frames (whatever you’re putting your candy onto)

· And um, CANDY, duh!

The pastel color palette of the candies reminded me of sock hop vibes. You know, the kinds of girls who work at their local diner, rollerblading around to take customers’ orders, all the while enticing boys with their poodle skirts with musical notes on them and mohair cardigans to share a milkshake with them? That was my inspiration behind making these pieces and also just the fact that candy is sheer deliciousness and should be emblemized.

The only sweet hearts left in CVS were internet-themed, but I thought was kind of fitting. Internet has even invaded our candy! All of the messages are really funny and sexual, as if to say, “Who needs texting when we can have a communicative relationship via candy grams?” I’d like to think this headband is really like a dainty crown, fit even for Lord Licorice from my Candy Land board games.

As you can see, this headband is a little messier than my first try, because I experimented with using the glue gun to seal the candy from rotting/melting. The top of the headband has one of the sweet hearts from the *~*~ internet *~*~ collection. The glue actually adds a foggy mystical effect, so I guess it’s alright.

Pipecleaners really do look like caterpillars

My favorite thing I made during that art club session was these pipe-cleaner rings. I just took two pipe cleaners and twisted them together, wrapping around my finger to calculate the approximate length needed to create a cool ring. Then I just glue-gunned the licorice onto it and lacquered them with clear nail polish. The rings look so tasty that it will be hard not wanting to use them like Ring Pops, to lick during class.

Inside this picture frame I decorated is a postcard that I found in a stack in my room. It’s of teens in St. Louis, Missouri photographed by Martin Schweig and epitomizes the sweet heart look at play here. I want their Beat Generation varsity jackets!!!