A review : entirely Solicited

 Chic Maker  are a French company who design jewellery and have a monthly kit plan.  They asked me if I'd like to review one of the kits.  Moi? I said.  I don't make jewellery.  I have fingers like sausages and not a lot of patience for making stuff that is slow to show results.  And I have no tools, and absolutely no knowledge.  Oui, said Chic Maker, you should have a go.  And they sent me a starter kit (the tools) and the February Kit, which makes a multi stranded beaded bracelet.  Oh la la!  I was nervous.

The instructions were brilliant.  Well photographed, obvious and beautifully step by step.

I genuinely had no idea what the 'magnetic clasp' meant...it wasn't until I'd finished the bracelet that I realised that the clasp comes apart and has a magnet in it to hold it safely shut. That's how inexperienced I am.  And how clever the kit as proven to be!

I tackled it slowly and exactly in the order of the instructions.  I would imagine that over all it probably took me about four hours to finish, but I did it over a couple of days, as the mood took me.  I was terrified that if I rushed it and made a mess, I'd have to tell Chic Maker that they'd found the only person in Europe that couldn't do it! Remember, I didn't even know what a crimp bead was for.

It so happens that I love turquoise and to see it 'trending on catwalks' is a thrill -  even I know it's high street bound if it's being used by the fashionistas.  So I had absolutely no trouble working myself up to trying the make.  I have had absolutely no trouble wearing it  several times this week either;  let's be honest, that isn't always the case when you make yourself something.  

I loved it.  I loved the fact that when I opened the kit, I found 2 bead varieties that I would have walked past in a store: couldn't see the potential in them as beauty for sure.  And they truly work so well. Certainly a good lesson in not under-rating the plain stuff!  I liked the kit idea - that the pre-selecting had been done for me, and that there was a finished and plausible design to work to.  Apart from sausage fingers, one of the reasons I haven't tried jewellery before has always been that the range is so vast and that I'd never be able to 'design', just by adding beads to wire.  I think for me, this kit was the perfect answer.  

And as a plus, I discovered from the Chic Maker Facebook page that their blog shows another project that will make up from the 'leftovers' of the February kit.  Nice surprise.

I've walked around the idea for a week and today, I've subscribed; I figure this is going to be fun, without pressure and very do-able.  J'adore!