Hive & Seek

I make no secret of it, or apologies. My happy place is at the beach.

Luckily in Michigan you are never more than six miles from the beach. Unfortunately, only about four months (if you’re lucky) are tolerable for sunbathing on the beach. The rest of the year, we have to make do with our summertime memories.

One way I have found to create a lasting memory is by doing beach glass crafts. This past weekend, the Crafty Michigander (The Crafty Michigander), aka Vinny, aka the Richard Simmons of the crafting world (his description) came to our community arts center, Up North Arts, and taught us how to make beach glass wind chimes.

I signed up for this class MONTHS ago, and my expectations were high. Really high. I am not crafty but I have been forcing myself out of my comfort zone. Trying to keep my empty-nest-self busy. As I mentioned above, I do love the beach so why not try to have a beach glass art piece to admire during those long winter months?

Fun music and the high energy of our instructor made this class a blast! Everything we needed was provided including a piece of driftwood from the shores of Lake Michigan and beach glass from area beaches.

Vinny provided step-by-step instruction with flare. He also provided feedback while making his rounds of the area. It was nice.

I am not the most crafty of crafters. I have great ideas but getting my hands to cooperate and do the work is tough sometimes. Not to mention, my 53-year old eyes are really stubborn and unable to focus on up close details these days. Sigh. Fortunately, this craft does not require super steady hands, and the pieces are big enough to work with even with my horrendous eye sight!

One thing I did mess up on…. I did not leave my invisible line long enough to wrap, and tie around my driftwood. This is where Chuck had to step in and save the day! Well, he did doubt my vision and did drop one of my beach glass lines but overall, he was a big help. I’ll give him a 9/10.

We drilled 5 tiny holes through my driftwood piece, fed the line through and secured it with a sinker. I’m going to super secure those with some super glue before I hang the wind chimes.

I highly recommend any of the Crafty Michigander classes if you enjoy good music, high energy, and a beautiful craft at the end. I hear he’s coming back to Cadillac later this month to do beach glass Christmas trees!

Links:

The Crafty Michigander Facebook

Up North Arts Facebook

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Supplies

Disclaimer: If you click on a link and make a purchase, as an Amazon associate, I may earn commission from qualifying purchases.

Beach glass for those that don’t have time to go out and find their own:

https://amzn.to/486HKyP

E6000 adhesive:

https://amzn.to/4nuxLIo

Hemp twine:

https://amzn.to/4gJFYFW

Driftwood sticks, for those that don’t want to comb the beach:

https://amzn.to/46IQrg7

Super glue:

https://amzn.to/3KLvIRv

Cardboard mat:

https://amzn.to/4nUp5dY

Masking tape:

https://amzn.to/3WiNy0I

Clear fishing line:

https://amzn.to/4gIpuxK

Scissors:

https://amzn.to/46Atj3m

Weight sinkers:

https://amzn.to/4gO6LkC

Adhesive hooks:

https://amzn.to/42gknit

Micro drill bit set:

https://amzn.to/42L9Pbi

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