Last Friday my eldest daughter held an African Jewellery party, showcasing all the work she has been doing over the past six months. The week before we all spent every waking moment preparing the house to receive the 24 guests who would be attending, focusing on her presentation speech, display board and costume. Lillie worked exceptionally hard (as did her siblings) and the party went just as planned. This is a photo heavy post as we were so pleased with how everything turned out.
We made some paper bunting from coloured card, cutting out letters of a contrasting colour and sticking on card rectangles:
Lillie made some bright display boards, adding information about what different colours mean to different tribes (this supplemented the information in her presentation report on African Jewellery):
We had bought her a mannequin to display some of her best work:
We also used an authentic African art work:
The rest of the display was made up of her home-made African Jewellery. Lillie had spent hours each day creating the most beautiful pieces from paper beads she had made herself, as well as learning wire techniques:
She had made some material bracelets:
as well as some twisted wire ones:
and multiple rings, some of them very unusual:
But it was her necklaces which I think stood out. Each was made from a mixture of regular seed beads and home-made paper beads, taking into consideration the meanings of the various colours:
Here are some close-ups:
Lillie also made some beautiful ear-rings, which matched some of the necklaces. She had been advised to sell them separately rather than in sets:
Lil had packed each of the pieces of jewellery in little bags, adding a home-made label with the name of her ‘company’ on them. She also priced them according to the advice she had been given by a local jewellery shop owner. We also purchased some brightly coloured envelopes to use as gift bags and I found some pretty gauze bags for her to pop the necklaces in, once purchased:
Because she had worked so incredibly hard on this project and we wanted her to look the part, we bought her a pair of trousers which she paired with some home-made jewellery and a black top:
She was ready to go! But were we really prepared for the 24 guests we had coming? You’ll have to wait and find out tomorrow 🙂