What’s a wishpot?

Tags

affirmation, handmade jewellery, polymer clay, positive thinking, wishpot

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will have come across my wishpots before. I created the first wishpot when my daughter was born and we were planning a family gathering to welcome her. I was inspired by the fairy tales where the fairy godmothers give blessings to the newborn baby. Everyone spoke a wish for her future and I sealed the lid closed. Since then I have made a few different versions as I have been refining the way that the stopper bead is attached.

Selection of polymer clay wishpots

This current method of stringing allows the wishpot to be worn as a pendant on a necklace, or stand alone as an ornament. Here’s a little video clip to show you.

I now have a few of these listed for sale on my website with more colours on the way. The wishpots come in a recycled paper gift box with a little scroll that reads:
“This is a wishpot. The idea is to use it as a focus for your own empowerment and gratitude. It can be worn as a pendant or stand alone as an ornament. To use it: open by pulling the bead lid upwards. Speak your affirmation or imagine your intended circumstance and blow into the open wishpot to add your wish. Close it by pulling the thread on the side (the one that’s shorter when open). When your wish is complete, open the wishpot to release it and say “thank you” as it goes.”

I have a couple of these wishpots myself and I wear one nearly every day. Speaking of things to be grateful for – I have just discovered it’s a Bank Holiday on Monday. What a lovely surprise! I hope you have a great weekend and that your wishes come true.

Evolution of a wishpot

Tags

art bead, handmade, necklace, polymer clay, wishpot

I’ve just finished a commission for a wishpot which has helped me work out some of the technical issues I’ve had with stringing them. I began making these several years ago so I’ll show you some highlights in their evolution. Apologies for the quality on the older photos, I’ve tried to fix the colour balance.

This mother of pearl effect wishpot was one of the first I made. It is strung directly on the necklace. The bead stopper can be lifted to open the wishpot. The necklace string keeps it in place when it’s being worn.

There were a few things I didn’t like about this design. Firstly the necklace needs to be thin in order for the bead lid to be opened (the stopper bead plus cord on either side needs to fit through the mouth of the pot). Also unless it is a specific commission I get stressed about choosing the length for a necklace.

For my next version, I wanted the pendant to go on a thicker kumihimo cord. Since there was no hope of this going through the opening of the wishpot, I put it on a ribbon that created a bail to hang on the necklace. I included lengths of ribbon in the necklace to link the design together. This version was better, but still not massively versatile – I couldn’t picture the ribbon working on something like a chain.

My latest necklace was for a wishpot on a mala necklace. I used beads made from imfibinga seeds. The necklace needed a specific number of beads which made it pretty long. I wanted a way to allow the necklace to be shortened without adding a clasp. My solution was to add a button toggle to the wishpot attachment.

This means the necklace can be doubled over and the wishpot used to attach the two sides together. The wishpot can now also exist independently, so for example you could pop it in your pocket or wear it on a belt loop.

The thin nylon cords still allow the pot to be opened. and the bead and macrame knotted button hole on either side keep the pieces together. Hooray! It finally feels like all the pieces of this design make sense!

Another birthday, another wishpot

Tags

BSBP, kumihimo, polymer clay, toggle, wishpot

This is simply a “what I’ve been doing” post (I do find these interesting on other people’s blogs, so maybe someone else will find this interesting).

So… I have made another wishpot – this time in purple as requested by the recipient (I love purple so this was no problem). 🙂

Purple Wishpot by Cate van Alphen

Probably the most time consuming part was the cord which I braided myself (using a kumihimo disk).

Following the Bead Soup Blog Party (which I am STILL looking through) I realize that a clasp can (and should) be much more than a cheap finding you add on at the end. Therefore I made a matching toggle with polymer clay and wove two different ribbons into the kumihimo braid as I worked to form loops along the whole length. This means the necklace can be worn at different lengths (by selecting a ribbon loop where you want to join) and the toggle can be a decorative element in it’s own right.

Purple Wishpot by Cate van Alphen

P.S. Happy Birthday 😉