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For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015

Haley Faye
ByHaley FayeFeb 7, 2015 | 10 comments

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Box

For the Makers is a monthly DIY subscription box centered around jewelry. (There’s usually at least one non-jewelry project too).

My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Cards

The collection this month is titled “Havisham.” Here are the crafts included for this month’s projects: Estella Necklace, Paradiso Earrings, Velvetine Heaband, and Gilded Stationery

The Subscription Box: For The Makers

The Cost: $29 a month

The Products: The materials and instructions needed to make 4 projects every month.

Ships to: US

Check out all of our For The Makers reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory to see other similar boxes!

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Items

Here are all of the included raw materials for this month’s crafts.

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Necklace

These are my finished products with the necklace and earrings! I tried making a necklace with the three bigger jewels, but that pendant broke while I was painting it. Instead, I made a bar pendant to match the earrings. However, one end broke off when I was painting that, too, so I connected the chain to one end and made it a vertical bar necklace.

I like the way these look the best out of all the crafts this month, but I still have some major problems with them. The paint pen wouldn’t write on the clay for me, so I ended up having to pump a puddle of ink on a piece of paper, and dipping the tip of the pen into that, and using it to paint the pendant and earrings that way. That all worked out to look just fine, but even after 24 hours of sitting, the paint still feels slightly tacky and sticks to my hands. I don’t know if this is because I had to use such a thick layer or if it’s just that the paint doesn’t seal well to the clay. I tried sealing it with a clear coat of nail polish, but the paint started coming up off of the pendant.

Long story short, these pieces look beautiful but just aren’t wearable, unfortunately.

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 JEwel

This is the half-finished and broken first pendant I made.

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Headband

The headband is pretty cute, but I had a hard time keeping the ribbon flat against the band when making the knots. It still doesn’t look awful, but I don’t think I’m that good with making knots!

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Good talk

The cards turned out really pretty! I really liked tracing the designs with the paint pen. In the past, For the Makers projects have required that you print out a digital template for things. This month, they actually included one printed out for us! Unfortunately, when I went to begin tracing the designs, the designs printed on the paper in a size that was too big for the velum sheets. I managed to adjust them to make them work, but they definitely don’t fit on the pages like the tutorial shows them to.

For the Makers DIY Subscription Box Review – January 2015 Finished

Verdict: I really like the theme and projects of this month’s For the Makers box. Unfortunately, there were a couple snags. One rendered the jewelry unwearable (this could possibly be an issue arising from something I did?), and I wasn’t happy that the template was too big for velum sheets but I managed to make do with that just fine. Also, if you’re creative enough you can skip the templates altogether and make your own designs. All in all, I really like the box. Assuming the issue with the jewelry was from something on my end, this may be one of my favorite boxes from For the Makers.

What do you think about For the Makers?

Haley Faye
Haley Faye
Haley Faye first discovered the wonderful world of subscription boxes in 2012 and began writing for MSA in 2014. Over the years, she has found many subscriptions to love. Now a mom of three, her favorite boxes are ones that dress her kids, help her get organized, feed her family, send her snacks, and offer educational fun for her children.

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10 comments

angie

I ran out of sculpey from redoing the pendants and used a crayola air dry clay and the gold pen worked well with that and dried. It wasn’t as shiny as with the sculpey- it was more of a matte gold- but no tackiness at all. Also, what I wound up doing with the three stone pendant- instead of trying to open the jumprings- I added another set of jump rings to go in between the chain and the pendant. Worked perfectly. The necklace and earrings you posted are lovely.

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Haley

Thanks, Angie!

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Lenya

I’m surprised they didn’t just send a block of gold sculpey instead of the pale sculpey pictured! That would have saved everybody a step and avoided the sharpie-clay incompatability issue. As someone with her own clay and beading supplies, I’m going to be attempting this project for myself (sans sharpie).

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Haley

Leyna – that definitely would have worked better! Good idea.

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Noelle

I really liked the look of all the projects, but I struggled with the jewelry pieces too. My first necklace broke when I was trying to attach the chain. I ended up making a gold ball pendant with gems all over it, gold earrings, and a black brooch with the remaining stones. The gold pendant and earrings are still sort of tacky. I’m glad I happened to have an old pin-back to create something that I could wear immediately.

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Sherri

The first project is destined for failure. I think the sharpie markers are oil based and do not work well with sculpey. I love the idea of this box, but it appears to be poorly curated.

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Haley

Sherri – thanks for that info! I was hoping something like that wasn’t the case. If this is an issue for every subscriber, that definitely changes my ultimate verdict on the box. =\

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Cynthia

Mine were sticky too!

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Haley

Thanks, Cynthia! That’s good to know. I really liked the jewelry projects, but if they’re just not wearable for anyone, I’m pretty bummed about the whole thing, then. Hopefully other subscribers got it to work!

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Sneaky Burrito

I’m glad that you included your actual results. If one person struggled with the materials, likely a lot of other people will too.

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