Hello, this is Sakuta of MITUBACI staff.
One of the workshops I would like to hold at MITUBACI someday is a "jewelry experience for children.
Today we would like to introduce some of these concepts.
MITUBACI will have been in business for 10 years in January 2021.
I was single when the company was founded, but within 10 years I got married, had my wedding ring made at MITUBACI, and gave birth to two girls.
Like a mother working in a jewelry workshop, I made baby rings, bangles, and birthstone jewelry for each of my daughters.
As my child grows up, I take him to the workshop once a year to learn about the craftsman's work and to experience hands-on jewelry making.
Now that he is four years old, he happily says, "I want to be a ring maker when I grow up.
Before we had children, we had few mineral books and gemstones in our home, but now, at the request of our oldest daughter, we have several mineral and shell books and her birthstone.
For my second daughter's birthday, she wanted to go to Mie to get pearls as a gift (the birthstone for June is a pearl, and Mie is a pearl-producing area). ) Since we could not make the trip due to the Corona disaster, we ordered shells containing pearls and held an in-home workshop.
The look of joy on his face as he put on his army gloves and used a knife to open the shell and dig out seven pearls.
I often sketch loose gems and make gemstone soap, but lately, he has been repeatedly asking me to discover gemstones in caves, and I spend every spare moment searching for ways to experience them.
I was deeply impressed by the child's "love" and ability to concentrate.
I myself used to think that selling jewelry was my job, but I feel that by following my children's passions, I have been able to broaden my knowledge and approach my work in a much more essential way.
In the course of spending time with my antennae, I learned that there are many children in the world who "love minerals and jewelry" and "love making things," and I began to think about what MITUBACI workshops could do to help them. I began to think about what I could do as a MITUBACI workshop.
It may be an exaggeration to say that jewelry making is "good for intellectual growth," but the process of making jewelry expands children's knowledge, uses their hands, and stimulates their five senses.
For example, in jewelry making, there are the processes of "placing metal on fire to make it softer and easier to process" and "beating the metal to make it strong enough to be used in rings.
In addition to learning about the properties of metals, it's not often that preschoolers get to see fire up close, except on the stove.
The blazing fire, the metal turning bright red. Even from a short distance away, children can feel the heat and the glare of the fire, which is quite powerful.
(Even adults who come to have their wedding rings made are often surprised when they see the fire process and say, "Wow! (Even adults who come to see the process of making wedding rings are often surprised at the change in hardness of the metal when they actually touch and feel it.)
A simpler process is to strike the ring with a hammer to make a pattern on it.
The hammer is used to tap the pieces together, a simple task that can be done by a two-year old.
But this is where all the adults and children show tremendous concentration.
Knock, knock, knock!
Jewelry is one of the smallest sizes in manufacturing, so it requires detailed movements of hands and fingertips.
<MITUBACI workshops are also available for children.
＜You can read more about the children's workshop experience in this blog.
Besides, children love jewelry.
It would be fun to touch a sparkling gemstone, a loose gemstone (a gemstone before it is made into jewelry) or an actual gemstone. I think this is something you cannot experience in an ordinary craft class.
I love the toy jewelry sold at festival stalls, but I would like people to see the sparkle of real jewelry.
It would be wonderful if we could learn about manufacturing by learning about the place of origin, learning about the craftsmen who cut the gems, and watching the craftsmen who carefully fasten the cut gems to prevent them from breaking.
I think it would be nice to have "jewelry making with gemstones chosen by the children themselves" without being bound by birthstones or gemstone values.
The contents of the gemstone workshop scheduled to begin are as follows
■Introduction to Gemstones by Craftsmen
Explain your child's birthstone. You can compare the mineral, rough and polished stone state of the stone.
■Jewelry making
You can choose from a bangle or a pendant.
Strike an imprint, add a name or pattern!
→Optionally, a stone of your child's choice can be fastened.
Fee: 5,500 yen - 1,100 yen (varies depending on items and options chosen)
Parent-child and family production is also available.
Time: around 2 hours
Gemstone workshop content under consideration
MITUBACI has many craftsmen who can do anything related to jewelry, so we are planning the following workshops so that your experience will not end after just one time.
Laser engraved pendant with a drawing of your own
The child's drawing is engraved on the pendant by a craftsman using a laser.
It is interesting to see my drawings take shape, and above all, the laser processing is very cool.
Opening a shell and making jewelry with pearls you picked up yourself
My eldest daughter has repeatedly asked to do it again, the pearl bead out experience.
It's boring just to take them, so let's make pearls into the jewelry you want them to be!
Design with the designer while looking at real gemstones.
Matching rings for families
Baby Rings for Families
I am thinking of various ideas such as
Not only the children, but also the parents accompanying them.Fun for everyone, adults and children alike.We would like to make this an interesting project.
We just renovated our workshop not too long ago, but we need to build another extension to create a children's area!
And I hope this workshop will not be a workshop for girls.
In fact, more than half of MITUBACI's artisans are men, and many of those who collect minerals are also men, so we plan to make the workshop enjoyable regardless of gender.
How do you feel now that you have read this far?
We're still trying to figure out what form to take, but we're willing to be flexible.
If any interested parents or educators out there are interested, we're always here to help!
