Workshop participants will learn a simple bead-weaving technique to make this type of unique bracelet on July 16. Various colors and take-home kits will be available.

Take a “creative break” this summer! You can learn how to make a simple, yet unique crystal bracelet that also helps local mission teams return to Haiti in the fall. Team members and jewelry artists Lynn Scheerhorn and Shelley Gross will lead a two-hour workshop—open to all—on Wednesday, July 16, from 7-9 pm at Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Lakewood, 14560 Madison Avenue.

At the workshop, you will learn a simple bead weaving technique to create a bracelet known as a “flat spiral.” Various color combinations of sparkling Czech glass will be used. The workshop cost is $30, and includes all supplies, instruction, and light refreshments. Kits for optional take-home use will be available for $20 each. There is no cost to browse and shop…or feel free to place a custom order! The minimum age is to participate is 12, due to the detail involved in the work.

The bead-making workshop is one of many that mission trip participants have organized in the past eight years. They are well liked because workshop-goers come away with a great gift or personal item that they’ve made themselves, and mission teams are able to continue meeting the needs of the impoverished in Haiti.

Lynn Scheerhorn, who coordinates Haiti mission trips for churches throughout Northeast Ohio, began making and selling simple beaded jewelry items as a way to help fund her church’s ongoing trips. She was encouraged by fellow mission participant Shelley Gross, who had already been beading for years. Both Scheerhorn and Gross are now accomplished bead artists, and have shown their work in galleries in Cleveland (Grand River Beads at Silverthorne Gallery, Lake Erie Artists) and Portland, Oregon. Along with other mission team members, they also launched a jewelry-making cooperative at the church in Les Cayes, Haiti, where they do mission work. Jewelry made by the Haitian women will also be available for sale at the workshops.

All proceeds from the jewelry workshops will help fund a mission trip to Haiti in late September. This trip is focused on providing hygiene training throughout the Les Cayes area. Some team members will also meet with Rev. Marky Kessa, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Haiti, to begin planning for future mission trips to other areas of Haiti beyond Les Cayes.

More jewelry workshops are planned for the late summer and fall.

For more information or to RSVP for the jewelry workshop, please contact Luanne Bole-Becker at Bbvideo@sbcglobal.net or 216.228.8355. RSVPs by July 13 are appreciated. (While reservations aren’t necessary, they help ensure sufficient bead supplies and that refreshments are available for all.)