French Oddities: bijoux pour mon sac

A couple of years ago I ran across a bag of wooden spools, the kind that would be used for thread. There were about 100 of them in the bag, in all sizes, from very small to a normal sized spool for sewing thread. They are modern not vintage and appeared to be made specially for crafting. Over the past few years, a couple of them have been used to hold lace or rickrack, but the bulk of them are sitting unused. I saw a pin cushion pattern once that used some of the medium sized ones. It was cute but somehow I never got around to making it.

Some months ago it came to me what to do with the little ones., I had acquired more of them on a trip to the States. I would make something pretty, a little bijoux pour mon sac. Putting an idea together was fast and easy.

Doing all of those projects with dry rotted lace has really helped in the thinking about the use of Decopatch ( Mod Podge ). As always first everything one might need was assembled in a box.

Not much required for this project. little spools, jewelry making supplies, beads, 12 wt thread, Decopatch and a something to wind thread on. That is the little toothpick sort of thingy at the bottom of the picture. They are used for appetizers here.

First things first, the spools need to be wound with thread. The larger size threads work better for this part, experience speaks here. at a minimum 30 wt thread. Anything smaller than that is hard to neatly wind.
Start by putting a little of the Decopatch on the spool.

Run the end of the thread through the Decopatch to get it sticky, lay the thread across the bobbin length wise and then start winding catching the first wind over the thread end.

Continue to wind 3 or 4 more round and cut the thread tail short. The hump it leaves is distracting to the final appearance.

Continue to wind the entire length of the bobbin. paint a little of the Decopatch on the thread and with your fingers rub it in. Cut the thread end at the bottom of the spool and Decopatch the end so that the end is flush with the other wrapped thread windings. There is no need to go back up the spool for a second layer of thread, one layer looks just fine. Let it dry. That's it!

Now the fun begins! A couple of beads and jewelry supplies;