Jewelry Making in “the Zone” Reduces Stress
by Janine Gerade.
(Holliston, Massachusetts USA)
In this busy world of texting, deadlines, bills, kids, appointments how do we unwind?
There have been studies that show sitting down to a quiet craft can help.
I find that when I am doing repetitive steps or concentrating on a beading pattern I wind up in the “zone”. The “zone” is when your mind quiets down, all background noise fades away; you’re concentrating at the task at hand and time seems to fly by.
I used to notice this at college. I was majoring in Graphic Design. When I was creating artwork on the computer, before I realized it, our 3 hour studio class was over!
I find this quiet time in the zone calmed the noise in my head. Things like the never ending to- do list, the “shoulda” and “what-ifs”.

Labor intensive jewelry doesn’t scare me anymore when I am relaxed
You don’t need to be an expert in jewelry making to get the calming effects. A simple patten of bead weaving, bending a few wires to make earrings, and even organizing beads into bins can calm the mind.

Definitely in the “Zone” when I made this one…
One of my favorite classes to teach is the wrap bracelet. It can be a knotted or bead woven project with the same goal. To make a gorgeous bracelet that wraps a few times around the wrist. This project is a bit long, because you have to make a longer bracelet to wrap around. During this process some of my students get either really “quiet” or chit- chat and get to know each other.

My studio where I teach
This is the main reason people still love to take classes rather than just learn from a video online. Another reason is that there is someone there to answer your questions or if you get stuck, to help you out.
Janine Gerade
janinedesign jewelry at Etsy