How to make jewellery with a child in your arms

When I started making jewellery, I had one child, and worked when she napped, or after she’d gone to bed in the evenings. Now I have two, and there seems to be less and less time, especially as the younger one is no longer napping reliably during the day (or settling to sleep reliably at night). But I still have customers, lovely things I want to sell, and more design ideas that are waiting to be made. And I bet I'm not the only one in this position, so this set me thinking about how to make it all work, and I've come up with the following brief guide to making jewellery with a child in your arms, or at your feet...

1. Procrastinate

Yes, now is clearly not a good time, so make it all wait till later. Later may mean that point in the evening when even the bats are asleep and you really should be warming the duvet yourself, but surely, you keep telling yourself, there’ll be a time later when everyone leaves you in peace. Mañana, mañana... When you’re fed up of waiting for that perfect moment, move on to no. 2:

2. Bribe, distract or otherwise occupy the baby with something else.

Give her a piece of paper and a crayon. Lay out your chosen beads into a pattern for a necklace. Rescue the bits of crayon from the baby’s mouth and give her a pencil instead. Re-arrange the beads a couple of times, trying to replicate the design you saw in your head earlier. Rescue the pencil from her mouth, and give the baby some lego. Re-arrange the beads one more time, and start to assemble all the little bits you’ll need: clasp, jump-rings, crimps, three kinds of pliers... Rescue the lego from the bin and give the baby a biscuit. Cut the first length of wire. Notice a small hand reaching up to you and absent-mindedly take the thing your child is offering. Realise that you’re now holding a small splodge of pre-chewed biscuit. Go and wash your hands. Return to find your “baby” is tall enough to reach your desk and is massively excited by the way the beads roll around, and by the way they bounce as they hit the floor. Retrieve beads from all corners of the room, while cursing loudly. Give up and go downstairs.

3. Engage their attention properly.

The little one is asleep, and you think you might be able to engage your older child’s attention so that she will watch without trying to interfere too much. Explain the processes and techniques you are using, and be prepared for a string of questions and comments such as:

- can you make me one of those?

- can I have one for my birthday?

- when will you make me one like that?

- I wish I had one of those

- I think if you made that in blue it would go with my new dress

- do you think I can have one of those when I'm a bridesmaid?

- why don’t you make it smaller so it will fit me?

- you’re very clever mummy, to make these things, but why are they all for grown-ups?

- I really really like that

4. Abandon the housework.

If you’re lucky, there will be a point in the day when the children are asleep, or otherwise out of your hair, and you will have a choice: make jewellery, or mop the kitchen floor; order some new beads, or do the grocery shop online; sketch some new designs, or write those thank you cards that are now three months overdue... Clearly, you have to listen to your conscience occasionally; you don’t want your family to die of the plague because you haven’t cleaned in months, nor do you want Great-Aunt Mildred to think you didn't like her beautiful gift. But if you’re trying to get something done for yourself, sometimes you just have to seize that moment, and let the rest go hang. Embrace the dust-bunnies. Make those earrings.

5. Be professional, even if it means lying, scrabbling and employing the electronic nanny.

OK, so I haven’t done a very good job of that here, but occasionally you have to punch above your weight if you want people to take you seriously. Talk about your business, not your hobby. Be reliable: describe your work proudly, package it beautifully and deliver it on time. This is especially true when fulfilling a commission - these people have sought you out and are expressing confidence in your talent and skill. They don't want to hear that you might be a few days late delivering something because your kids just had the pox and you've .. no, ok, I’ll stop there. See what I mean? Talk about the way the colour of the amethysts matches the fabric swatch your client sent, and how excited you are to be creating a matching set of tiny silver bracelets for the flower-girls, and don’t mention that you’ll probably have to stay up half the night to finish them. Just get them made, beautifully, and get them in the post on time.

6. Stop from time to time to remember why you’re doing it.

This part helps a lot. Order some new beads just for yourself and make something you have no intention of selling, ever. Last time I did this, I had a commission for something identical within half an hour of putting it on. So saying, it might be time I did some bead shopping...

Do you run a business from home? What are your tricks for juggling work and very small people? (Oh such a great mental image there...)

I'm linking this up with Handmade Harbour's Handmade Monday series - there are some really inspiring craft blogs there so why not take a look?