Night 2 - Eight Nights of Lights 2009

On this second night of lights, the tradition is to host a party and exchange gifts. To me, these are more secular traditions, probably established by merging a bit of Christmas tradition into the Hanukah celebrations. But I do agree that Hanukkah should be a joyous celebration.

So, we need to make a dreidle in order to play!!! My brother sent me this great link.....there's so much stuff here about Hanukkah it makes your head spin! And spinning the dreidle is quite the fun game - unless you end up with all your coins in the pot!

Tonight, I'm going to use Amaco's copper wire and show you how to solder it into just about anything you want. Dreidles, ornaments, window-catchers, butterflies...you name it, you can make it, with a little solder and some copper wire!



I totally loved doing this star. Look closely and you will see that the wires thread in and out, not flat against flat, so a little more difficult to do....but the triangles slide....they are not fastened together.



And is this the perfect start to a butterfly wing? Turn it 90 degrees to the right and you have a wonderful pendant. Too fun!!



And the whole reason to do this....to make frames for Friendly Plastic. Linda Peterson has been doing just this for ages and I thought this insert was perfect for the Dreidle. I've used Jana Ewy's Fracture n Fusion....modified to my 1/8" strips. The Hebrew is hand cut, melted on the griddle, then laid on top of the fractured plastic. I let it melt part way down in. Sorry that my Glossy Accents hasn't quit dried - hopefully I can post a better photo later.




So, I hope your Hanukkah party brings a little light and joy into your life this night!