It’s a chilly day in early February as junior Jennifer Wei walks through the mall looking for some jewelry. Nothing seems to catch her eye. Then, it hits her. She should create her own jewelry.

“I got myself started into making jewelry because I was sick of the days when I dressed up but I didn’t have any jewelry to wear with it,” Wei said. “I started out making a few necklaces, but it turned into a lot more.”

Wei’s friends began to ask her about the accessories. Wei now brings some jewelry for her friends to buy, or when they have something special in mind she’ll bring it to life.

“I think it’s cool that she makes her own stuff,” Wei’s friend, senior Kim Warden said. ”It’s not like everybody and their brother has the same stuff as her.”

Wei couldn’t have begun her new hobby without the help of her mom, Jodi Harfman. Harfman helps Wei out with expenses and is a big supporter of her jewelry making.

“I’m glad she has found something she likes to do, and it’s something that she is good at,” Harfman said. “It’s a little expensive, but it’s the first real hobby she’s had.”

Currently, Wei is putting together some of her jewelry for a fund-raiser for her aunt’s dad who is battling cancer.

“He is going through chemotherapy, and he’s still working even though it’s painful,” Wei said. “So we decided to do a fund-raiser for him, and I am going to make a jewelry basket and raffle it off and hopefully raise enough money to help him with some of his bills.”

Wei enjoys her time making jewelry, and she has many supporters. However she doesn’t think she has enough talent to make this her career but she likes doing it as a hobby.

“This is something that I want to be able to do for a while,” Wei said. “ I want to branch off into other techniques of jewelry making.”