John Adams Gemex Deluxe Creation Station Review

Reviewed by Deb Banasko

After months of lock-down and now socially distancing, like most parents I’m struggling with new ideas for the summer. The contents of our craft cupboard is dwindling, I’m all “baked out” and am desperate for something new and fun to do with the children.

I have to say I was initially a little unsure about reviewing yet another jewellery making set as I have tackled quite a few of these over the years with my children, but this one seemed to adopt a much more original idea than the usual “threading beads onto string or plastic bands” that we are used to, so I was really grateful to receive the John Adams Gemex Deluxe Creation Station.

On receipt of the product and after scanning over the box I realised that there was a strong chance that I would be creating these jewels in secret when the kids were asleep (I’m not even joking) as it looked fantastic!

My children are 8, 5 and 2 so I waited until my younger boy was asleep (a compromise to them all being asleep) before getting the Gemex set out.
The pink and purple box is pretty large and pleasantly easy to unbox and set up, with clear and step-by-step instructions. There is a section which refers to an alternative piece of equipment which we do not have in this set, and that was the only thing that sent us into a panic of wondering what we were doing wrong.

It took perhaps 30 minutes to empty the little bags, set up the creation station and understand what we had to do, but this was mainly because the kids were enjoying arranging all of the accessories and gems into the little compartments on the creation station, like a jewellery box. The amazing plus side to this is that you do not have to then display it anywhere in the house unless you wish to, as there’s a plastic cover that is laid over the compartments to hold everything in, then the station slides back into the box and away into the craft cupboard again. Usually when you build these things they never fit back into the box and you’re stuck with another bit of plastic in one of the bedrooms!

I have to say I had two very excited children at this point. In the set you get two magic mould trays; one with several fruit shapes and another with various 3D jewel shapes. Take a bottle of the “liquid magic” and slowly squeeze it into the mould design you wish to use. The liquid pours slowly, so we didn’t have any spillages. Next you choose the gems to add into the the mould, arranging them and pushing them under the liquid with the stirring tool. The final step is to place the mould inside the central shell light on the creation station, close the lid and press the button. It is quite exciting to watch the flashing light start up on the shell, whilst you wait for the beep alerts to let you know that it’s all finished.

Once the design has set, you can pop your creation out of the mould and use further “liquid magic” (with the shell light) to fix it onto hair clips or a ring, or attach a metal loop to the jewel to convert it into a key-ring or bracelet charm. You could even add one to your own necklace chain. There are also two clip-on earrings in the kit but I managed to break one, hopefully I will manage to fix this with some pliers next time.

We love this product; the creations were beautiful and gave the kids a real buzz of satisfaction as they were unlike anything we had made before. They were so excited to add the jewels onto their key-ring and clips. From a parent point of view, this is one craft that I will be happy to bring out again soon as it’s quick to set up after the initial use.

Now that we have made a couple of jewels each I would feel happy to be less “hands on” with the kids and potter around the kitchen whilst they create their own designs.

After creating five jewels during our first session, we still have an entire bottle of the “liquid magic” left plus part of the first bottle (it’s difficult to see how much we have used to be honest). I would guess that you would get another two or three sessions at least out of this kit with two children, which is great value for money considering how much we made. There are more than enough decorative gems, which is not always the case with these things, with the bonus of a sticker sheet to decorate your station if you wish. It’s a good quality toy and at a fantastic price point of £29.99.

One drawback to this set was that we found that the gems didn’t set in the 3 minute cycle as claimed; the backs remained a little sticky. We did two cycles as standard, which wasn’t a huge issue other than it got two very impatient children a little bit fidgety. One of our jewels also fell off the hair clip after about an hour, although it is possible that we didn’t use enough of the setting liquid so we will try again or resort to super glue.

I had a look on the internet for refill packs, and it does seem that they are available from one lesser known online store but I haven’t tried to place an order. It would be a real shame not to purchase an extra pack as far as I’m concerned, as it really is a quality product and a really novel idea for kids jewellery.

As a side-note I would love to see a company make a “boys/unisex version” of something like this as well, to open it up to children’s different tastes. Now when I say this, I am not referring to colour or the decorations necessarily as we don’t have a house of defined girls toys and boys toys. However my son doesn’t want to wear hair clips or a bracelet, so his part of the craft was more concerned with the key-ring and making things for me. I know that if there had been more key-rings, some sort of alternative ring mould and a wrist band of sorts, where he could add darker coloured decorations and perhaps superhero faces, he would have been delighted. This isn’t a criticism in any way, just a suggestion as it is such a fantastic toy.

This is a truly original idea, fun for both child and parent and amazing value for money. I would estimate we could get at least 3-4 craft sessions out of this toy, which will help to break up the summer holidays. Don’t dismiss this as yet another jewellery craft as I almost did, it’s different from anything else that I’ve seen. I would score this product 4.5 stars out of 5.

Rating: 4.5/5.

RRP: £29.99

More details can be seen on the John Adams website here.

This product can be purchased from Argos here.