Wooden Cut Out Earrings

I would love to have a laser cutter to make earrings in any shape my mind can conceive but such a thing goes against everything we stand for on this blog. We use what we have.

These material-covered wooden cut-outs are cheaply and abundantly available at craft shops. The beauty of these is that you can improve them with a little paint, decoupage or even a fine liner. These were originally plain red butterflies and look at them now! They're plain red butterflies with patterns on!

You will need:

• Two wooden cut-outs in the desired shape, decorated however you see fit.
• A drill with a 1 mm bit
• Two loop-end wire pins (See vocab Tab)
• Round-nosed pliers (See vocab Tab)
• Two basic earring hooks (See vocab Tab)

Method:

Drill a hole in the appropriate section of each of your shapes. Just make sure the hole is in the same place for both earrings.

Push the end of the wire pin through the hole so that there is about 7.5 mm sticking out. Bend the main section of the pin upwards to create a right-angle and then bend the sticky-out bit up behind the shape until it meets the main pin and forms a kind of triangle with it.

Attach the basic hook to the loop at the the top of the pin and then check the direction and angle the earring hangs at. If you're not happy with it you can change the angle by bending the wire pin, or the direction the earring faces, by holding the loop at the top of the pin secure with the pliers and slowly turning the shape to rotate the loop until it's facing the right direction.

Rating:

Effort Required: 3/10

Working with wire is like holding a newborn baby: it's easy once you learn how to make sure it doesn't bend in the wrong places.

Durability: 9/10

It's always nice to be able to put on earrings without having to worry about the weather. 

Cool Factor: 5.5/10

Don't get me wrong; they're nice, light, practical, big enough to be noticed and subtle enough not to be weird. They match well. You can make them unique and own a whole bunch in various colours, sizes and shapes. In some ways they are actually the perfect DIY earrings. In other ways though, meh.

Pretty Bow Earrings

Remember me? I know it's been a LONG time since I've posted, but I've had a lot of things going on. I'm afraid it may be a while before you hear from me again, I am in a brief period of holidays before I begin writing my finals. Also, my older sister has moved to Poland. She will no longer be gracing us with her posts. I have one or two in the archives, but I'm afraid that from now on you're stuck with me.

 You Will Need:

• Two pretty bows. Choose the colour, type, pattern and size according to preference. If you can't find anything you like, make your own. Just an idea, use red and white polka dotted bows reminiscent of Minnie Mouse. I much prefer green though.

• Loop-end Wire Pins (See Vocab Tab) 

• Round-nosed Pliers (See Vocab Tab)

• Cutters (See Vocab Tab)

• Basic Hooks (See Vocab Tab)

How To:

Take a loop-end wire pin and thread it through the middle part of your bow. Be careful not to damage the bow in any way while you do this. Next, take your round-nosed pliers and bend the pin into a vaguely triangular shape. Use the cutters to cut off the excess. 

Use the round-nosed pliers to attach the basic hook to the loop of the pin. Use the pliers to bend the wire holding the bow slightly forward to adjust the angle at which the bows hang. Do this as many times as it takes for you to be satisfied.

Rating:

Effort Required: 2/10

They don't take much time or effort to make. The hardest part is finding the bows you like, really. They took me roughly 6 minutes to make.

Durability: 7/10

I admit that I have yet to wear them. I kind of just decided that I needed to post today and so I whipped these up, but as a general rule, the simpler the earring, the more durable they are.

Cool Factor: 5/10

The cool factor depends entirely on your choice of bows. Obviously it would greatly increase if you made them yourself, instead of using store bought ones like I did. But there's just so much potential here! With Christmas coming up, these would make a great (cost effective, yet touchingly homemade) gift and could even add a little festive feel to your outfit. I really like that they dangle and, though bow earrings are pretty popular, they're normally made of metal and are attached to studs.

Let us know what you think! Your input is greatly appreciated, so let us know if you have any comments, challenges, suggestions or feedback of any sort. We want to see your finished product!  If you like what you see then please follow us and if you want to keep up to date on our latest posts, follow My Earring Board on Pinterest. Thanks for taking the time to view our blog!