So I recently finished high school. The exams were pretty tough, but deciding on what earrings to make various teachers as gifts may have been slightly tougher. With Christmas coming up, these earrings would be a great gift for someone creatoive and a tad eccentric like my history teacher, or just make them for yourself.
You Will Need:
- Fabric measuring tape
- Scissors
- a Nail or some other sharp object
- a Hammer
- a scrap plank or board
- Basic hooks (See Vocab Tab)
- Round-nosed Pliers (See Vocab Tab)
How To:
Take the fabric measuring tape and cut off the metal end, then cut off two equal lengths. I made mine from 10cm each. I wanted mine to show mostly the centimeter side because we're South African, but as you can see both sides show.
Lay whichever side you want to see more of facing up and then move one end sideways until it's on top of the other end. This forms the slightly twisted teardrop shape because I thought that a plain hoop would be less effective.
Hold the ends in place and put the loop on the scrap plank or board. This plank will give you something to hammer the nail into so that you don't damage the surface underneath, but it won't be necessary if you can think of a better way to punch a hole into the top of the earring. Carefully place the point of the nail where you want to punch the hole, bearing in mind that you're going to cut the edge to make it smoothe and you don't want it to tear, and hammer it in. Not all the way, but just enough to punch a hole.
Leave the earring impaled on the nail while you cut the top edges smooth, bearing in mind once again that if the hole is too close to the top it will tear. take the earring off and then use the round-nosed pliers to attach the basic hook to the earring.
Rating:
Effort Required: 4/10
They don't take long to make, but it can be quite frustrating to direct the curved hook loop through the tiny hole. Overall there are more challenging earrings to make.
Durability: 8/10
The plus side is that fabric measuring tape is vinyl covered fibreglass, it was made for strength. Who knew sewing could be so hardcore? These are waterproof and super resistant, though I cannot vouch for their fireproofing abilities. The only problem is tearing. One of these tore and I had to make a new one, so just be careful.
Cool Factor: 7/10
These earrings are pretty cool. They're difinately qwerky and original, not to mention that measuring tape comes in all kinds of awesome designs and pretty colours. This is a great way to own your love for craft and sewing and a great gift for someone with these traits.
