Ear Phone Earrings

Teaching has some strange perks. The joy of finding an abandoned set of broken earphones on the classroom floor has been one of my strangest.

You will Need:

• A set of broken earphones. I guess they don't have to be broken when you start but it's always nice not to waste. If they're already broken you get to make something cool out of something useless. You could even call it up-cycling, if you wanted to get fancy about it but I've always thought that the term sounds kind of like an exercise program that's destined for failure.
• Scissors
• Super Glue 
• Basic studs (See Vocab Tab)

How it's Done:

Step one is to cut off the ear pieces, leaving about a thumb length of cord attached to each. 

Step two is to carefully strip the cord (take off the rubbery covering to expose the wires inside) making sure you don't cut the wires in the process. Remove all the covering you can or the effect is somewhat spoiled. In this pair the wires were different colours on each side. This discovery made me happy because all the time I've spent checking my earphones end up in the right ear wasn't a complete waste. It also makes for prettier earrings.

Step three is to wrap the the wires around the ear piece in a criss-cross pattern and then tie a bow in it. Getting the bow right is quite tricky and takes some patience.

Step four depends on what you're working with. If the speaker part of the earphone is still attached and is relatively flat, just super glue the earring stud straight on. If this is not the case, first remove the speaker part from both earrings and then glue some of the cord you cut off, in a coil inside the ear piece to create a fairly level surface you can glue the stud onto.

The final step is to apply a small amount of super glue to each point on your decorative criss-cross where the wires meet. This is to hold them in place and stop them coming undone or slipping off. Keep the gluing subtle though.

Rating:

Effort Required: 5/10

You could save yourself some trouble and just cut the wire off completely but the criss-crossing has the double function of finishing off the earrings and giving them a way to end without making it look like you've performed some kind of brutal decapitation.

Durability: 6/10

The danger with these is not gluing well enough, especially if you stuffed them.

Cool Factor: 8/10

People who think they're cool walk around with earphones in their ears. People who are cool wear them on their ears. It's that simple. 

Cable Jack Earrings

I got the idea for these when I found a detached jack on my desk in maths. Not only do these look all cool and techno, but they actually help to save the environment by recycling those pesky broken earphones that always got tangled in your pocket. You get to look cool and the penguins get to continue... you know... living. Bonus.

You will need:

• Any broken old earphones or cables with jacks on the end
• Super glue
• Scissors
• Basic Hooks (See Vocab Tab)
• Jump rings (See Vocab Tab)
• Round-nosed pliers (See Vocab Tab)

Method

Take the cables with jacks on the end and make sure that you're okay with never being able to use them again. You don't want to feel like listening to music one day and regret this. The ones I used were broken. Please double check. 

Cut the wire of each jack about 1.5 to 2 cm above where the jack ends. Bend the wire over and super glue it to make a loop. Attach the basic hook to the loop of the jack using a jump ring. 

Rating

Patience Needed: 2/10

Not the most complicated thing in the world. They're really quick and easy to make.

Durability: 7/10

As they're not very big or very complicated they are pretty durable. Their strength depends on the strength of the glue you use and how well you stuck the loop. As long as you have no children swinging off your ears they should be fine.

Cool Factor: 7/10

There are a lot of recycled technological earrings out there. These are pretty cool and I'm sure you can find these things in awesome colours. They're also a handy way of carrying your phone, provided your ear is strong enough to hold it.