All photos by Elle Vail '23
With the pandemic has come an era of craftiness, as seen in our various peers' drawing, fashion and sewing accounts. The pandemic has given me the opportunity to create my own accessories and clothes as entering stores has become less comfortable and dressing rooms have been closed. One accessory which I always enjoy to create and that I find pretty easy is crafting my own earrings. This tutorial will teach you how to create your own string earrings which you can pair with any outfit, giving room for personalization.
For creating these earrings, you will need jewelry pliers or two tweezers, two fish hook earrings, two skinnier jump rings, one pair of scissors, two unused string keychains and your choice of beads. All of these materials can be found at Michaels craft store.
For my version of these earrings, I plan to use smaller sized beads; however, larger beads with smaller holes will work too depending on the size of the string on your keychain.
Although jewelry pliers are preferred and will be more efficient, I have not yet purchased them, so I use two pairs of tweezers which serve as a good replacement.
First, take the unused keychain and remove the jump ring from it using the tweezers. This is easiest to do through twisting the tweezers in opposite directions when they are both clenched around the jump ring.
Replace that jump ring with a skinnier one in order to make the attachment of the fish hook earring easier. Although this is not a necessary step, having a skinnier jump ring with the fish hook earring additionally prevents there being a contrast between the fish hook and keychain, making the earrings look more like something you would buy at a store.
In order to seal the attachment of the fish hook, tighten the jump ring using one set of tweezers. Ensure that both ends of the jump ring are aligned using the pinching of the tweezers.
I experimented with a number of color combinations in order to match the fabric of my Easter dress (as seen on the far left). I recommend laying out the beads on the floor before putting them on the string of the earring in order to see which beads you like best together before creating a product. I ended up sticking with the pattern seen in the final picture.
