Small Good Things

I’ve been meaning to make collar brooches for quite some time, and today I finally managed to make quick and easy one using earrings. My mother-in-law gave me the earrings a few months ago, and I’ve been trying to find a way to wear them other than as earrings (they were unfortunately too heavy for my ears). So, if you have stud-type earrings (or clip-on ones) that you want to upcycle, give it a try!

What you’ll need:

• a pair of earrings
• 2 jump rings (there are 4 in the photo, but that’s because I can’t count :D)
• chain, about 10cm
• eyepins
• pearls
• (not in the photo) pair of flat-nose pliers, round-nose pliers and wire cutters

Instructions:

1) Thread a pearl to an eyepin, bend it at a 90 degrees angle, and leaving about 1cm, cut off the excess with wire cutter.

2) Grasp the end of eyepin with round-nose pliers, then twist it in a circular motion until the end of the eyepin forms a small loop.

3) Repeat the steps to make the second loop, then simply add the first loop to the second loop before closing it.

4) Continue the steps to connect pearls and eyepins until it becomes 3-5cm longer than your chain.

5) Using jump rings, connect the ends of the beaded chain and the chain to your earrings. If your earrings don’t have anything you can attach the chains to, attach the jump rings to the earring ends.

Voila! I love how it turned out!

The only downside of using earrings is that you have to wear the brooches on lacy collars otherwise you’ll have to puncture the collar. So, if you have clip-on earrings, you’re in for a treat! I’m going to look for vintage clip-on earrings so that I could make some more brooches for non-lacy collars :)

Before I go, I just wanted to share you how I took the photos – yes, that’s masking tapes you’re seeing :) So glamorous, isn’t it? I thought it worked, but no, the top was obviously still creasy…! Anyways, hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and have a great weekend!