I hope that you have been happy and well since my previous post. I'm trying really hard to post more regularly, so be sure to let me know what you think of this blog post and what kind of posts you would like to see more of in the future! I do have some nail art posts up my sleeve... But today, I thought I would share with you an easy little jewellery DIY.
Back when I first started blogging, I was working part-time (oh those were the days...!) and spent quite a bit of my spare time making clay jewellery. Although I tend to do clay projects less now, it's something I still really enjoy and so on my annual leave over the summer, I made quite a few pieces of air-dry clay jewellery. One of my favourite pieces was these little earrings; not just because they are so quick and easy, but because they are both triangular and mint green (could it get any better?!).
1. Knead the clay until soft and roll out onto a smooth surface. Here, I rolled out the clay onto a chopping board covered in acetate (so that it didn't stick!) until it was about 4mm thick.
2. Using the scalpel, cut out two triangles of equal size. I freehand cut out a tall rhombus (like this) and cut it in half to create two equal isosceles triangles. Who knew all that geometry in Maths would actually come in handy?!
3. Push a headpin through the base of each triangle through the tip. It can be tricky to push the headpin all the way through the clay without distorting the shape, however once it is all the way through, you can always neaten up the edges with the side of your scalpel (that's what I did!).
4. Leave the clay to dry overnight. Once dry, the clay will be much harder and slightly lighter in colour. If there are still any dark areas, leave it for a bit longer.
5. Smooth the edges of the clay triangles with sandpaper. For this, I first (very gently!) used a coarse sandpaper and then used a fine sandpaper.
6. Paint all over the clay triangles with acrylic paint. I chose to paint my earrings in a shade of mint (of course!). I'm still as obsessed with this colour as I was back when I started this blog it would seem. Once I had built up enough coverage, I mixed in tiny bit of water into my left over paint and went over the paint work to smooth out any imperfections.
7. Once dry, paint silver paint over the bottom half of each triangle. For this, I just 'eyeballed' half way and painted freehand. However, if you want to make sure this line is crisp, straight and not wonky (like mine), then you might want to use a bit of masking tape.
8. When this is dry, cut off some of the excess headpin. Using the wire cutters, you want to remove most of the wire sticking out from the top of the triangle, leaving about 9-10mm above the triangle to create a loop.
9. Using round nose pliers, create a loop (but don't close it yet). This is probably the trickiest part, I'm definitely always least happy with my loops! The Crafty Owl Cafe have a really helpful youtube video here, which I've found very helpful.
10. Attach the earring hooks to the loop you created on the headpin. To do this, you want to hook the loop (on the bottom of the earring hook) to the headpin loop and using the pliers, close the headpin loop up.
... and that's it!
Pretty simple right?! And although they are so simple, they don't look it! A stylish and quirky handmade gift for anyone.
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments below and d
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♥
