First it was feathers in the hair, now it’s feathers everywhere! Two years ago I came back from a visit to Boulder with these particular feathers in my hair and have been planning on getting them put back in, but since I’ve been too lazy to, I decided tonight I would make them into earrings. I’m pretty excited about the outcome! Here’s how you can make some yourself:
Materials:
- wire cutters
- round-nose pliers
- chain-nose pliers
- 2 crimps
- 2 earring hooks
- 2 earring pins
- 18-20 rooster tail feathers (or any kind of feathers you’d like, make sure they’ll fit in a crimp)
- 10 inches 20 gauge copper (or any color you’d like) wrapping wire (you can find this at most craft stores, it’s very inexpensive)
- beads of your choice (I used two glass green beads and 4 copper-colored pony beads)
Step by step:
(1) create the beaded part of the earring by putting the beads on the earring pins. next, put use your round-nose pliers to make a loop at one end, cut off the head of the pin using the wire cutters, and make a loop on that end as well. cut off any excess. (2) next, take your feathers and bunch them together. put the crimp around the ends, and pinch it together about half an inch down from the top. (3) using your wire cutters, cut the wrapping wire in half so you have two 5″ pieces. starting just underneath the crimp, wrap the wire around the feathers until you reach the top of them using your chain-nose pliers. [this part can be a little bit difficult; if you don’t have any experience you may want to use a thinner wire, possibly a 22 or 24 gauge one. if so, you will need a longer piece of wire. cut 10″ per earring to be safe and trim off any excess.] once you reach the top of the feathers, use your round-nose pliers to create a loop. trim off any excess. (4) open the top loop of the beaded part of the earrings and attach one to each earring hook. (5) open the bottom loop of the beaded part of the earrings and attach to the feather loops. (6) repeat steps 1-5 for the second earring. (7) admire my beautifully painted nails.
Congratulations! If you made it through this relatively simple tutorial, you now have a beautiful pair of feather earrings to sport! If not, don’t worry! Either comment on this post to ask for some tips or just retry it again after reading a chapter of your book, watching your favorite movie, or maybe even treating yourself to a margarita. Give yourself a break and come back to it.
I love these earrings because not only do they make it look as if I have feathers back in my hair, but I can wear them both together or just one at a time! Also, they’re only in when I want them to be. Enjoy 🙂
The Barefoot Truth 