Earring Holder(s)
Hello Kreators,
Before you begin kreating, I just thought I should let you know that you don't have to use this DIY for earrings, if you don't have pierced ears, you can use it as a craft activity, room decor, in preparation for earrings in the future, or to organise something else. But in my case, I do have pierced ears and have piles of cute earrings that I had to organise!
I have actually made two different earring holders/organisers. The method for both is in this post. The second is handy if you happen to have any Hama beads lying around, keep scrolling past to see it.
The first earring holder was inspired by seeing something similar to the one I made on Etsy, it looked super cute and I thought that it would be fun to personalise it with my colours. I would definitely recommend it because I had a lot of fun making it and picked up some new drilling skills! (Don't worry, it's actually pretty easy - and surprisingly quick).
Materials:
-Piece of thin wood (See step 1)
-Mini art easel (Optional, but it does make it look really cute. There really cheap, I got mine from a dollar store)
-Paint and paintbrushes - try and use good quality ones as the lower quality ones' bristles tend to get stuck in the paint
-Tape (preferably masking tape)
-Pencil and eraser
-Ruler
-Drill
Method:
1. This step is optional, I just thought I should include it because this is how I decided to obtain my wood. So for this step just measure out the dimensions of your earring organiser, ensuring it's compatible with the easel. I got a sheet of Bolsa wood cut at Bunnings (it doesn't cost much - first and second cut free!)
2. Using a pencil and ruler, lightly draw out the design on the wood. Keep it simple and don't make it too detailed because the earrings will cover lots of it. I wrote the colour of each section on mine.
3. Next up to paint! This is how I set myself up ready to paint:
Paint the edges your chosen colour. Don't worry if some paint gets on the front, you will be painting over it. Or another idea (which I wish I thought of when I started this) is when painting one section, continue it over the side doing it as you go, so you don't worry about getting differently coloured paint on the front.
[Ignore the already painted front in the picture, they order of steps in this post is much better than the order I did it:)]
4. Firstly, section one part/shape off by putting tape on the lines of the surrounding sides as shown in the paint setup and below. NOTE: Make sure the tape you use is sticky, I used a Kikki.K washi tape and it did not block the paint well - masking tape always works. Once you have taped it off, start painting, it's good to paint a little onto the tape so you know your covering the whole area. After it is completely dry, peel the tape off to hopefully reveal a clean finish.
5. Repeat step 4 until you have finished all sections.
6. If some of your tape was not stuck down properly, leaving paint outside it's area or you find an edge that is not so clean, don't panic. Just put some more tape down and paint over it as I was. about to do below.
7. Now measure out your holes with a pencil and ruler. But be warned! It does not rub off easily so try and press lightly and have a pretty good idea of the sort of spacing you want before you start dotting. I did my holes 1.5cm apart, leaving a 3cm gap from the edge of each side of the wood.
8. Now to drill the holes. It took me about 30 minutes to drill all my holes shown above and below - but you will hopefully be quicker (I had never picked up a drill before). For those who are not familiar with drills here's a crash-course:
First the 'drill bit' should be big enough to fit an earring through, but small enough so the earring front doesn't fall through. I used a 2.5 mm drill bit. (Note that the bigger the drill bit, the cleaner the hole). Next ensure you have something below your DIY, and make sure you won't mind having a few holes in it (I used some thick wood). Next line the drill bit up so it is touching the pencil mark, exactly where you want the hole. Tilt the drill vertically and press the button whilst holding down your wood and putting pressure on the drill. Because the wood is thin it does not take much pressure. Just move it up and down a bit to ensure a clean cut. Don't worry if you have trouble at first, you will get the hang of it.
After you have drilled all the holes check that none need an extra drill to clean it up. Brush off any sawdust. You can pick at flaking wood around the holes but be careful not to take off any paint.
9. Now grab those earrings and arrange them in your new earring organiser any way you like! Put it on your easel and step back to admire your handiwork - there you go!
This next one was inspired when I found a pretty string art idea on Pinterest and thought of a creation I made when I was little - Hama beads. (If you're not familiar with Hama beads, they are coloured beads that can be melded together by an iron - very trendy back then;) The perfect solution then came to me, a combination of both. A string art shape where I could hang hanging earrings, and Hama beads around to organise stud earrings. So the instructions are below, it worked out really well for me, so I hope it does for you too! Tip: This one is also good for travel, if you want to make a smaller shape to carry around different earrings.
Materials:
-Hama beads
-Hama bead template (any size or shape)
-scissors
-yarn/wool
-masking tape
-needle
-wooden skewers (about the length of the template)
-tweezers (optional)
Method:
1. The first step to create your earring holder is to plan the design. You can do this on a scrap piece of paper, or physically set it out. Just remember to leave a space in the middle, with sufficient beads around it for support. To help place the beads I found tweezers helped towards the final stages as the beads can be a bit fiddly.
2. Once I was happy with my design, I then had to iron the Hama beads. This is probably the hardest step as you have to get the balance right. Too much heat and the holes will close up, making it impossible to get the earrings through. Not enough heat, and it will snap and/or fall apart. Begin with placing baking paper on the front and back of the design (remove the template). My beads in the corner wouldn't stay in place so I just used a bit of masking tape and stuck them in place while I ironed. As you iron, ensure you keep checking it so that the beads don't close. Once the beads are somewhat sticking together, flip it and iron.
This is how mine looked once I had finished the front:
3. Once your design has cooled, break some wooden skewers so they are the appropriate size and length to fit as a border on the back of the holder. I used two lengths of skewers per size. Then using hot glue, glue them down. (Ignore the string in the picture, when I did this I reversed the steps but it is better to do it as how I have written it).
4. Now string the yarn/wool through. Carefully pull it through the inner bead holes with a needle, then tie it off at the back. (Again, ignore the tape in the pic).
5. To place your stud earring in simply push the front part in a hole in the front of the earring holder. Then place the back on the other side of the earring holder. Simply hook any hanging earrings on the string. And then you're done!
So I hoped you enjoyed making one of these earring organisers as much as I did! Feel free to leave any comments or questions below. Enjoy your summer holidays!
Kate xox
