How to Make Wooden Earrings

Wooden earrings have a natural and earthy look to them. They look great finished with a colorful paint or stained in cherry, oak, walnut, or any other stain color. Wooden earrings in a jewelry store can be pricey. Save money by making your own. Create your own designs to meet your own personal taste and style.

Things You'll Need

• 1 square foot of 1/4-inch wood
• Marking pencil
• 1 square foot of thin cardboard or paper
• Utility knife
• Fine-grit sandpaper
• Jigsaw
• Cordless drill
• 1/16-inch bit
• Spray paint or stain
• Newspaper
• Jump rings
• Small pliers
• Earring hooks

Instructions

1. Draw a shape for the earring on a piece of paper or thin cardboard. Squares, circles, ovals, tear drops, diamonds, rectangles, or hearts are all possibilities. Each shape will be a earring template. One sketch will make a pair of earrings, so you don't have to worry about drawing two matching shapes. Make your shapes the actual size of the eventual earring.

2. Cut out the shape templates using a utility knife. Arrange them in different ways, imagining them as dangle earrings. Think about what colors you want the shapes to be. Design earrings by rearranging the shapes in front of you until you know what you want the earrings to look like.

3. Trace the earring template onto the 1/4-inch thick wood.

4. Put on eye protection. Use a jigsaw to cut out the shapes. Cut slowly and stay on the lines.

5. Use fine-grit sand paper to sand the edges of each shape. This will remove any rough edges left from cutting.

6. Use a cordless drill and a 1/16-inch drill bit to drill holes for the jump rings. Drill the holes in the top of the earring shape as it will hang. The top of the hole should be 1/8 to 1/4 inch below the top edge. Drill a like hole at the bottom edge of each shape if it is not the bottom piece.

7. Set the pieces on newspaper. Use stain and a soft cloth to finish them, or use various colors of spray paint.

8. Attach hooks to the top pieces using jump rings. Gently open the jump rings with small pliers, insert the open jump ring into the holes of the hook and the wood piece, and close the jump ring. Add pieces to make dangle earrings by inserting jump rings through the bottom holes on the pieces. Add as many pieces together in a dangle as you desire. Vary the shapes to make designer accessories. Use the pieces that do not have holes in the bottoms as the bottom pieces.

Tips & Warnings

• Take your time.

• Wear eye protection, and use care and caution when using a jigsaw.

References

• Tool lesson: The jigsaw