Feather Earrings: A Tutorial

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Earlier this year I was totally wowed by this post by Jessica Jones of How About Orange. I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to finally try it myself– I love the idea so much.
Because I fail miserably at doing things the same way anyone else does, I set about making earrings with layered paper, but used Mod Podge both to glue and seal and then finished with paint. I appreciate that you could use these as a girls night project and make a million of them with a very small investment in materials.
The supplies required to make these are so simple.
  • Card stock
  • Mod Podge
  • Paint
  • Earring wires
  • Jump rings
  • Silhouette
For this particular design, cutting with a Silhouette is pretty important. Not only would cutting this with an X-acto drive you to drink from the dusty and previously untouched bottle of moonshine someone gave you 5 years ago, the precision cutting required to then line them up neatly would be really, really hard to achieve. If you want to hand cut shapes, go with something simpler. I have a few options to share coming up. For now, on to the feathers!
I’ve shared the Silhouette cut file here. Mod Podge does a great job of stiffening paper. I chose to use 4 layers of card stock, but you could add more if you want them to be thicker or less if your cardstock is very heavy. So for one pair of earrings, you’ll need to cut 8 feathers. Or 16 if you’re putting two feathers on each ear. You’ll see that there are two different sizes in the file, and of course, you can adjust the size/scale to your liking. I loved the negative shape that these create when you peel the feathers away.

I like to work with Mod Podge on a clean sheet of freezer paper with the shiny side up. The Mod Podge doesn’t stick to it easily.

Paper absorbs the Mod Podge, so you’ll need to lay out your pieces and work with some speedy enthusiasm. Here you can see that one feather’s tail is pointing right and the others are pointed left. We’re going to give all four a quick coat of Mod Podge–

And then flip them one by one, adding a coat of Mod Podge before flipping the next.

Coating both sides before sticking them together gives them a solid finish when it dries, but also the tiniest bit of wiggle to adjust them and line up the sides evenly.

When you’re finished with the assembly, pick up the feather and smooth the edges, seal the underside and all the way around and brush away any excess.

You may need to use a needle or pin to clear Mod Podge out of the hole that you’ll use for the jump ring if any has gathered there. You can also adjust the shape with your fingers– you may want it to dry flat or you may want it to have a bit or curl or curve to it. However you shape it up, gently plop it on a clean and dry spot on your freezer paper or non-stick surface to dry. Which won’t take long at all.

And the jump rings and the ear wires, and you’re good to go! And then there are 57 million options. Paint them any color you like.

And that’s it. So simple, right?

Comments

  2. says

    So, so cute! I have neither a Silhouette nor moonshine, so I’m going to skip the feathers. I wonder if I have a tiny paper punch that would work? Hmmm.

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  3. says

    I love these, especially the gold. Really wishing my silly Silhouette mat was working better these days. And that I had a handy supply of jewelry supplies. A couple on a nice leather chain would look great too!

    Reply

  6. says

    Heavier card stock for scrapbooking is easier to assemble than the type of card stock you can run through a printer, but any will work. You may have to play with the Silhouette cut depth settings a bit.

    Reply

  8. says

    FABulous…but I don’t have a Silhouette so I am going to have to play with a puncher but not which…lol…I love to paint and make jewelry as well as use Mod Podge…I have all kinds including the glitter ….hm…hmmmmm…gonna have to play now…thanks for sharing…

    Reply

Trackbacks

  4. […] In relation to archery, wood is most often used to make traditional bows and arrows. But wood and paper also can be turned into unique jewelry. Make small, wooden pieces typically found with dollhouse-building materials and your favorite archery image or quote into a fun necklace. Or layer paper cut-outs of an arrow or feather to create your new favorite statement earrings. […]

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