Easy Guitar Pick Earrings

Here in the Live Music Capital of the World, guitar picks are pretty easy to come by.  But they're not just for strumming guitars!  They can easily be turned into earrings, and the possibilities for transforming them are endless!

The first step is to find some guitar picks that really catch your eye.  Any music or guitar store will have them, and they'll most likely be standard looking picks (colored with a Fender label).  The ones shown in the picture are decorative picks from Austin's own Wild About Music, located on E. 6th Street.

Next you need to put a hole in the pick.  Guitar picks come in different thicknesses.  If you get a thin or extra thin pick, you can probably poke a hole in it with a bead reamer.  Personally, I like the weight of medium to thick guitar picks. They still make very light earrings, but I think they have a nicer swing.  It's entirely up to you!


If you go with a medium or thicker pick, you'll want to use an electric drill with a very small bit.  Probably no larger than 1/16. Remember to protect your eyes when drilling.  Safety first!

Mark each pick with a Sharpie where you want to drill.  The placement of the hole should be close to the top.  If you drill too far towards the center of the pick, you'll have a much harder time attaching your pick to anything.

Once you've marked the spot to drill, you should secure your pick to your drilling surface.  Don't try to hold it with your hand!  Fingers should keep a safe distance from power tools.

Also, keep in mind that when you drill through the pick, you'll also drill through whatever is directly below your pick.  Get a stack of old magazines, and use a hand clamp like the one shown in the picture to hold the pick steady on your drilling surface.

I used an old edition of Vogue, and I positioned it on a table with a ledge so that I could clamp the pick, the magazine, and the table together all at once. Position the drill directly over the hole you marked, and gently press through the pick. You should get a pretty clean hole, but check the back side for any rough edges that might require filing.

Now that the hard part is over, it's time to let your creativity run wild!  You can use jump rings to attach chain for added dangle, or go simple and hang them directly from an earwire.  You could even drill a hole in the bottom of the pick to dangle beads!  Guitar picks are pretty inexpensive, so you can try lots of different looks!

Bottle Cap Earrings

We're hoping everyone had a fun New Year's while kicking off 2012! And just in case your New Year's involved the requisite imbibing of holiday hooch, here's a fun little project for any leftover bottle caps you may have acquired! Here's what you'll need:

• A pair of matching bottle caps
• Beads (optional)
• Earwires
• Europunch tool
• Round-nose pliers (for making loops if you're adding beads)
• Needle-nose pliers (for wiring the beads if you're adding any)
• Cutters (for cutting wire if you're adding beads)
• Wire
• Jump rings

Let's start with the bottle caps. Find two matching ones (and if you have to down another bottle to do so, well, so be it!) You'll need a Europunch tool for this part -- don't worry, we have plenty at the store! It's what you use to punch holes through the bottle cap.

Line up your punch tool in the side of the cap, so that the logo will be right side up. Then, simply squeeze the handle together and punch right through that cap!

Then slide a jump ring through the hole and close it up. At this point, you could either slide another jump ring through the first and attach the bottle caps to earwires for a simple, no-frills set of bottle cap earrings, or you can find some complementary beads and stick them on eyepins or headpins (or wire) to augment your earrings.



I decided to add beads, to give my earrings a slightly more finished look. I used some red Chinese crystal rondelles for the top, and little red stars to dangle below -- seemed perfect for these "Lone Star" earrings! Then stick some earwires on and you're good to go!

Here's another pair, featuring Shiner's special Oktoberfest brew, along with some autumn-colored beads (brown Chinese crystals and tan glass pearls). I used bronze wire for a complementary look.

There's no limit to these neat little accessories -- make some for your friends!

Happy beading, and Happy New Year!

-Astra

Halloween Inspiration: Skeleton Earrings!

With Halloween less than two weeks away, here's a little inspiration for you: skeleton earrings! We've got oodles of various skull beads at the store, and for these little guys, I used a pair of white bone skull beads, along with an assortment of other bone beads for the body parts. The rest was just wire and simple loops. Here's a quick breakdown of the supplies:

• 2 bone skull beads
• 8 cylindrical bone beads
• 2 textured bone beads (ribcage)
• 8 flat disc bone beads (on either side of head & ribcage)
• 20G wire
• pair of ear-wires

And that's it! They're sure to be eye-catching adornments for Halloween parties, or just wear 'em to the office if you don't plan to dress up. Of course, dressing up is a lot more FUN! And remember, if you come to the store in costume on Halloween Day (Monday, October 31), we'll give you a 20% discount off your purchase!

Happy Halloween!

-Astra

Fall Flowers Cluster Earrings

Here's a little inspiration for September. Maybe if we all start thinking of autumn enough, and making earrings to commemorate the season, the weather will take note and cool down! It's worth a shot, right?

Well, these earrings are super easy, and great little accessories for fall. I used little burgundy-colored flower drop beads, as well as some gorgeous amber-hued glass leaves, then wire-wrapped them on tarnish-resistant copper craft wire and attached them to a short length of chain. Pop some ear-wires on, and voila -- you're good to go!

We've got a range of these glass flower-and-leaf beads -- they're all on the glass wall toward the back of the store. Check 'em out next time you're in, and make your own "Fall Flowers Cluster Earrings!"

-Astra

$10 Earring Class!

Just to make sure we're covering all the bases, I'll post here as well: Nomadic Notions has partnered with Groupon to offer our popular "Let's Make Earrings" class at half the regular price: only $10 for a $20 class!

Here's the specific link for the deal, which will only last 48 hours: http://www.groupon.com/deals/nomadic-notions-austin?c=dnb&p=6

Don't miss out on this chance to start your new beading addiction!

Precious Pinwheel Tutorial

Here's a quick little project if you're looking for something simple. You'll need to know how to make a basic loop, and how to open jump rings -- that's it! You will also need the following materials:

• 1 large base-metal ring (34mm, or 1.5” in diameter -- we sell them at the store)
• 9 6mm bicone beads (preferably Swarovski crystals)
• 2 6mm 18G jump rings
• 9 4mm 18G jump rings
• 2 pairs of bent-nose OR needle-nose pliers (flat on the inside) (Bent-nose are preferable for gripping jump rings)
• 1 pair of cutters
• 1 round-nose plier (cone-shaped arms)
• Ear-wire, chain, bail, etc – depending on whether you're making earrings or a pendant (double the quantities if you're making earrings)

Using these materials, and following the step-by-step instructions in the 4-page handout (available to read/download by clicking here), you can make this:

Have fun!

Weekly Inspiration: Lapis & Copper Pyramid Earrings

I've seen this project in various wire books, and it's pretty simple to do -- the addition of the little semi-precious chips was my own idea. You'll need to know how to make a basic loop with wire to do this project, and it helps if you've used a jig before. You will need:

20 gauge copper wire (we're having a sale of the ColourCraft wire at the store: 30% off!)
Semi-precious chip beads (I used lapis lazuli for these)
22 gauge copper wire (for the chips)
Ear-wires
Round-nose pliers (for making loops)
Needle-nose pliers (for everything else)
Cutters (for cutting wire)
Jig (optional)

You can do the wire loop-de-loos freehand, which is a little more challenging, or with a jig (we sell them for $20 -- 20% off with a class discount!). With the jig, you'll just line up a series of pegs in a row and loop your 20G wire around them. How many is up to you: on this example, the bottom row had 7 loops, and they ended up being about 3.75" long (real shoulder-dusters!).

I then prepared a bunch of little lapis chips, using 22G wire this time (slightly thinner to fit through the holes on the chips). I just made basic loops so it was easy to attach them to the loop-de-loos.

Once you've got your 2 sets of loop-de-loos, complete with dangling lapis chips, you'll just make little figure-8s (again, with the 20G wire) to connect them. Mine got a little bigger toward the bottom of the pyramid, to accommodate the lapis chips (see the side-view, below).

Then just attach ear-wires to the top, and voila! You have exotic, dangly, pyramid-style earrings, fit for an Egyptian queen!