Sunday, November 13, 2011

Beaded Peacock Feather Earrings - DIY tutorial


Fun, easy, and waaaayyy less expensive than what you'll see in stores!

Love it? Make it or buy it

I LOVE peacock feathers. Everything about them is awesome. They have the coolest natural color combination, they shimmer, and they are huge! Peacock colors have inspired some of the bracelets and other jewelry I have made. I love them!

Here we have a super cute pair of earrings. They are relatively easy to make and don't require many supplies. Peacock feathers are pretty cheap, especially if you order them from overseas via Ebay.

What you will need (with links! Sorry for the white boxes, I'm not sure why they are there and can't seem to get rid of them):

- 2 Foldover Clamps (This links to an amazon product to make it easier to find, but you can also find these at Michaels, you just have to search)

- 2 peacock feathers, about the same size. (here is a link to Matched pairs peacock feathers on Amazon. They are more expensive than other places you can get them online, but they claim to match the size and pre-pair feathers together, which is helpful).

- Peacock colored beads with holes big enough to go through end of feathers (I used deep purple, teal, and light green Chinese rondelle crystal 8mm beads. I found all beads on Ebay)**.

- Earring wires (I usually buy mine on Amazon or Ebay, here's a link to some that are a pretty good price, but you get a lot... Silver Plated Earring Hooks)

- Chain nose pliers with teeth (can be bought at craft stores or hardware stores, or if you prefer online shopping: Pliers)

- Scissors

** Chinese rondelle crystal beads are often fraudulently sold on Ebay as Swarovski crystal. They are beautifully shiny crystal beads but they are not really Swarovski.



Step 1: Cut peacock feather stems a few inches from the circular part of feather (see picture to better explain). rip off pieces of feather so that you have about 1 inch of a smooth strip.


Step 2: Grab strip with pliers and (this is hard to explain) crunch strip to make it more pliable and easier to string beads on.

Step 3: string beads on in preferred order (I did purple, teal, green on mine).


Step 4: Turn feather over and place tip in foldover clamp. Holding end of feather steady with one hand, use pliers to fold over each side of clamp. Give strong squeeze after both are folded to make sure that the clamp is flat. Make sure the feather doesn't bend over in this step or else it will hang sideways- fold each side of the foldover clamp slowly and carefully to make sure it dangles straightforward.




Step 5: Use pliers to open earring hooks and place feathers on using the loop on the foldover clamp. Close earring hook with pliers and you're done!



Step 6 (optional): trim bottom of peacock feathers with scissors to shorten.


Buy these at my Etsy store!

9 comments:

  1. Lovely! Really simple and effective! Make a fab gift. Loving your blog - happy to look at food all day!

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  2. Thanks Olganna.

    I could look at food all day as well =)

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  3. I'm a jewelry maker by profession. Please, anyone that wants to make jewelry, use jewelry tools. Pliers should be smooth (NO TEETH). The teeth mars and scratches all the metal you use. Also when you open loops for the ear wires, do not widen the loop. Rather, open to the side, insert your dangle, then move back in place. If you Google "proper way to open and close a jump ring" you will see what I mean. And finally the foldover clamps are actually called cord ends. I use them on leather and small cords like Kumihimo cords I've braided from embroidery floss. Blessings to all and happy creating.

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  4. How do you keep the feather from turning? It isn't easy for me.

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  5. Thanks for this blog regarding how to make Earring and how to finish it fast. keep sharing more an more.

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  6. Love this. Turned out so good. Thanks for sharing this earrings DIY project.

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  7. I am looking to make something similar, but also to bead the "fringe" along the bottom of the feathers. I would love suggestions on how to make this work.

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