DIY Tutorial: earring displays

Earrings are such whimsical things. They can sit and twinkle from your ear lobe or they can dangle and catch the light and shimmer everytime you turn your head.
I love earrings.

In fact, they were the first piece of jewellery that I covet, and till now earrings hold something special in my heart.

But I always have an issue. How do you keep them so that they don't get tangled? Especially if you are like me and especially love the crazy long ones that dangle past your shoulders. They get tangled so so much!

So here's a tutorial on how to make a display for your earrings: it doesn't just keep your earrings tangle free, they also allow you to show them off like the pieces of art they truly are!



You will need:


1x thumbtack
Jewellery pliers


1x cardboard with windows cut out
(Make sure that the windows are longer than your dangle earrings!)

Not pictured:

1x silver chain (or any colour chain you'd like really)
Jumprings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Step 1:
Cut out windows from your cardboard as shown above.
Make sure that your cardboad is fairly thick!
If it's soft, it won't hold the weight of the earrings.

Step 2:


Measure out the length of chain you need.
If you want your chain to be tight, you need to cut it slightly shorter than the width of the window.

Step 3:

Use a thumbtack to punch holes in the side of the cardboad.
Try to punch the holes near the side of the window.

Step 4:

Attach the chain to the cardboad by hooking it up to the holes with jumprings!
See why you need to punch right at the side now?

Step 5:

Repeat steps 2 - 4 for the rest of the windows
And you are done! Technically.

Step 6:
This step is optional. But we are crafty people, so...

~* it's time to decorate! *~


This is what I did with mine. I wanted something simple and girly!
Plus, I do have a heap of flowers and ribbons laying around..

And there you have it!




Your very own earring display, customized the way you want it to be,
a work of art that's functional to boot!

How was that? Easy isn't it?
It takes about 10 minutes to do, and it's so much fun!

Perfect for the bedroom, the craft room, even the living room!
Plus you can change the earrings around, so you can constantly update the piece of art.
Or even put one next to the front door, so you can grab a pair just as you go out.

The possibilities are endless...

So try it out, and please do show me your results~~!
Good luck! and Happy crafting!


p/s: You can make it as large as you like, with as many windows as you like. It's really up to you!

DIY Tutorial: earring displays

DIY Tutorial: How to make a ring display

You might remember this rather terrible photo.



And my promise for a tutorial on how to turn almost anything into a ring display.

Well, this is it.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tutorial Start! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


You will need:


1x item you'd like to make into a ring display.
(In this tutorial, it's a baking tray, but anything with a bit of depth will work)


1x foam fill
You can buy bags of 4 pieces at spotlight. It will contain 2x thick, 2x thin pieces.
The thick pieces are better, but the thin ones work too.


1x piece of white felt (or any colour you want your display to be)
1x scissors
1x craft knife
1x double sided tape



Step 1: Cut the foam to size.


Optional step: If your container is deep like my baking tray, don't waste the leftovers!
Use it to stuff the bottom so you don't have a hollow base.


Step 2: Check that it fits, trim the sides.
(Sorry I was doing this in the kitchen..please don't mind the messy kitchen table!)


Step 3: Line double sided tape all down the foam.


This is how it should look like after you are done. Remove the top layer of the tape.


Step 4: Stick the felt on the top. Careful to make sure it's flat and not wrinkly!
Because my baking tray was longer than my felt pieces, I had to cut small strips to cover the edges.
Aren't those lines ugly?


Step 5: Don't like the lines? Decorate it to make it pretty then!
Lines? What lines?
Tuck the foam base back into the tray.

(Sorry no photo for this!)
Step 6: Pick up that craft knife and start cutting slits through the felt and the top of the foam.
Make sure that the slits are wide enough to hold your rings.Usually 2-3 cm is fine.

And there you have it!
Your very own ring display!

Here's the one in the tutorial in action!



You can decorate it more if you like, however I wanted mine to be recognizable as a baking tray. Hehehe.

So how was that? Easy, isn't it? You can turn almost anything with a bit of depth into a ring display this way!
My cupcake stand was slightly harder as we had to make it round, and had to punch a hole through the middle for the handle.
But the technique was exactly the same. So take a look around you, what can you use to make into a ring display?

DIY Tutorial: How to make a ring display

18 days to go.. how bout a tutorial post?

With the Northside Makers Market coming up.. I've been getting really busy getting things ready for it. One of the things I did was to make lace bowls out of doilies.

I know there are quite a few tutorials out there on how to make this, but there's no harm in sharing the joy again right? These photos aren't very pretty, but they show you just how easy it is for us to make things out of recycled and pre-loved items.

Okay so first you need to gather your materials:




1x PVA Craft Glue
1x cup of water
1x Lace Doily (50 cents from my local op shop!)
1x Empty Bowl (make sure that this is the size you want your lace doily bowl to become later on!)
1x Sacrificial Bowl (you'll see why later)
1x Mixing tool ( I used an ice cream stick)
1x roll of Clingwrap (you don't need very much!)



To begin with you take the PVA craft glue and your cup of water and mix equal amounts of it into the Sacrifical Bowl. Mix it well with your mixing tool!



You should get this watery white substance like the picture above. Doesn't it look like coconut milk? It is not edible, don't even try. This is also why I say use a sacrifical bowl. I don't think I want to be eating out of this bowl ever again! You can of course use other things such as a bucket, or an empty can. There's no limits here!

Take your doily and soak it in the white substance thoroughly. Make sure every bit of the doily is soaking wet!
You can even leave it in there for a small soak.

And while the doily is taking its soak, you can quickly clingwrap your bowl.



The reason you do this is to prevent the doily from sticking to your bowl and you potentially ruining the shape of the lace bowl when you are trying to pry it off the bowl. So don't skip this step!

Take your soaking doily out and squeeze the excess out. Make sure it's not dripping anymore, or else you will get sticky water dripping all over the place. Not fun.
Once you are done squeezing it out, drap it over the bowl you just cling wrapped and pop the bowl onto something else to keep it elevated. I just used another glass.



Take this time to shape the bowl however you'd like. I made tiny pinches all along the sides to give it a slightly wonky shape. I wanted the bowl to look weird and wonky! It's part of the charm, really.

Leave it to dry, preferably somewhere that has the potential for direct sunlight. My kitchen window sill is perfect for this so I sat it there for about 48 hours.



Once you are sure that it's completely dry, it should harden up significantly. Take it off the ledge and proceed to remove the lace doily from the bowl. Be very gentle!! If you find it hard to pry the bowl out, try unwrapping the clingwrap and sliding the bowl out from the clingwrap. You should find that this makes it much easier and the bowl will dislodge itself from the doily quite willingly.



And voila! Your very own lace bowl. Easy isn't it? If you do try your own, please link back and show me your bowls!



Can you spy the chocolate? Mine's going to be filled with yummy rings and such at the market, so children can have a go at digging for their favourite sweets that won't rot any teeth!
Hope you found this tutorial fun and easy to read. Till the next one!


Notes:
1. There are other ways to starch lace such as using corn starch, sugarxwater or commercial fabric stiffener. However commercial fabric stiffener is permanent and won't wash out while the rest can be washed out if you dislike the shape of your bowl! Sugarxwater will melt in heat, so not suitable for outdoor markets or any place that's hot. Corn starch is definitely a good way to go.

2. You can also dye your bowls, just dye the doily before you starch it, or add the colouring into the starch.

3. If you think your bowl is still too soft after it dries, you can spray it with a bit of corn starch to help stiffen it up.

18 days to go.. how bout a tutorial post?