Create a pair of Christmas Earrings

With Christmas fast approaching, now’s the time to immerse yourself in stars and snowflakes and all things festive, so here are my whimsical drop earrings to get the ball rolling.

For this project we used Art Clay Silver paper type and shaped punches usually used for paper or card. These are widely available in a range of shapes, so this is an extremely versatile design which can be easily adapted for any occasion.

Step one

Place the Art Clay Silver paper onto your work surface which should be covered with greaseproof or normal paper to prevent contamination. (It’s worth noting that unlike other silver clay, this type is completely dry and feels like leather).

Step two

Carefully slide the Art Clay Silver Paper into the paper punch and firmly push the lever to cut out your shape. Remove each shape as soon as you have cut it and put to one side.

Repeat this process until you have cut out enough shapes. (I used 4 stars and 4 snowflakes but stamped extra to allow for any mishaps).

Silver clay paper doesn’t need to be dried so can be fired straight away. It can be torch or kiln fired.

N.B.  Due to silver clay paper being thin, If it were to be kiln fired with no backing or additional supporting Art Clay Silver Paper, it would melt. However a single sheet of silver clay paper can be torch fired, but the resulting pieces have no strength and are only suitable for suspending. To create a stronger product, simply bond two or three layers together using clean water and placing some pressure on top until bonded. Leave to dry before firing

Step three

Using a hand torch, fire each piece carefully. (Keep the flame moving and start your timer once the piece glows red). We fired the stars for 2 mins and the snowflakes for 3mins.

The firing brought some interesting and unexpected results which we used to our advantage given the theme of the project. Once sintered the snowflakes were pure white in colour, so we decided to use that finish in the final design.

The stars heated up extremely quickly and within 30 seconds the surface started to melt. Rather than stop, we kept going for the required time and the end result was a reticulated surface which again was rather attractive and therefore made it to the finished design.

Step four

Solder on a 2.5mm jump ring to the top of each snowflake. It helps to file a flat edge or snip off the top of one of the central spikes to provide a bigger surface to join to the ring.

Pickle until white.

Step five

Gently mark a hole on the tip of your stars and gently push through with a centre punch. Do it slowly to prevent splitting and only use a hammer if you have added extra supporting layers to your Art Clay Silver. Tidy up with a needle file if necessary.

Once the snowflakes are clean, rinse and dry. Then gently use a burnisher on some of the edges and tips just to highlight the design, leaving the majority white.

Step six

Cut the chain into two, 4cm lengths and add an ear wire to one end.

Step seven

Using the 3mm jump rings, add the finished stars and snowflakes spacing them evenly along the length.

The resulting earrings are super light weight and pretty thanks to the mix of finishes and textures which make them just a little bit different. Why not give them a go this festive season!

We hope you enjoyed wearing your unique handmade Chirstmas earrings. If you have any questions or want to know more, get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We’d also love to see what you’ve been making so please share pictures of your creations with us too, tagging @Cooksongold.

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