DIY: Faux Gauges

I love the look of the spiral jewelry that people wear in their gaged ears, however, I am absolutely NOT interested in gauging my ears in any way. Some time ago I stumbled upon fake gauge earrings on www.etsy.com, and I thought, hell, I could make those!! So, here is my first attempt. My opinion on these particular earrings is that I made them a bit too long, so I will try again sometime and keep the size in mind. I used an old pair of earrings that I didn't think I would ever wear to create these. If you feel so inclined, you can go to a craft store and pick up earring posts and backs, but if you don't need 50 sets, then scrounge up an old pair, like I did.

You will need:

(2)  Earring posts with backs

Polymer Clay, your choice of color

An oven

A tooth pick or other small pointed item

Step One: Read the directions on your polymer clay. I purchased Sculpey, which must be baked at 275F, for 15 minutes per 1/4" thickness.  Preheat your oven.

Step Two: Roll out the design you prefer your earrings to be in. If you are feeling really adventurous, you can embellish the clay with other colors, rhinestones, glitter, etc. You can make what crafsters call "canes" by rolling or piecing different colors of clay together. Here is a link on how to make canes. I prefer things simple, so I chose not to do anything outrage0us.

Step Three: After getting both of your earrings as similar in size and shape as possible, decide where you would like the front and back pieces of your earrings to separate. I just simply cut them with a household kitchen knife (a very expensive one at that! Shhh! Don't tell my boyfriend!)

Step Four: Trim the embellishments off your earrings, if you are using posts and backs from an old pair. I used these cherries that my mom gave me. (Sorry, Ma!! Way to repurpose, right?!) I just snipped off the embellishments with wire cutters.

Step Five: Place the posts into the cut end of the clay that will be the front part of your earrings. Be sure not to place them too far into the clay, or you will not be able to get them through your ear and into the back of the earring properly. Take your tooth pick and make a small hole in the back part of the earring, large enough to put in the earring back. I used a tooth pick, because just shoving the earring back into the clay will morph the clay and take it out of that lovely shape you just rolled it into.

Step Six: Smooth out all your finger prints and carefully place the clay earrings onto an oven-safe surface. Bake at 275F (or whatever temperature your specific clay calls for). I baked my earrings for 20 minutes since they were a wee bit thicker than 1/4". Be careful when pulling them out of the oven and off of the cookie sheet (or whatever you used) as they are still hot! You may notice that directly after coming out of the oven, the earrings may still seem a little bit soft. Do not worry, because as the earrings cool they will harden more. After a few minutes of cooling, you are finished!

Here is my finished product! You can do these in any design you prefer, in any color, and any size! I would like to make some more in different colors and shapes! If you're feeling really ambitious, you can even get out an Exacto knife and carve into your earrings. Now that would be cool.