Fairy Wing Earrings

posted by Diana

I unabashedly love going to the Renaissance Fair. Wearing flower crowns, drinking mead, gnawing on a giant turkey leg, and screaming, "Huzzah!" while watching the joust--now that's a fun time!

When I'm at the Ren Fair, I like to dress up and look as fairy-like and whimsical as possible. That's where these fairy earrings come in. (Even though it's a bit creepy for a fairy to wear the wings of another fairy in her ears...). My roommate got a pair of fairy wing earrings from Etsy last year and I thought it would be fun to try my hand at making some for myself.

For basic instructions, I followed this well-written tutorial. It's for giant costume fairy wings, but the project concept is still the same.

Materials needed:

• Cellophane
• Fishhook earrings
• Spray adhesive
• Wire cutters
• Pliers
• Jewelry wire
• Scissors
• Iron (not pictured)
• Lighter (not pictured)

First, I cut some 20 gauge jewelry wire into two different lengths--two of each length for each earring. I didn't measure before I cut the wire, but they're about 2.5 inches and 3 inches long.

Next, I twisted the two different lengths together in what I hoped was an approximation of a fairy wing shape.

Then I had to recreate the same shape... something I'm not that great at.

I made my wire frames by bending the wires in half, holding them together, and twisting one length of wire around the others. Doing so created a loop at the top of the frame.

Flattened... 

and fanned out.

 Then I spread the wires apart and curled the wire tips so they would be less stabby.

No injuries here!

After I created the wire frames for my earrings, I had to encase them in cellophane. I bought the iridescent kind from Michael's--it's only $5 a roll.

I cut out four pieces of cellophane--two fronts and two backs for an earring sandwich--but quickly realized the pieces I cut were large enough to just be folded in half over the wire frames. I took my cellophane outside, sprayed on some spray adhesive, and folded my wire frame in the center of my cellophane piece.

Before spray adhesive.

After spray adhesive.

Both frames encased and ready for ironing.

Then, I ironed my earrings with my iron's lowest setting. I tried ironing under a washcloth first, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. The tutorial I followed said not to iron directly onto the cellophane, but since I'm impatient, I did anyway. I think I'll invest in a heat gun for my next cellophane projects, just so all the nooks and crannies surrounding the wire frame will be nicely sealed.

Before ironing.

After ironing.

After I heat-sealed my earrings, it was time to cut away the excess cellophane and give them a fairy wing shape.

Before burning.

This picture shows what was almost my finished project. I didn't understand why my earrings looked a little drab and un-fairy-like until I realized that most of the fairy wings I'd seen had little (intentional) holes burned into them. Since I don't have a lighter, I decided to bust out the matches.

After burning.

And here's the finished project! Much better! The wings caught on fire a couple of times because I'm a responsible adult, but I think they turned out fairly well for a prototype project.

The possibilities of the cellophane/wire/fire combo are endless--you could make any kind of shape you wanted. In fact, you'll probably see a reincarnation of this project very soon!

Happy making!