Embossed Earrings

I love texture. I love feeling the different tactile differences that things have, especially in art. The use of dimensional objects in art always intrigues me, as well as taking things that are flat and have no texture, and altering them in some way to give it life. Today, I have a pair of earrings that I created using Imagine’s Sheet Metal, and you’ll get to see how to take the small, flat square to something really fun and personal.

1. I went through the Sampler Pack of Sheet Metal, as well as my embossing folders and I chose a cool skull with wings to go on the square pieces.

2. Remove the blue coating on the Sheet Metal and position the piece where you want it in the embossing folder. Using a border made it pretty simple. You can tape the Sheet Metal down with some washi tape if you are worried it’s going to move, but I didn’t do that. I’m really livin’ on the edge!

3. Run the folder and sheet metal through the Sizzix Big Shot machine, using the multi-purpose platform with both tabs open. Repeat for the second earring.

4. Apply Royal Purple StazOn ink to the Sheet metal. You can do this 2 ways. Please see photos above to decide which is best for you. The 1st photo is a “cleaner” application. But both work very well.

5. Once you’ve applied Royal Purple to both pieces, apply a layer of GlazOn. I applied it pretty thick. The directions call for a thin layer, but I was hoping to get a bit of a texture from the glaze, and that’s just what happened. Allow for extra drying time if you apply GlazOn thickly. You can see the almost wrinkly texture in the photo below. I think this makes it look a little older, which I like.

6. After the GlazOn is dry, apply some Spiced Chai StazOn to the raised surfaces of the Sheet Metal. Don’t overdo it. You don’t want to hide the Royal Purple, but you want to age the piece a little with the Spiced Chai.

7. Now you can play with beads! I chose beads that had varying shapes and textures, to add more interest to the earrings.

8. Using 2 sets of pliers (I use a round nose and a needle nose), open a jump ring side ways. Meaning, don’t pull the jump ring apart like a mouth. Instead, swing the ends side to side. This keeps the circle intact when you go to close it again. Loop an eye pin and one of the Sheet Metal Squares on to the jump ring, and carefully close it back up.

9. Add your beads to the eye pin and create a loop at the top. Open a second jump ring, add the ear wire and the completed eye pin of beads. Close the jump ring up.

Now you’ve got a fun, and surprisingly lightweight, pair of earrings to show off!

Supplies:
Imagine:
Sheet Metal
StazOn: Royal Purple and Spiced Chai
GlazOn: Original

Other:
Cuttlebug: Haunted Damask Border Embossing Folder
Sizzix: Big Shot Machine
Fire Mountain Gems: Ear Wires, Jump Rings, Eye Pins, Branch Beads
Michaels: Beads

Skill Level: Intermediate (because of the use of jump rings and eye pins)
Time to Complete: About 20 minutes, plus drying time