My students and I developed this design when we were making earrings for a charity event. We ran out of pins to thread beads on for drop earrings so we improvised. The idea was simple but the end result are bouncy, animated and very frugal!
Approximate Time: 30-40 minutes
Supplies:
- seed beads
- beading thread
- crimp beads
- earring wires
- crimping pliers
Instructions:
- The first step is to cut two pieces of thread, 30-32 cms long. You then fold each piece in half and cut it, repeat this step once more. You should now have 4 pieces of thread.
- Fold the pieces of thread once more and give a little pinch at the fold, but this time don't cut the threads, put one end of them through the hanging loop on the earring wire.
- Bring the ends of the threads together (their should be 8 ends). Put all the ends through a crimp bead, push it up to the loop on the earring wire and crimp to secure.
- Now thread between 14 and 18 seed beads onto each of the threads (I think it looks better if they are not all the same length). Crimp the end of each thread to hold the seeds beads on.
- You will probably have some excess thread, just snip this off with scissors taking care not to cut the wrong side of the crimp bead.
- Repeat the process for the second earring and, there you go. Starburst Earrings! What I love about them is although they take a little time, they are so cheap to make that you can make a pair to go with any outfit. You can vary the number of threads too. You will always have an even number of tassels, but we made them with up to 14!
In the end we made about $2000 to help street children in Rwanda so, as you can imagine, I was very proud of my students.
By Ayesha from Slovenia, EU
