Saturday, April 28, 2012

Tutorial/Giveaway: Repurposing Jewelry into Jewelry

No, I just don't give up with the whole tutorial thing, do I?  You would think this one would have been my last.  I encouraged myself, though, when I discovered that even a not-very-good-cook could produce a cooking tutorial.  At least that cooking tutorial produced something very yummy to eat.  This one was pretty but didn't taste all that great.  Probably the most useful tutorial I've managed to put together was the one about disabling word verification.  I still have a personal vendetta against the word verification junk.  It helps stop computer-generated comments.  Yes, I've had a few of those but they are simple to remove.  It won't help stop comments from creeps unless they are people who have trouble reading the distorted letters as well.  It has stopped me from leaving comments before as I sometimes just give up.  Oh man!  I'm ranting again.  Let's move on...

I enjoy reading blogs and books about people repurposing an unused item into something altogether different.  For instance, there are books about recycling sweaters.  You can make them into scarves and such.  There are entire blogs dedicated to repurposing.  I found one that shows how to turn eggshells into a leather look for covering things like photo album covers.  Hmmm...  Well, I decided I didn't need to stretch quite that far to get in on the repurposing wave.  I'm going to show you how I turned an earring into a necklace.  Yes, you read it right.  This is a tutorial on how to move jewelry from your ear to your chest.

OK, so you think this is a waste of time.  However, have you ever been in the mall (any mall) and stopped in to one of those stores with all the costume jewelry?  They have some pretty mighty earrings out right now!  Unfortunately, not every one has mighty earlobes.  Some of those earrings are so big you would soon be singing, "Do Your Ears Hang Low?"  Well, I really think many of those giant earrings are pretty but I don't want my ears to dangle "to and fro".  So, I repurposed.



I took a beautiful but way-too-large earring and made a pretty necklace.  I think you may agree that it was the humane thing to do.


First, I just opened up the little ring to get the big bobble off the earring.  I can later use the top part of the earring to refashion a more reasonable decoration for my lady-like earlobes.


I set it aside for a few minutes and took out some cotton thread of a corresponding color.  I just crocheted a long, long chain and hooked the ends together.



The only measuring I did was to wrap it around my own neck and decided about how long I thought it should be.



I went for a pretty long dangling type of look.  I then just did a slip stitch around all loops of the chain.


I wanted to make it looked more polished I guess.


I tied off the loose ends and pulled the tails back in to be hidden.



Using little needle-nosed pliers I reattached the ring around the chain and through the top of the pendant.



I can now call it a pendant since it is no longer capable of dangling dangerously heavy from someone's ear.

Waa-la!  I think it is kind of pretty.  It reminds me of a peacock!


Now, I am wondering if anyone wants it?  I am giving it away.  After all, I have the other earring with which I can make another necklace for myself if I wish.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post or my personal facebook page before May 1.  If you have trouble leaving comments here just e-mail me at onlythemanager@yahoo.com and your name will be entered.  I will use random.org to be sure it is all fair.  That's really kind of funny as it is quite possible there will only be a few comments.  That means your chances are great!  Come on, don't let that scare you.  Go ahead, leave a comment.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Very pretty, Sue! I was thinking the peacock thing, as well, from your very first photo! I love the idea of re-purposing some of the big, honking earrings into pendants -- just can't do the crochet "chain" -- I'm not that talented! LOL! Thanks for sharing :)

Onlythemanager said...

Thanks, Kate! If you don't know how to crochet, just buy a chain or pretty cord to match whatever earring you want to turn into a pendant. I'm sure you could do it!

AND, you're entered!

AKM said...

Yeah, I thought peacock, too, at the very beginning! I love anything peacock-colored! Well-done!

(I don't have to be entered. I've won a gazillion things from you and Maria already. I just wanted to say how lovely it is!)

Janet, said...

I know it is too late to enter. But just wanted to say that it is very pretty.I love the colors!

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