DIY Fairy Wing Earrings

These Fairy Wing earrings are incredibly easy to make with supplies that you have at home, and a great way to add just a touch of whimsy to your wardrobe. They are also as customizeable as you would like, whether you want to follow someone else's fairy wings or use your own!

Fairy Wings:

1. Pencil and paper
2. CDs
3. Alcohol wipes
4. Sharp scissors
5. Clear nail polish
6. Food coloring
7. Clear Mod podge
8. Acrylic Paint
9. Paint brushes

Earrings:

1. Jump rings
2. Earring hooks
3. Thin chain (optional)
4. Needle
5. Candle/lighter

To start off, sketch out what you want your design to look like on paper. Make sure that the size is accurate to what you want your earring to be. You can also find images of fairy wings online and print it out on paper!

Carefully cutout your design on a CD. It may be harder to cut fine details on a CD at first, so cut a piece that is larger than what you need, then go in for the finer details. When you start cutting your CD, you may notice that the CD begins to split. You only need the clear layer of the CD, and you can discard the other half.

Use a marker to trace your design onto the clear CD layer, and cut out the finer details. After cutting out your wing, you may notice that there is still a thin layer of iridiscent film on the CD. This can be easily wiped off using alcohol wipes.

Keep in mind that very fine details will be very hard to cut and sharp curves may also result in the CD cracking.

Tip: If you are worried about sharp edges on your fairy wings, you can shave them down a little with sand paper! They will be glossed with nail polish afterwards, which should limit the sharpness.

Next, pour out some of Mod Podge. Add a very small amount of a food coloring of your choice to the Mod Podge. Even one drop may be too much!. Mix the food coloring and Mod Podge, then apply it to your wing. To achieve a gradient effect, you can either add very thin layers of your colored Mod Podge, or add some uncolored Mod Podge to your wing.

Make sure not to add too much food coloring or too much colored Mod Podge to your wing. As you can see, one set of the fairy wings I made turned out a lot darker then I had hoped, which will create some difficulties for me in the future. Also make sure that the Mod Podge you are using will dry clear.

Leave the Mod Podge to dry for a couple of hours, depending on the thickness of your layer.

Tip: If you don't have Mod Podge or don't like how Mod Podge looks on the wing, you can try painting it with water color paints! However, this may be a little tough because the paint brush can very easily leave marks in the paint.

After the wings are dry, place it back onto your to-scale drawing of the wings. Since the wings are translucent/clear you should be able to see your inner wing designs through the wing itself. Using a very thin brush and acrylic paint, trace the wing. You will want to do this on both sides of the wing.

Tip: It may be easier to trace the wings if you secure the underside of the wing onto your sketch using clear tape!

Once you are sure the acrylic paint is dry, you can gloss the wing with some clear nail polish. Once again, you will want to gloss it on both sides of the wing, as well as the edges to remove any sharp bits. Try your best to create an even coat, and make sure to gloss every part.

Afterwards, using a needle, heat it over a candle and use it to pierce a hole through the tip of your wing. Then, loop a jump ring through the hole. If you would like a longer earring, you may also string a thin silver chain of your chosen length through the jump ring. Using another jump ring, attach the other end of the silver chain with the earring hook.

Tip: It may take a couple of tries to get the earring to the perfect length, so try placing jump rings in intervals on the silver chain at first, and simply attaching the wing onto each jump ring. Once you have found a length that suits you, you can remove the other jump rings and cut the chain. You can also add multiple wings/chains for a layered look!

Keep in mind when you are making the wings that if you attach a jump ring right where the wing would meet the body, the wings will rotate to balance it's center of mass, and may not end up in the orientation that you would like. You can solve this by simply placing the jump ring in a spot where the center of mass will be balanced in the orientation you want.

Congratulations, you have successfully made fairy earrings! It is super easy to make more and very customizable, so you can play around with color combinations and wing designs.

Here are some possible designs that you can try:

1. Similar fairy wing design but with a gold border and chain instead! Try more whimsical colors like a gradient from pink to blue
2. For a more earthy design, try tracing using brown
3. Other various shapes of fairy wings (Pinterest is your best friend!)
4. Bat/dragon wings
5. Cyberpunk wings

Happy making!