DIY: Fly Away

Feather earrings have been all over the place for a couple seasons now and show no signs of going away come spring. And for the most part, they are fairly hideous. For every pair of simple, earthy-chic earrings there are five florescent, bedazzled, screen-printed pairs. A little while ago I decided these may be one of those things that it's easier to make than keep hunting around for

and I was right- they took less than half an hour to make and required only craft-store-available materials. For a quarter of the price of these lovely Urban Outfitters earrings you can make a fully customized pair and have enough left over materials to make some for everyone who says, “where did you get those awesome earrings?”.

You’ll need:

20-gauge wire (You can also get gold or silver wire if if you're sensitive or want to get fancy, but the normal kind works for me), feathers of your choice, craft glue (like Modge Podge), pliers, wire cutters or sharp scissors, and any beads, tassels or other things to add to your earrings.

First, I cut two inch pieces of wire, maybe 3-4 inches long. Then I bent each piece of wire around something circular and trimmed the ends, leaving just enough for them to overlap slightly. The size of the round object depends on how big you want your hoops. Here, I’m using a nail polish bottle, which makes decently sized hoops.

On each hoop I bent one end of the wire into an “L” shape, and used pliers to form a small loop on the other end. The sticking-up end of the wire should fit inside the loop, keeping them in your ears. With the hoop done, I made a cluster of feathers for each earring. 4-5 feathers work well, but it's up to you. I trimmed the tops of the feathers a little to make them all similar lengths. Then I dipped the top of each cluster in craft glue so they’d stay together and gave them a couple seconds to dry.

I cut two more small pieces of wire and use the pliers to wrap it as tightly as possible around the tops of the clusters a couple times. Then I made a small loop at the top of the cluster and wrap the end of the wire around once more to finish.

I slipped the loop on the clusters on to the hoops and presto! A new pair of earrings. I kept it simple, but you can add more feathers, put beads right on the hoops or add them using headpins. I've been wearing a pair of these for weeks now and they've held up better (and look nicer) than a cheapo version AND I don't feel like I've raided Kesha's closet.