So today I thought it would be a fun challenge to work with paperclips. You can’t get much more mundane than a paperclip! After much thought, I came up with paperclip earrings. If you have paperclips and some pretty cotton string, you can create these beauties. They’d probably look pretty cool as a necklace too.

Here is a diagram to show you where to open the paperclip to create this triangular shape.

You are basically unbending the clip at all three of the curves. Does that make sense?

Once you’ve got the triangular shape, you need to glue the ends together. Use a fast drying epoxy or hot glue. Next you can start winding your cotton thread around the wire. I started out using hot glue, then I tried Liquid Stitch and liked it way more. It’s a permanent, clear drying adhesive that didn’t cause any bumps of dried hot glue along the way.

Fig 1: Winding the string around // Fig 2:  Starting to wrap the string around the earring, secured with Liquid Stitch

Once you’ve wound all the way round and secured with glue, you can then take another length of string and wind around the width of the “earring” creating horizontal stripes or you can create a more messy look by creating a “net” design (see below).

Then just clamp on a pair of earring hooks. I just stole mine from a couple pairs of earrings I didn’t wear anymore. The results are beautiful and surprisingly modern. I love how light they are too. I like big earrings, but I don’t like it when they weigh down my earlobe. I don’t want them to hang to my knees when I’m old!

Let me know if you have any questions or I didn’t explain something well enough. I’d love to hear or see them if you try it for yourself!