How to Make Tassel Earrings

During quarantine, I've had a lot of time to spend up at my beading desk and I'm excited to finally be back with an easy DIY tutorial for another jewelry project!

Digging through my stash of craft supplies I found a bunch of these round metal accent beads that I thought would make great earring components.  I also found tons of embroidery thread from circa 2010 when I randomly decided to take up embroidery (I actually have a bunch of old embroidery projects in the archive of this blog!) so I figured I would be all set to bang out a bunch of tassel earrings!

 

This is actually a very simple jewelry project.  The tassels really only need scissors and some knots and glue to form, and the only jewelry making skills you need to know is how to use jump rings and how to use a pair of needle nose pliers to open earring hooks. Both are super simple to do and are outlined in the steps of this post.

This was a fun and relaxing project that I've enjoyed working on while bingeing lots of Netflix shows. Someday when this is all over, I think I will forever remember the quarantine of 2020 whenever I wear these earrings.

 

I really haven't done many other productive things during quarantine (I've said I'm going to get into the basement and sort through more of my old clothes for like 4 weeks straight now) but at least I've been a productive jewelry maker :) All of these different colors and sizes together just make me so happy!

Ready to learn how to make your own pair? Here's what you will need to get started!

Supplies:

To make these earrings you will need one skein of embroidery thread, needle nose pliers, two jump rings, two earring hooks, metal accents, E600 glue and at least one pair of sharp scissors.

My metal accents were ones that can be found at any regular craft store in the jewelry section: I'm sure this exact set is no longer available but you can easily sub in another charm or link: you really just need something with holes in it that you can attach a jump ring and earring hooks to!

Steps:  

To start: even out the skein of embroidery thread as much as possible by gathering the loops on each side and arranging them in order so the thread lays as flat and even as possible.

Use scissors to cut the ends on each end of the skein so there are no more loop

 Separate 4 strands from the main pile and save for later

Now fold the strings in half and cut the loop

Keep them separated so you are left with two even bundles

Use two of the reserved strands to tie a knot in the center of each bundle

Fold the bundle in half so the knot is at the top and then grab another set aside strand to tie another knot toward the top of the bundle to form the tassel

Almost tassel ready!

 Use your needle nose pliers to open up a jump ring (I used 6mm size)

Loop it through an opening in your metal accent bead (you can use any type of accent bead/link here) and then squeeze the jump ring closed again

Tie the top of the tassel onto the jump ring with a double knot

Use E600 glue to apply a dab of glue on each of the two knots on each tassel

After the glue is dry use scissors to trim off the tails of each knot (I used smaller sharp scissors for this part to trim off as much tail as possible)

I then used my large scissors to trim off the uneven ends of each tassel so they were all of uniform length

Almost done!

Next grab an earring hook and use needle nose pliers to twist the loop open to the side

Attach the earring hook to the top of the metal accent in one of the loops and then squeeze the loop shut using pliers again

After your earring hooks are attached, your earrings are done!

Such a fun and easy project that makes a cute accessory to wear in the end!

Since I had so much time and so many metal accent beads, I whipped up a bunch in different colors and sizes.  I'm going to have a flash sale for them on my shop's Instagram page, and then will be listing more in my Etsy shop if you would just like to buy one instead of making your own ;)

Let me know if you make your own set, I would love to see some pictures!