Water Marble Earrings - Easy
Introduction: Water Marble Earrings - Easy
Tie-Dye screams summer time!
These earrings are reminiscent of tie-dye by using the water marble nail technique. This was a really hot thing a few years ago, so I decided to revive it but it in a new way: earrings. With this technique you can have earrings in whatever colors you want with very little supplies.
If you have ever water marbled your nails you are ready for this Instructable! If you have never done water marbling, don't worry; it is pretty easy to get something cool with little effort. With a little practice, you can come up with eye popping designs for the summer!
Supplies
1. Newspaper or paper towels to protect your work surface.
2. Extra paper towels for your hands.
3. Nail polish in various colors*
* I will note that some nail polishes don't work as well for water marbling as they just sit on the water and don't spread. You can still use them, but you are gonna have to push them around a lot more than nail polishes that will spread. I found that LA Colors doesn't spread, but Sally Hansen, Sinful Colors, and Broadway Nails do. However, sometimes I think it honestly varies bottle to bottle, but not necessarily brand to brand. I found some colors of a brand would work while others wouldn't, so you should do a test first to see if your colors will work.
4. Tooth picks or pencils, or other pointed instruments for swirling the polish.
5. Nail polish remover
6. A cup or small dish (use one you can just throw away or one that will be ok to clean with nail polish remover, such as glass).
7. Water at room temperature.
8. Cotton balls to use with the nail polish remover to take the nail polish off your fingers.
9. Little wooden pieces. I bought mine at a local craft store, but you can buy them off of Amazon. These ones are squares, but you can get cool shapes, too. (example: square 1X1 inch pieces )
10. 994
Varnish - not necessarily necessary, ha ha, but I like it. I am using Duraclear Gloss Polyurethane Varnish.
11. A brush to apply varnish.
12.Earring components - I am using flat back post earrings like these on Amazon, but you can use french hooks if you like.
13. Super Glue. I am using Gorilla Super Glue Gel.
14. FOR HOOK EARRINGS ONLY: A pair of round nosed pliers, two earring hook pieces, two jump rings, a battery powered drill, and a small drill bit.
Step 1: Prep Work
First, prepare your work area. This project moves quickly, so it is important to have everything on hand.
Spread paper towels or newspaper over your work surface so you don't risk ruining your table surface, or the floor, or the desk, or whatever you are using. Not fun to realize that you got bright blue nail polish on the dark wood table halfway through your craft time.
Place your nail polish bottles and tooth picks close at hand. You want to be able to grab the next color quickly.
Pour some of the water into the cup. You want it to be about 2/3 of the way full so it is easy to dip the pieces in and out but also not spill water every where.
Unscrew the tops of the nail polishes that you want to use. This way you aren't pausing to unscrew the caps and wasting time.
With your little wood pieces waiting, you are ready to go.
Step 2: How to Water Marble
Pick your first color. You can do as many colors as you like, or only two. Know what you plan to do before you start so that you can do the design as quickly as possible.
With the first color ( I am using bright green) get the nail polish brush full of polish and hold it over the water so it will drip into the water. Don't hold it too high above the water or the nail polish will simply go right through the surface of the water and end up as a little nail polish ball on the bottom of your cup. Do one drop or multiple drops. The nail polish should hit the water, stay a dot for a moment, then begin to spread out. It is really cool to watch.
Do your second color, dripping right into the center of the first color.
Continue to do this for as many colors as you like. I am using four (green, pink, yellow, and blue). I also start to just place the dots randomly wherever I feel like. Just remember that you have to work fast. 1013