Giving new life to the classics

Hey all! 

What a frenzied week off assignments. This week is my last week of coursework (thank goodness!), so it’s crunch time. I have a total of seven assignments due and two exams to write in these next four days. I think I’m in good shape so far… I think. 

Anyways, what better way to avoid schoolwork than to go shopping! Last week I visited a vintage clothing store at which I could have easily spent my entire pittance. But I didn’t. I spent more than I intended, but that’s kind of to be expected. Look at the beautiful pieces I found: 

My favourite are those pearly flowery ones at that bottom. They tug at my vintage heart. And the polka-dot ones, because let’s face it, there’s nothing finer than a well placed polka-dot. 

Of course the problem with vintage earrings is this:

 

the dreaded clip-on

Apparently Victorians thought that pierced ears were uncouth, so clip-ons were all the rage. Now, I didn’t get my ears pierced until I was a teenager, and I can remember pre-teen Kneesh dabbling in the world of clip-on earrings. They hurt! They squeeze your poor little ear lobes until they ache. Victorian ladies were tough, yo. 

Anyways, I used to make jewellery, and I’ve kept all those supplies because you never know when they’ll come in handy (I can’t tell you how may necklaces friends have asked me to fix). So out came my collection of blank earring posts, a pair of pliers, and my trusty E6000. 

By the way, did you know that Michael’s sells E6000 in tiny tubes like this: 

Way better! I got a package of five tiny tubes for about the same price as a large tube. Doing the math, I was ripped off, but I like these tiny tubes. They’re easy to manipulate, easy to store, and they don’t dry out. I usually open a new tube every 6 months or so. 

But this post is not intended to sell you on tiny tubes of E6000. I’m just sharing what works for me. 

Anyways, with my pliers, I removed the clip-on backings, then I used a metal nail file to smooth the any edges left behind. 

And the clip-on backing are being stored for some future craft. Because I’m a hoarder. Such is the life of a crafter. 

Attaching the posts was super easy. Apply a little E6000 to the post, apply a little E6000 to the earring, wait 2 minutes, and join the two. 

The hardest part of this whole project was waiting the required 48 hours for the E6000 to cure before I could wear these beauties. But when the time came, I loved trying out my new vintage earrings.