It’s autumn. My favorite season of the year. The weather is neither too hot nor too cold and if we were in countries in the west, the trees would be ornate with withering leaves in warm, earthy hues of red, brown and yellow. Darn, just the thought really makes me wish we had that sort of thing here in Hyderabad!
With the colder seasons breezing into this time of year, we have a couple of big festivals on their way with Diwali and Dushera being the most awaited. These festivals symbolize happiness, light and prosperity. India celebrates numerous festivals and undoubtedly there will be ethnic wear all around and….accessories galore! This time round, I’m going to show you how to make an earring holder/display that looks rustic and earthy to match the season. You can hang it on your wall or inside your wardrobe. It’s a very simple DIY project that takes you no longer than a day to make!
For this you need little patience, a pinch of creativity and also:
- A circular wooden frame (I used the inner circle of an embroidery hoop/frame)
- Embroidery threads (stolen from grandma’s spares….or not.)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Color paper (optional)
Now follow the steps below:
Step 1 :- Cut out threads of length longer than your frame’s diameter (by roughly 6 in.) and gather them into bunches of 6. You can mix match colors if you want. Simply tie them together or if you want to add some jazz to the look braid them as shown, to make one set. Make 7-8 sets of threads (this number depends on the size of your circular frame. Make enough sets so that your end result won’t look too crowded).
Step 2 :- Once you’ve made your required number of thread sets, you have to stretch them taut and attach them to your frame. To do this, undo some of the braids/plaits from one end of a set, split it into equal halves and wrap each half around the circular frame. Apply Glue on the frame before wrapping the threads around. This will hold them in place. Do the same for the other end of the set, wrapping its threads around the other side of the frame. Make sure your set is taut across the frame so that your earrings’ weight won’t make them sag.
Step 3 :- Repeat step 2 for all your sets, ensuring adequate spacing between each set. Once you finish fixing all your thread sets to the circular frame, your holder base will be like this:
Step 4 :- To fill in the gaps left on the frame, choose random colors of threads and wrap them in the gaps, applying glue before wrapping (to hold it in place). Once you’ve done that, your colorful frame should look like this-
Step 5 :- To make it a wall hanging, gather a few colorful threads and tie them together end-to-end to make a loop. Using this loop, make a simple knot as shown (pass the loop under the frame end and pull one end of the loop through the other over the frame):
You can add another loop on the other side of the frame like I did. This makes the frame usable in either direction. You can leave it see-through or if you want to give a background to make your earrings clearly visible, choose a colored paper that contrasts the colors of threads you’ve used, cut it in a circular shape the size of the frame and glue it to the back of your frame. Let it dry.
Once your frame is dry, you’ll have in your hands a beautiful handmade earring holder that will stand bright and gorgeous on your wall when furnished with your cutest hanging earrings. Have fun!
