Purge to Project: Make Your Own Leather Earrings

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How to Make Your Own Leather Earrings from Old Shoes

I hope you guys aren’t tired of my purge to project series yet. Cleaning out closets is a great way to upcycle all the stuff you love but don’t use anymore and this project is one of my favs. I’m gonna show you how easy it is to make your own leather earrings from old shoes non the less! 

You might have seen one project that already came from these old shoes but even the tiny side scraps of leather on these shoes came in handy. Think about it, earrings don’t need much material! You’ve probably seen these leather earrings everywhere. Joanna Gaines and Jen Hatmaker have made leather earrings famous and with fame comes a price tag! You can have them for basically FREE though! 

Purge your closet for old purses or shoes that are broke or worn out, just make sure they have a few small expanses of leather. You will need some sharp scissors for this project to get a nice clean cut. Cut out some scraps and strip any extra material until you get to the leather alone. Draw a shape on the backside of your leather. Play around with shape and size until you find what works for you. Pinterest is a great place to explore, there are lots of ideas there (if you don’t follow me already, I always pin stuff like this!). Cut one earring and use it as a pattern to cut the next one. Use a sharp point to poke holes in your leather piece. I made two holes in this pair to cusp the top. I also purged my jewelry and was able to re-use some of my earring hardware from pieces I was not fond of anymore. You don’t need fancy jewelry tools to make your own leather earrings. A good pair of needle nose pliers will do, actually two pair is helpful. For the loop closures on earring hardware twist the loop open sideways (with pliers) instead of prying it open into a larger loop. Slide the loop through your holes. I glued the top leather together so it would hold tighter then hardware held alone. 

For this pair of handmade leather feather earrings I used an exacto knife to slice “feathers”, you could use sharp scissors just as easily. (I’ve also heard you can use a Cricut to cut leather earrings, but I haven’t tried that yet!) To attached the leather to the earring hardware I used a thicker jewelry wire and wrapped it tight around the feather tip (again with pliers) and then looped it to the earring hardware. 

As always DIY is my favorite, you already have colors and textures you love in your closet and you can’t beat free. I doubt these are the steps to go into professional jewelry making but they sure get the job done for some trendy leather jewelry! Let me know if you try it, I’d love to see a picture of you all deck out with your handmade wares. 🙂 I’d sure appreciate it if you’d share this project to your favorite social media. Hugs and thanks.