Equipment
Laser cutter
Needle nose pliers
plywood or acrylic (3mm is a good thickness)
2 x jump rings
2 x earring hooks
Paint (optional)
Software
Inkscape/Adobe Illustrator/Corel Draw
Approximate cost
Under $10 (will depend on your materials and how much time your design takes to laser)
1
Make your design
Create your earring design! You can use inkscape, corel draw or your choice of vector drawing program. For more info check out our advice on preparing a file for laser cutting. You can make your own design or use our template from this tutorial to get you started.
Some tips to remember, save the file as an svg (Inkscape), double-check there are no double lines.
Remember to put a small hole at the top where you want your earring hooks to attach, a circle with a 3mm diameter is a good size.
2
Laser cutting
Hopefully you have already chosen a suitable material for your earrings! Plywood or acrylic are a great place to start, lightweight and easy to work with.
Go get them laser cut! You will need to ask a licensed member to help you with the laser cutter if you have not received training yet.
3
Assemble
Before the final step if you had plans to paint or seal plywood earrings, this is the best time to do so.
Final step: Using pliers attach the earring hook with the jump ring to your new earrings.
4
Enjoy!
Put them on and rock ‘em or give them away!