Paper Crane Earrings

Since senior year of college, when my friend dragged me to get my ears pierced, I've been collecting earrings. I have blue ones (3 different pairs in 3 different shades), green ones, purple ones, and more. They all tend to dangle (with the exception of the squishy spikey studs I have) and I love them all. Oddly, I never seemed to find the perfect pair of red earrings.

March 2009, I was dating a boy from Portland and when I visited his city, I came across some paper crane earrings. They were 20-30 dollars -- way out of my price range. Since then, I've coveted paper crane earrings.

Last summer, my friend "Gator" and I went to the St Louis open studios. I saw some jewelry made from bike chains and other interesting mechanical pieces. Like the paper cranes, I decided they were too expensive.

Recently, a friend dragged me to JoAnn Fabric to help him pick out buttons for a pouch. There, I saw an earring kit, and on a whim, bought it and some pliers.

After much trial and error, I made my long-coveted red, bike chain, paper crane earrings:

<3
Hao