DIY Cufflinks

What better way to show a brother you care then by making custom cufflinks for each of his eight groomsmen. Each will receive cufflinks unique to their personality. No special tools are required and materials are well within reason.

So to get started, this is how to make the backings.

Step 1: Rivets repurposed

The backings are made out of clothing rivets. Each is composed of 3 pieces, the button side, the anchor side, and a short section of coat hanger wire to join them. Solder keeps it all together. I got these and all my other materials at the hardware store.

Now that we know how to make the backings, lets move on to the business side of the cuff links.

Comments

[piro285]

i must say awesome work! how ever i really wanted to see the spiderman cufflink work in the group picture ;)

[duncangallimore]

This is absolutely brilliant - what ideas! What creativity! What talent! Love your designs, and the professional quality you've finished them to, out of such humble sources.

[Schober]

Expert use of a penny. Never would've thought of that.

[petalee]

This is really cool, i might try doing the xbox controller one (mainly because of my limited resources) :)

[greenjedi]

You are a genius!

[chance1234]

Many thanks for posting not just this but all your other tutorials too. Your video on soldering was also very excellent.

Here is a picture of some colt 45 cufflinks I made inspired by your tutorials. A couple of problems I came across when doing this were the following.

The first was ensuring the shells were cut down to the same depth, I was wondering how you you ensured that you cut the exact same size each time ?

The second one was with the soldering, I seems to have developed some red spots on the underside of the shell, would this be a sign of hitting the brass too much ?

Regards

Chance

[Mrballeng]

Those look slick! Great job. Cutting shells equally is a game of measuring and comparing. It takes practice to train you eye to see the same thing twice when your cutting two shells (if that makes sense). But don't think that each shell I cut works out as planned. I've ruined plenty. And as far as those pink spots that's oxidized brass. Use a little less heat. You can buff that right off. Thanks for posting a picture. I feel like if I were to zoom out a little I"d see Doc Holiday twirling his other revolver.

[ThatKnottyguy]

You my friend, are amazing.
You are my favorite author by a mile on instructables.
I love what you do, just keep on posting, I suscribed.
You are the best!

[Mrballeng]

Thanks!

[getoffamycloud]

I don't really understand the rivet pictures.
The rivet is permanently closed, isn't it?

[Mrballeng]

The rivet would normally be placed through a hole and mushroomed out to secure it in. These rivets are left as they are out of the box.

[Jeff-of-all-trades]

Here are the cufflinks that I made using a similar method to your water bottles. They were a gift for a friend in memory of his recently departed bachelorhood (a.k.a. marriage).

I did purchase backings, since my several attempts at using industrial rivets did not come out as nicely as your backings with clothing rivets.

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Mrballeng]

You did an awesome job! Your bottle detail is great. I bet they we're a hit! Thanks for posting a photo.

[ewilhelm]

Picture of me modeling the robot cufflinks you made are attached! I wore these during a presentation on community to Autodesk's CEO to illustrate just how special our community is.

[Mrballeng]

This is great! What an honor. I'm glad they were of use to you. Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[wanna beco]

ok, why pre 83 pennies?

[Mrballeng]

Those are solid copper while pennies made after are zinc coated with copper.

[wanna beco]

you're a freakin genius dude. I looked at that bottle and wondered how the heck you did it. When I saw I never would have guessed. I am a big collector of cuff links and I am single hand-idly trying to bring them back into fashion. You're designs are some of the best i've seen.

[Mrballeng]

Thanks a million. They were a hit at the wedding.

[black hole]

What if you ground it out of a plexiglass rod so that it looked even more real. Of course, you couldn't solder the rivet on, but it's still an idea...

[Mrballeng]

I like that idea. Good thinking and especially thanks for sharing it.

[black hole]

Sure, no problem.

[dragonflydazd]

as always, i am in awe of your talent and creative thought process. these are great. could also we worn as tie clips..........cool.

[Mrballeng]

Thanks. Looking forward to see some of your creations.

[Paymeister]

Astonishingly beautiful - bravo!

[Mrballeng]

Thank you.

[C LORD]

Great instructable. Im going to make the bullet shell ones for my bro for Christmas.

[insuranceman1]

I can see these being a huge hit at the used car lot.

[panabell]

genial!!!

[djzadjza]

would thin plexiglass work instead of the dvdr

[Mrballeng]

Yes I think that would work just fine.

[wcgems]

I just wanted to say that jewelry making is a hobby that I love and your Instructibles have been inspiring. I have not been able to duplicate your ideas, that i have tried, 100%? but they have given me the ability to see and make like never before. Last item was a pendant and everyone loves it. Keep posting so that we may all be inspired. Thanks!

[Mrballeng]

Thank you for taking the time to write me. So far my jewelry making experience is a total of 9 months; the nickel ring being the first thing I ever made. My point is if I can do it, you can too. If you ever get stuck on a step you know where to find me. I'm happy to help. That way I won't feel so bad when I come to you for help.

[Ex Machina]

Why aren't you famous??!

[MrF_DT_teacher]

No way this is one full on instructable!!! so much work well done buddy. I may have missed it but did you solder the decorations on or bond them with glue? I was only wondering as I thought reheating may interfere with the solder holding the backs together :) thanks

[Mrballeng]

Your right. Soldering was done first then the decorations. Other wise putting a torch to them after the fact would have been bad.

[Sunbanks]

Wow, those look great! I like how you can see the reflection of your instructables robot shirt in the basketball ones :)

[Mrballeng]

Good eye. It happened to be a coincidence I was wearing my shirt when I took the final photos.

[Beanie10]

these are awesome!
have you thought about selling these on etsy? i'd buy a set of the goggle ones for sure.

[Mrballeng]

I'm starting to make items to put up on etsy. Once I make some inventory I'll open up shop. I'll be sure to include some goggles.