Tie-Dye screams summer time!

These earrings are reminiscent of tie-dye by using the water marble nail technique. This was a really hot thing a few years ago, so I decided to revive it but it in a new way: earrings. With this technique you can have earrings in whatever colors you want with very little supplies.

If you have ever water marbled your nails you are ready for this Instructable! If you have never done water marbling, don't worry; it is pretty easy to get something cool with little effort. With a little practice, you can come up with eye popping designs for the summer!

Supplies

1. Newspaper or paper towels to protect your work surface.

2. Extra paper towels for your hands.

3. Nail polish in various colors*

* I will note that some nail polishes don't work as well for water marbling as they just sit on the water and don't spread. You can still use them, but you are gonna have to push them around a lot more than nail polishes that will spread. I found that LA Colors doesn't spread, but Sally Hansen, Sinful Colors, and Broadway Nails do. However, sometimes I think it honestly varies bottle to bottle, but not necessarily brand to brand. I found some colors of a brand would work while others wouldn't, so you should do a test first to see if your colors will work.

4. Tooth picks or pencils, or other pointed instruments for swirling the polish.

5. Nail polish remover

6. A cup or small dish (use one you can just throw away or one that will be ok to clean with nail polish remover, such as glass).

7. Water at room temperature.

8. Cotton balls to use with the nail polish remover to take the nail polish off your fingers.

9. Little wooden pieces. I bought mine at a local craft store, but you can buy them off of Amazon. These ones are squares, but you can get cool shapes, too. (example: square 1X1 inch pieces )

10. Varnish - not necessarily necessary, ha ha, but I like it. I am using Duraclear Gloss Polyurethane Varnish.

11. A brush to apply varnish.

12.Earring components - I am using flat back post earrings like these on Amazon, but you can use french hooks if you like.

13. Super Glue. I am using Gorilla Super Glue Gel.

14. FOR HOOK EARRINGS ONLY: A pair of round nosed pliers, two earring hook pieces, two jump rings, a battery powered drill, and a small drill bit.

Step 1: Prep Work

First, prepare your work area. This project moves quickly, so it is important to have everything on hand.

Spread paper towels or newspaper over your work surface so you don't risk ruining your table surface, or the floor, or the desk, or whatever you are using. Not fun to realize that you got bright blue nail polish on the dark wood table halfway through your craft time.

Place your nail polish bottles and tooth picks close at hand. You want to be able to grab the next color quickly.

Pour some of the water into the cup. You want it to be about 2/3 of the way full so it is easy to dip the pieces in and out but also not spill water every where.

Unscrew the tops of the nail polishes that you want to use. This way you aren't pausing to unscrew the caps and wasting time.

With your little wood pieces waiting, you are ready to go.

Step 2: How to Water Marble

Pick your first color. You can do as many colors as you like, or only two. Know what you plan to do before you start so that you can do the design as quickly as possible.

With the first color ( I am using bright green) get the nail polish brush full of polish and hold it over the water so it will drip into the water. Don't hold it too high above the water or the nail polish will simply go right through the surface of the water and end up as a little nail polish ball on the bottom of your cup. Do one drop or multiple drops. The nail polish should hit the water, stay a dot for a moment, then begin to spread out. It is really cool to watch.

Do your second color, dripping right into the center of the first color.

Continue to do this for as many colors as you like. I am using four (green, pink, yellow, and blue). I also start to just place the dots randomly wherever I feel like. Just remember that you have to work fast.

I did this many times to get the photos, so if you notice some differences in them, it is because they weren't all the same batch. Because of the time it took to get photos, the nail polish would harden too much to swirl, and I would have to do it over again.

Step 3: To Color the Earrings

Once you have all the colors you want in the water, take your toothpick and carefully swirl/pull/push the colors around. Don't worry about what you see on the surface (honestly I thought the one I did for this Instructable looked bad) because you can't see what the final product is going to look like until you have dipped the wood.

Once you have swirled the colors around to whatever you want, dip the wooden piece by carefully holding the side edges and dunking it as flat as possible onto the colors. Then just pull it straight back up.

Look! A cool rainbow swirly pattern!

Set the piece aside to dry on a safe surface (something that it is ok that nail polish touches it - paper towels, plastic wrap, etc.). With the nail polish remover, take off the nail polish that got on you.

Proceed to make many many colored squares! Use different colors, use more of one color, less of another, and experiment with pushing the colors around in different ways.

A side note: When you pull the wooden piece out, it may have water droplets on it. When these droplets dry, they will make little bubble patterns on the nail polish. If that bothers you, simply take a paper towel and carefully just touch the edge of the water droplet with the paper towel so that it sucks it up. You can see the little bubble patterns in the blue and yellow piece on the bottom left corner (personally, that is probably my favorite piece).

Some people who are more experienced at water marbling may be better than I am at making patterns, but your results can still be cool even if you are a beginner. I think I tried water marbling my nails once.

Step 4: Attaching the Earrings

If you are using posts, this step is easy. Put just a tiny dab of the super glue on the wooden piece, then place the metal flashback earring on it. I advise placing it near the edge so it doesn't try to cover your whole ear. Now just wait for the glue to dry.

If you want to use hooks, you will need a drill with a small drill bit. My drill bit is a #55 with a 118 degree point. Place the micro drill bit in your battery operated drill by holding onto the chuck portion of the drill while you run the drill in reverse (there should be a little switch that can be pushed in or out to change the direction of the drill from forward to reverse and back). This causes the drill to open up to allow you to remove/add a bit. Place the the tiny drill bit in the open end of the chuck, flip the drill to the forward position, and run the drill slowly until it closes tightly around the bit.

You can mark on your wooden piece with a pen where you want to drill, then carefully drill straight into the marked point. Make sure that your wooden piece is on a surface that will not be damaged when the drill bit comes through the other side (not the kitchen table!). Once the drill bit has come through the wood, run the drill in reverse and carefully back it out of the hole that you made.

Open a jump ring with your round nose pliers by twisting the ring sides away from each other, not pulling them away from each other. Loop them through the hole in the wood, then slide the hook on the jump ring. Now close the jump ring by twisting the sides back into their original position.

Ta-daa!

Step 5: Finish Up With Varnish

I like to finish up with a varnish. This really isn't necessary since the nail polish is enamel and should be pretty resistant to what little wear and tear the earrings will get, but I like the added shine and the knowledge that it is as protected as I can make it without locking it behind a glass box and never wearing it.

I would never do that with these earrings. They are so cheap that it would be pointless. Some of my other projects, however.......

Anyway, I use Duraclear Gloss Polyurethane Varnish. You can use whatever varnish you prefer, but this is the varnish that I have tested and has a good track record for me. I just apply it with a brush, and I do about three coats, letting it dry in between coats.

Step 6: Color All Summer Long

Congratulations! You have just made your own pair of totally unique tie-dye earrings. I hope you have fun making this project and wearing your new earrings. Enjoy your summer!