We're All Ears May Inspiration Reveal:: May

 image, was originally posted to Flickr.com, then uploaded to Commons usingFlickr upload bot on 21:42, 3 August 2012 (UTC) by SarahStierch (talk).

May's "We're All Ears May Inspiration" is very flexible.  The theme is tea and we can be inspired by china patterns, the shape of teapots, the flavors of tea, the colors of tea stains, the messages of wisdom on the tags, a romantic table setting, petit fours, silver spoons and lace.   We can simply pick out what inspires us. What fun!  I saw this as an opportunity to try a totally new technique to me.

I decided that I would use a can of Arizona Green Tea as my inspiration.  I like the colors and pattern of the graphics on the can.  I have seen jewelry made from tin cans and always wanted to try my hand at it.  I have also been making jewelry parts from metal and I have tools from making handmade cards.  I was happy to find another excuse to use these tools from both sets of hobbies.  I have to justify my craft purchased to myself as often as I can!

To create earrings from the can,  I wash, dried and cut it apart. I saw this as an opportunity to use my heavy duty metal cutters. This wasn't necessary. They didn't even work well. Ordinary sizzors work just fine.  

Embossing folder

 Next, I used a texture folder with my Sizzix Big Shot machine to add some raised embossed texture to the metal.  It also gave the metal some additional body.

Metal Disk Cutter Punch

I then punched out the shapes with my Metal Disk Cutter Punch. Truth be told simple punches from a craft store will work and give more design opportunities.  I have a heart punch that I think will make some very cute earrings.  The metal on these cans was much thinner that I imagined!

File

I then used my hole punch to place holes where I wanted my jump rings to go through.  I filed any edges where they were sharp or irregular.   

3 styles of tea can earrings

I ended up making 3 styles of earrings.  I used 5 mm and 10 mm gunmetal jump rings and ear wires to bring out the black on the graphics.

Pink floral earrings

The pink floral earrings are my favorite.  I love the color and texture.  I used pink lava beads because they had lots of texture.

Floral layered earrings

These earrings are made by layering a small circle on top of a larger one. The gunmetal kidney ear wires give a totally different look.

Turquoise Dangle Earrings

Being the perfectionist that I am, I will have to redo these Turquoise Dangle Earrings so that some of the black graphic isn't on one of them.  I didn't have anymore of the can left when I discovered the imbalance.  I created what looks like a chain for these earrings by just connecting some jump rings.  I like the look it gives.

Now, that I have these earrings under my belt, I want to make some from Coke cans next.  I am wondering if I should put a sealant on top of the thin metal.  Any suggestions about that?