Component Earrings

I created these electronic component earrings by re-purposing obsolete parts which my partner no longer needed. I found there to be a gap in the market for women interested in electronics. These kinds of people are hard to buy gifts for, so I decided to try making my own.

Components are interchangeable, there are thousands of shapes and colours available so feel free to make it your own.

I hope I've given you inspiration to try it yourself, and I'd love to see your own designs, so if you try this please post a photo in the comments below.

To make these you'll need the following supplies:

• Axial ferrite core inductors x2
• Resistor (1/8W) x6
• Solder - preferably lead-free.
• Soldering iron.
• Side Cutters.
• Silver plated finding (hook) x2
• Helping Hand
• IPA or acetone
• Cotton Bud
• Heatproof mat or newspaper.

Slide the finding over one leg of the inductor, and fold the legs into a triangle.

Note that if you forget to do this step, you can add it at the end by opening out the loop on the finding, and crimping it with pliers onto the triangle.

Place the inductor into the helping hand as you'll need both hands free for the next part.

Set your soldering iron to a temperature which will not burn the solder joint, but will transfer enough heat into the legs to give a nice strong connection - in my case 340 degrees C was about right.

Preheat the legs for a couple of seconds with the iron tip, and feed a small amount of high quality (ideally silver-based) solder until it forms a rounded blob with no sharp edges or spikes.

Repeat this step again for the other earring.

Push the finding up towards the top of the earring (the point of the triangle). This is very important!

Ensure the leads on your resistors are nice and straight, then place the first one so that the body of the resistor is central between the two legs.

Feed a small amount of solder onto one of the legs (don't worry if it moves a little - we will sort this out soon).

If it's not quite straight, grip the non-soldered leg and apply a small amount of pressure in the direction it needs - lightly touch the solder joint with the iron to re-melt it until you're happy with the position.

Solder the other leg in position, so the resistor is now anchored in place.

Chop the legs as closely as you can using the side cutters.

To neaten up the solder joints and ensure there are no sharp points, feed a little extra solder onto both sides to form a rounded 'blob' which covers where the legs used to protrude.

Repeat for the other 2x resistors, ensuring the finding stays at the top and doesn't get 'trapped' by the resistors.

Repeat the whole step again for the other earring - it helps to place one over the other as a template to help with alignment.

You'll probably have noticed that after soldering there were brown/burnt stains from the flux.

Dip your cotton bud in some isopropanol alcohol or rubbing alcohol, and wipe away any excess staining. It may take some persistence to get it all to dissolve.

That's it, you're finished. Eye catching, one-of-a-kind geeky earrings in 3 easy steps!