Light Saber Earrings From Tritium Vials

Tritium is a weakly radioactive isotope of hydrogen that decays by emitting beta particles. The inside surface of the glass vials are coated in phosphorous, which emits light when it is excited by the beta particles. This is what makes the vials glow 24/7 without any need to charge them in the sun like most glow-in-the-dark objects. The half life for tritium is 12.33 years, so earrings made with these vials will last a long time before they become dim. I sourced my tritium vials from mixglo.

Small amounts of tritium, despite being radioactive, are completely safe. Tritium is already used in several other applications such as gun sights, illuminated exit signs, watch dials, key chains, and even battery free flashlights as used by Prince Harry.

Tritium vials come in multiple lengths and colors, and the vials themselves will eventually need to be replaced. For this reason, I wanted an earring design in which it is easy to swap out vials, and the vial itself is the main cost of the earring. The best way I could think of to do this is to have multiple, swappable vials attach magnetically to a stud earring. Magnetic stud earrings are just about impossible to find though since most stainless steel will not stick to a magnet. I was able to get around this by hiring a jeweler to solder 440C stainless steel ball bearings onto posts to make studs that the magnets would stick to. After that, it was just a matter of gluing a small magnet to each vial, and they became fully functioning earrings. If you use magnetic spheres to make a necklace, the vials can also attach to that in addition to being earrings.

• 3 mm diameter tritium vials of any length that you like. I used 15 mm and 22.5 mm ones for my earrings.
• Neodymium magnets, one per vial plus spares in case they break.
• 100 pack of 440C stainless steel 1/8" ball bearings
• Extra thick super glue
• 600 grit sandpaper
• Electrical tape
• Needle, pin, or toothpick
• 3 mm magnetic spheres (only necessary if you want a necklace)
• X-Acto knife
• Cheap toothbrush
• Supplies and tools for soldering the steel balls to posts, OR a cool local jeweler who can do it for you.
• Dissecting microscope or magnifying visors (not necessary, but if you have one or the other, it makes it easier)

See photos 1-4. The earrings work well when worn singly, but two adjacent earrings will tend to stick together as in photo 3. This can be overcome by placing a stainless steel ball between the two vials as shown in photo 4. Generally though, it is easier and more convenient to just wear one earring per ear, or maybe two if you have widely spaced piercings. Keep this in mind when deciding how many studs to make.

The magnets are quite strong, but the vials can still fall off. Avoid wearing these earrings while exercising and don't lean your ear on magnetic surfaces such as a refrigerator. Be careful when donning and doffing masks or helmets that the straps don't pull off the vials.

Although the vials emit light all the time, they are too faint to be seen in well lit rooms or outdoors during the day. They are perfect for night life though.

To make a necklace, pull a string of 1/8" magnetic spheres long enough to go around your neck like a choker. Add or remove magnets as necessary to make a comfortable, but tight necklace. Gently add all of your vials to the necklace, but DO NOT allow the magnets to snap together. Neodymium is brittle and easy to chip. See photo 5.

I don't actually know how to do this, so unless you are a jeweler, you're probably better off hiring one to do it for you like I did. My local jeweler charged $25 per stud that he made by soldering a post to one of the stainless steel balls. The fancy backs in the photo were not included in that price, but you can use cheap backs to keep the price down. It's tricky to do because if the metal heats up too much, it oxidizes and gets ruined. Definitely leave the entire bag of 100 balls with the jeweler because they will inevitably oxidize a few.

1. The ends of the vials are originally smooth as in photo 1 and will not stick to the glue. Tear off a small piece of 600 grit sandpaper, fold it in half, and use it to sand inside and around one end of the vial. See photo 2. Only sand one end of the vial, not both.
2. Use the toothbrush to clean the sanding debris out of the vial. See photo 3.
3. The end of the vial should now be clean, but rough as shown in photo 4. If it is still shiny, repeat the previous two steps until it is clean and rough.
4. Take a stack of the neodymium magnets and label one end, or stick the stack to another, larger magnet. This is to ensure that all of the earrings that you make have the magnet in the same orientation with respect to the vial. Take a small piece of electrical tape and stick it to the top magnet in the stack. See photos 5-6.
5. Press one of the stainless steel balls onto the tape above the magnet to form a depression as shown in photos 7-8.
6. Use your thumbnail to pull the top magnet off the stack without removing the tape as in photo 9.
7. Place the magnet down on a flat, level surface as shown in photo 10.
8. Use the pin/needle/toothpick to add a small drop of super glue to the end of the vial that you sanded previously. See photo 11. Unfortunately the photo turned out blurry.
9. Place the glued end of the vial down directly on top of the magnet as shown in photo 12. Try to align it as perfectly as possible. The glue is slow to cure, so you have at least 30 seconds to fiddle with it.
10. After 5-10 minutes, the glue should be cured enough for you to pick up the vial and remove the tape. It should look like photo 13, but if there are extra blobs of glue sticking out, you can trim them off with the X-Acto knife.
11. Depending on how large of a blob of glue you used, the inside of the magnet might be largely empty as shown in photo 14. If that is the case, use the pin/needle/toothpick to add more glue to the hole as shown in photos 15-16. Don't overfill the hole though, because there needs to still be enough space for the ball to fit like a ball and socket joint.
12. Now for the hardest part. Wait AT LEAST a week before wearing your earrings. If you don't, the glue might fail and you'll lose the vial.
13. When you repeat the process for additional vials, take care with step 4 to ensure that all the vials have the magnets in the same orientation with respect to the vials.
14. Go have fun with your new earrings! It might be worth reading up on tritium, because people will definitely ask you about them.