Origami Spider Earrings

I'm the kind of person that always needs to be doing something. Knitting, crochet, drawing. Anything that I can do with my hands, and possibly multitask while doing it, is great. I started getting into origami a few years ago and have found it to be a prefect project to do, um, well... at work. I have a phone job. So it's something I can do on the phone or in between calls.

Anyway, the more origami I made at work, the smaller the paper started to become out of convince. It was easier to carry little pre-cut squares in my purse. It also made my work space look more like work and less like a craft studio. haha

It didn't take long for me to decide to put the tiny origami on a earring finding. Depending on your aptitude for folding tiny pieces of paper. These make great inexpensive gifts!

- paper (not card stock, it will be too thick to fold)

- clippers/wire cutter

- needle nose pliers (you may need two pairs)

- 2 head pins

- 2 tiny beads that match your paper

- 4 tiny jump rings

- couple inches of thin chain

- scrap wire

- clear acrylic spray paint

Start with a two and a half inch square piece of paper.

Fold it long way in both directions.

Fold it diagonally in both directions.

Open your paper up, you should see X and + creased into the paper intersecting in the middle.

You want to fold the paper in half so the two opposing corners diagonally are touching and the other two fold in on themselves creating a smaller square. The pictures above should help show you what I mean.

Now you should have a square that has four triangle flaps.

Keeping the long ends of the triangles together but push on the top side and push it flat in the other direction. Make sure the fold line matches up with the two long ends of the triangle on the bottom.

Do this on all four sides.

Fold the open bottom edges to meet in the middle as show in the picture. You should have a diamond shape once you do all sides.

Open up that last fold you just made.

Keeping that flap open, fold in the bottom ends again, but this time keep pressing up to make a complete seem and another little triangle flap.

Do this on all four sides.

If you are having trouble with this, look up how to do a "frog base fold". You should be able to find more instruction or a youtube video that may show you in an easier way to understand.

Now look at the top. If you see a hole, flip it over, that is the bottom.

The top should look like an eight point star.

Pull on the opposite start points, working your way around until the top starts to flatten out a little. Gently push it down with your thumb.

Once you have flattened the top about a third of the way between the original point and the widest part of your paper diamond, stop.

Crease the new edge you made and fold it in like it was before you started this step.

The top should now look like a comic sound effect bubble. Kind of.

Flatten your paper so the front and back piece are smooth, not the side that has the extra triangle. Make sure it's flattened evenly (same amount of folds on both sides) this will help you with the next folds.

With the smooth side facing you, fold the bottom pieces in to meet in the middle, making the pointy end have an narrower point.

Fold all four sides.

Cut each one o the pointy tabs in half. Follow the fold line, leaving you with eight pointy end pieces.

Open the folded end so you see the triangle folds on the front and back, and you have four pointy ends on both sides.

Fold the pointy pieces to other end and fan them out evenly on both sides. This makes eight little legs.

Now fold the little legs in half again. If you follow the picture and fold four back, and the other four forward they will look a lot more like spider legs.

Now grab a head pin and place a corresponding color bead on one end.

Feed the point through the opening in the paper spider and push it through the other side of the spider's butt.

Cut the head pin down to size and fold it over to make a little loop.

Using a piece of scrap wire, string your spiders on through the loops you just made.

Twist the wire so that the spiders won't be able to slide together and touch.

Using a clear acrylics spray, give the spiders a good heavy coat. Make sure to coat all sides and every little nook and cranny.

The paper will soak a lot of the paint up. Making the paper have a slight plastic feel and giving it a little more durability.

After the paint has dried, use some clippers to free your spiders from the wire.

Once they are free, grab a short length of thin chain to attach your spiders to.

Use jump rings (remember to twist open, never pull) attach one end of the chain to the spider and the other end to an earring finding.

Of course you have to so this all for the 2nd earring too, but congratulations! You just made yourself, or a lucky someone, a pair of spider origami earrings!