Fun Gift Idea for a Machinist’s Wife – Spring Retaining Ring Earrings
This isn’t exactly the kind of project I intend to regularly promote on this site, but I saw these earrings today and I cracked up. I called my wife over and she loved them. So “simple and elegant” is how she described them. She had no idea that the earrings were made from re-purposed spring retaining rings.
So I thought to myself, what machinist wouldn’t dig it if his wife were to wear such a pair of earrings out to dinner? Ok, maybe it’s just me. But if you’re itching for a unique gift for your wife that only your buddies would get a kick out of, these would be great. After all, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. You can purchase them directly from here for $15, or you could make your own.
After all, who doesn’t have some of these retaining rings rattling around at the bottom of their toolbox? … Or maybe that’s also just a me-thing.
If you decide to make your own, just be sure to use real earring hoops and not some random unplated wire you pull out of the scrap bin (you don’t want your wife to get an earlobe infection!). Hoops can be purchased from several places. Almost any craft store would carry them, and I believe Tandy Leather Goods carries them if you need to order them online.
Here are a couple of other designs by the same artist. Not exactly “metalworking” per se. But hey, they’re fun.
Tags: Gift Ideas
January 31st, 2009 at 5:03 AM
Aw, thank you for the feature :D
I like to dig around the hardware store and see what fun i can find :D
A Note about the ear wires,
You can get plain ear wires at walmart in the craft section. However lots of women have allergies that require them to have sterling silver ear wires.
Some of the plain ear wires have nickle in them, which is the most common cause of allergies.
You’d want to buy from a specialty store if the wearer has allergies, one that knows the product is Sterling silver.
-Nichole
http://pawandclawdesigns.com
January 31st, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Thanks for the heads up Nichole. I never even though about Walmart’s craft section.
Anyway, as I said in the post, Kudos for such a creative use of such a simple hardware item!
Tyler