DIY Fashion: funky safety pins earrings & a story

Before I tell you how I made this pair of safety pins earrings, I have a story about safety pins to share. This story happened to my mom with her first born, that is, my eldest brother. So the story was that she found out one day too late that a safety pin was missing. Safety pins, as you may know, come in various sizes and the missing one had to be the largest. To her horror, my brother, who was less than one year old at that time, had apparently swallowed it. And horrors of horrors, the safety pin was left open before it was swallowed! Can you imagine the panic my mum felt then?

Out of fear, my mum didn’t even dare breathe a word to anyone and kept the anxiety all to herself, not knowing what to do. She was all antsy, worried that the safety pin would cause permanent damage to my brother and that anxiety lasted a good 24 hours until the safety pin was passed out together with his poop. My brother survived unscathed and my mum was finally able to heave a sigh of relief!

Just in case you’re wondering, no, this pair of DIY safety pin earrings were not inspired by my mom’s traumatic experience. But while making them, I was reminded of her pin piercing fears. It’s not easy being a young mother really. Thank goodness all went well for my brother; I haven’t heard of any complaints from my brother over the years regarding his digestive system and I don’t know what happened to that safety pin. I don’t think my mom picked it up from his poop.

Now coming back to my DIY earrings…well, I’ve been wanting to make a pair of earrings but I wasn’t keen on making the usual stuff. I wanted something different, something that look reconstructed. Safety pins are rather easy to work with and they make funky looking accessories too.

The only material I bought was a pair of lever back earrings from Art Friend at S$1.93. The rest of the items were recycled from stuff I have at home. Nothing complicated. The only tool I used was a pair of pliers to attach the safety pins to the earrings. I thought the earrings look cool but when I showed them to my son, he wasn’t too impressed. So I guess he wouldn’t want to swallow them any time soon.

Comments

  1. xin says:

    I think it’s a really cool idea! Boy won’t appreciate accessories but girls would!

    P/s: thank god your bro wasn’t harmed by safety pin, which also reminded me of primary sch friend who accidentally swallowed staples and had them stuck in the throat. In the end she forced herself to cough it out. It came out with blood and all =/

  2. sesame says:

    Your classmate swallowed staples and got them stuck in the throat? Oh my…how did she even managed to cough it out? I had a fish bone stuck in my throat and I had to use a small pincer to pinch it out. Good thing it was at the top of my throat and I could see the bone using a mirror. It was horrible to live with that gone in my throat for days!

  3. Soos says:

    Yes, mothers stress out! Fun earrings!

  4. chenyze says:

    Creative! It looks pretty elegant actually, and the quirky use of a safety pin lends just that bit of edge to it. Beats the ubiquitous safety pin/zipper earring studs that a lot of teenagers have been wearing!

  5. sesame says:

    Never seen the pinzipper one…had to google to check them out.

  6. sesame says:

    Yeah…thank goodness for disposable diapers these days too! ?

  7. Chris says:

    Gosh, I can’t imagine the terror your poor mum must have felt! My brother used to eat blanket lint when he was a toddler, but that never hurt him.

    These earrings are really pretty. Clever idea!

  8. sesame says:

    Thanks! And yeah, my mom was terrified…the 24 hours must have seem like 24 years to her then. Your brother ate blanket lint? I hope it wasn’t a lot.

  9. xin says:

    she had to induce vomit to puke/cough it out. i used to choke on fish bone quite often because i eat a lot of fish ? my grandma used to put a rice bowl on my head and knock it with a pair of chopsticks when i choke on fish bone. am not sure if it really worked but i am still surviving!

  10. sesame says:

    You remind me of this remedy my father used – vaguely recall him using some water, chopsticks and writing Chinese characters in the air. It seemed to work all the time.

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