In less than a week Indians will be celebrating Diwali or Deepavali, the Festival of Lights.  Click here to read more about it on Wikipedia if it is new to you.  One fun part of Diwali is getting new clothes!  And of course when you get new clothes you need to get (or make!) new jewelry to match.  So today I am sharing some of the paper quilling Diwali earrings designs that I have made, some quite a long time ago and some newer, that were inspired by Indian designs.  Some of them are linked to tutorials.

Here is a cute simple design, made with three big teardrops that are bordered in another color, with a couple little gold edged accents.  The pink and green combo was inspired by some Indian outfits I saw.
These pretty double layer teardrops were made with purple and lavender colors.  So pretty!
These scroll earrings were inspired by the curls and swirls in the designs on Indian outfits, as well as the purple and dark pink combo. The pink paper was from the touch of gold multicolor pack, some fun paper!
If you look at the designs on Indian outfits you’ll see a LOT of tiny dots.  That is what inspired these fun earrings.  They are made with red, orange, and yellow papers.
These chain earrings are so fun!  Click here for the free tutorial for chain earrings.  For this pair I made four different colored solid open circles, and then used a gold strip of paper to wrap around the outside for the gold effect.  My mother-in-law picked out these earrings as they matched an Indian gold and multicolored jewel necklace she had.  Five years later she handed them back to me (just last week in fact!) as they had faded a bit (she wore them a LOT), so she wants a fresh new pair.  So time to make another one!

I made this pair of paisley earrings while I was staying at my in-laws.  My mother-in-law was watching an Indian drama and I was looking at the saris on the show for inspiration.  I saw this paisley in a paisley design and couldn’t resist making it out of paper!  Find them for sale here.

This pair is great for when you want something more delicate, but still eye catching.  I just used a bunch of small jump rings for the drop down, but now when I make this type of earrings I use small link chain like this as it looks nicer.
This was the first pair of larger earrings I ever made.  I wanted to make a pair of Indian inspired earrings that was larger than the others, and this was the result.  I used burgundy, burgundy with gold edge, and gold foil papers for this pair.

I love paisleys.  And paisleys are found extensively in Indian designs!  I created this pair based on the colors I found in a sari when I was searching on google for good color combos. Click here for the tutorial.  Or click here to purchase the earrings.

In this design I combined two elements common in Indian designs – paisley and peacock!  Click here for the tutorial.   Or click here to purchase.

I don’t often make jewelry that is specifically for me, but about 3 years ago I bought a new Indian outfit for a wedding and I had nothing that matched it.  So I made this set based on the colors and deco of that outfit.  I used black touch of gold, black touch of silver, and teal papers for it.

Here is a closer look at the earrings.

Of course I cannot forget to add the definitive jhumkas to this list!!  Here is the first basic jhumka design that I made.  Click here for the free tutorial.

It’s always fun to have some dangles on your jhumka earrings!  Click here for the tutorial on how to do that.

Here is another pretty jhumka design, with instructions on how to add beads and make the loop on top of the headpin.  Click here for the free tutorial.

Looking for more?  Here is a collection of 26 pairs of inspirational jhumka earrings!

Sealant for the earrings

For those are wanting to make your own earrings, you’ll want to make sure they are sealed to be sturdy and water resistant before using them as jewelry.  Click here to read all of the posts I have about sealant. OR if you want a quick answer and product names, I would suggest this:

  • Start by using a liquid sealer that will soak into your earring and make it nice and stiff.  I suggest Ceramcoat All Purpose Sealer (click here to read a review post with tips about this sealer)
  • If your earring design includes looser coils, use these and these tips to make sure not to ruin your coils (you’ll notice that in some of my earlier designs pictured above the coils were kind of open 🙁 )
  • Finish with a topcoat to make your piece water resistant and sturdy.  I recommend either PPA matte, PPA gloss, or Diamond Glaze, though there are others that work well also.

If you give one of these designs a try, I’d love to see it!  Share it and tag me #honeysquilling or @honeysquilling on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google +, etc.

Stick around, there is lots to see around the blog!  Here are some places to start:

  • Click here to view free paper quilling tutorials!
  • Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!
  • Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!
  • Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!

*This post contains some affiliate links.  If you purchase products through the affiliate links I get a small percentage (at no extra cost to you!).  I only link to products that I believe in and/or love to use myself.  Thank you for supporting my blog!