Solutions for large and heavy earring discomfort.
I love larger earrings but their weight can hurt my ears. Occasionally catching them in things also scares me that I might loose an earlobe. For quite some time I avoided them altogether until recently I discovered a good solution to the issue.
These are sterling silver clip-on findings. They are really good quality and much gentler than the majority of other clip-ons. They have a firm, solid grip but don’t hurt my ears or make them look red while I’m wearing them. I wear them to work for periods over 7 hours and forget I have them on! When I take them off I will have a slightly pink dent where the clip-on has been which usually lasts about half an hour – sometimes a weird feeling too as my earlobe returns to shape. I’m in Australia and I purchased them from Over The Rainbow online for $20 (these are the ones pictured). Here is the exact page. I only need one pair to share between all my earrings as it’s so simple to change them (for information about how to change earring findings over see my previous post) I have also seen them at Fire Mountain Gems and Beads which is a US site. Remember silver plated is not the same quality as sterling silver though.
I am yet to discover a pair of good quality gold clip-ons. I imagine they are out there, probably fairly pricey but would definitely be worth a shot. You can always try painting the outside of the silver with gold/brass nail polish – this has worked well for me. *UPDATE – they now sell gold filled at Over The Rainbow. They are $24 a pair.
It’s also easy to find basic clip-on earring findings in all colours at craft stores and online jewellery sites. These will be much cheaper but my experience with these has been a little more painful. There are pads available that can soften a clip-on’s pinch. The Earring Doctor is a great online resource for all sorts of things that can aid earring issues. I don’t think you can purchase sterling silver clip-ons there though. For solely weight issues they sell small pads that you stick to the back of your earlobes to distribute the weight more evenly. These are probably great – I think a simple band-aid could achieve a similar result if you’re up for experimenting – but I say “Use clip-ons! Please don’t hurt your earlobes!”
Love wearing big earrings!
PS: Earrings in photo are some I made – and they aren’t actually heavy! I wear them with the clip-ons due to their size. I made them using plastic white beads and a simple chandelier finding I got at Spotlight. I’ll write a blog about how to make similar earrings in coming weeks.
