Painting wooden earrings...but how

October 24, 2019 6:07 PM

I have some wooden earrings that I would like to paint. What kinds of paint will be safe? How to finish them?

I have some post earrings with simple wooden fronts that I'd like to paint as well as some dangly ones. They are oiled with jojoba oil but not finished in any other way. I would like to paint them with both colors and metallics if possible. Two pairs have engraving that is deep enough that it should be fine with a thin coat of paint.

I've looked at different tutorials but am having difficulty deciding what is the best approach.

posted by Frowner to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

Sand off the jojoba oil (paint wont stick to it) and use acrylic paint. You can finish them with clear acrylic medium and they will be fine!
posted by ananci at 6:48 PM on October 24, 2019 [1 favorite]

Honestly, I'd probably just paint them with acrylic paint and then put a top coat of some sort (clear fingernail polish would work fine) to help seal it.

If you want to be really extra, you could look into enamel paint but it's too much of an investment for one or even a few pair(s) of earrings IMO.
posted by vegartanipla at 6:50 PM on October 24, 2019

I'd use fingernail polish for this project. You can select from a wide range of colors and effects, the paint will resist skin oil and water nicely, and separate small brushes in each cap will make application and clean up so much easier. I'm not even sure you would need to remove the Jojoba oil layer: the surface area is so small that delamination shouldn't be a big problem.
posted by effluvia at 7:02 PM on October 24, 2019 [2 favorites]