DIY Cufflinks

What better way to show a brother you care then by making custom cufflinks for each of his eight groomsmen. Each will receive cufflinks unique to their personality. No special tools are required and materials are well within reason.

So to get started, this is how to make the backings.

The backings are made out of clothing rivets. Each is composed of 3 pieces, the button side, the anchor side, and a short section of coat hanger wire to join them. Solder keeps it all together. I got these and all my other materials at the hardware store.

Now that we know how to make the backings, lets move on to the business side of the cuff links.

Materials: 16 gage steel wire, 22 gage sheet metal, polymer clay.

I made these cuff links by taking wire and shaping a square and a spiral. I then soldered them onto a piece of sheet metal. Next I filed the wire flat and polished it. I filled the recesses with polymer clay the same colors as Rasta and baked it in the oven.

Materials: 22 gage sheet metal, 18 gage brass.

I cut a Chevy symbol out of brass and chamfered the edges with a file. I then soldered it on to a piece of sheet metal, cut out the excess and continued to file in the Chevy shape.

Materials: 3/8 carriage bolt, photo paper.

This I made by turning a bolt in my drill press and filing until it looked like a bottle. I used a printed bottle for size reference. After I polished it I printed out the label on photo paper and super glued it on. I used an engraver to texture the cap. 

Materials: 16 gage wire, 18 gage brass.

First I formed the goggle frame with pliers. I then made it into a curved shape by striking it with the head of a carriage bolt. I used the same process to dome out a piece of brass. I then soldered them together and filed the wire flat. A small piece of brass covers the seam to the wire.

Materials: Shell casings, coat hanger.

To make these I pressed shell casings on a socket bit and then used a pipe cutter to cut the primer section off. I then filed the backs flat and soldered them together with a piece of curved coat hanger wire. The lettering is filled in with paint pen. The photos are from ".223 ammo pin" but the idea is the same.

Material: 2 nickels, DVDR compact disk, photo paper, hot glue.

I first printed out the symbol. Then I separated the layers to a DVDR and removed the silvering with packing tape. I placed some hot glue on a piece of DVDR, placed the paper, added more glue, and then pushed on another piece of DVDR. I double stick taped the piece onto a socket bit and used 100 grit sand paper and a razor blade to shave it to size while spinning it in my drill press. I used epoxy putty to set in to the nickels which are made same way as in “vintage locket” and "polished granite pendant". At the right angle the cuff links are iridescent.

Materials: 2 pennies pre-1983. Paper clips for embossing.

I made these basket balls by embossing pennies with paperclips. The paper clips were shaped to match the curves of a basket ball and them hammered onto the pennies. The relief lines are filled with paint pen.

Materials: 2 nickels, polymer clay.

I hammered out the detail on two nickels and super glued the photo image of Xbox controllers onto the them. I then used a center punch to mark where I would drill. I drilled out the holes, and shaped and polished the controllers with rotary bits. I filled in the holed with polymer clay and baked them.

Typically this would have been 8 different instructables. Consequently, I shortened the instructions dramatically to keep the length reasonable.

I hope all the pictures are helpful however, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for viewing.