All about making acrylic earrings with the xTool P2

Learn how to make acrylic earrings with the xTool P2 CO2 laser cutting machine. This post was sponsored by xTool and contains affiliate links.

All about making acrylic earrings with the xTool P2

Want to learn how to make your own earrings out of acrylic? You’re in the right place! Today I’m sharing a tutorial about how to use the xTool P2 CO2 laser cutting machine to make custom earrings. The P2 can cut all different types of acrylic, making the options pretty much endless.

I’m using some files that I put together for this tutorial. But this tutorial is really for many any type of acrylic earrings with your P2. So let’s jump into the tutorial, shall we?

In this article…

Supplies I used…

xTool P2 CO2 laser cutting machine
Acrylic sheets in various colors and finishes
Earring hooks—or earring posts, whatever your preference is
Jump rings in various sizes
Pliers—having two sets is nice when prying the jump rings open and shut
I also use a smoke purifier since I work indoors without window ventilation

Step 1: Upload cut files

The first step is to upload the files you’ll be working with. As I mentioned, I’m working with files I put together for this tutorial. Whatever you design, just make sure it is a cut file, not an image file. So, for example, an .svg file, not a .png file.

xTool Creative Space (XCS) can work just fine with image files for some things, but I find you get the best, cleanest cuts when working with scalable files like .svgs. Don’t want to design your own earrings? Etsy has loads of files you can buy for very cheap to use.

For more on the P2, check out my My xTool P2 CO2 Laser Review!

Step 2: Cut out of acrylic sheets

Next I used different kinds of acrylics to cut out the different earrings. If you have scrap pieces of acrylic, they are great to use for tests. I tested all of these files a few times and tweaked the sizing. Sometimes it was the sizing of the actual earring pieces, and sometimes it was the size of the holes for the rings.

I really love some of the acrylic I was able to try out for this project. I’d used the glitter acrylic to make custom name puzzles in my tutorial on How to Make a Puzzle With xTool, so I knew that cut beautifully. The two new acrylics I worked with for this project were this frosted clear iridescent blue and this ripple clear iridescent.

For all of the different sheets I used—even the ones that were slightly different thicknesses—I used the settings 100 power, 6 speed, 1 pass. It cut beautifully. For the earrings I did engraving on, I used the settings 10 power, 80 speed, and 1 pass. I needed to buff the engraved space when water and a cloth afterward to remove some cloudiness around the engraving area, but it came off easily.

Step 3: Add hooks, posts, or jump rings

After you’ve cut out your acrylic earrings, it’s time to add the jump rings and earring hooks or posts. I got three different sizes of jump rings and a package of hooks. And this is by far the most tedious part.

I used two pairs of pliers to pry open each jump ring, thread them through the holes, and assemble the earrings. For the earrings that weren’t a series of connected pieces (like the moon phases and hearts), I still used a jump ring to attach the hook.

You can see some of the differently sized jump rings in the closeup shots below. I do recommend having a few different sizes on hand—buying a multipack is very handy. There were a few times I tried one size but quickly realized that a larger ring would look better.

For more, check out my 9 Laser Craft Ideas for Your Small Business and my 4 Things to Laser Engrave From Ikea!

And here are the finished earrings!

Here is a look at the finished earrings! And me wearing two of my favorites from the bunch 🙂 This was a fun project to do—definitely something unlike what I usually make, but I love adding another tool into my maker’s toolkit.

As always, if you’re interested in investing in an xTool machine, you can use my code Brittany80 and my link for $80 off a machine—which can be stacked on top of sales. And xTool recently released a Pearl White P2 machine, which I LOVE! If you have questions about the machine, drop them in the comments below. Happy making!