Meiji Gakuin Earrings

There is a story to these earrings.

I am presently studying abroad at Meiji Gakuin University in Japan. I went and joined the Ouendan leaders club, which is traditionally an all-boys division of the support squad at baseball games. It doesn't seem to matter than I'm American and female - they're desperate for members, and I've got the passion, so they accepted me with open arms!

At games we are required to wear a gakuran uniform - a button-up collared jacket and slacks not unlike those worn by high school boys here in Japan. While most all gakuran look identical, you can tell the schools apart by their buttons, which are engraved differently depending on the school. At Meigaku our buttons are gold with the traditional MG logo - as seen above between the two earrings. (Yes, I photographed the earrings on my gakura, next to the second button from the top - the one traditionally given by boys to their high school lovers on graduation day as it is the closest to their heart and is thought to hold all of their emotions and memories from their time as a high school student.)

Since the Ouendan represents school spirit, and since my ears are pierced, I decided that I wanted earrings to go with my uniform. At the Co-op they sell Meigaku modern logo cell phone charms. They are black and silver (or yellow and silver) with a silver jump ring and a small clip with which you can attach it to any phone charm you may already have attached. As soon as I saw them (and had received my gakuran) I knew I had to make them into earrings. So, I purchased two black and silver charms and brought them back to my dorm.

Now, there was a problem here. The school colors are yellow and black. The buttons on the gakuran are gold. Silver...kind of clashes. I was originally going to put them on silver hooks and just try to ignore the clashing metals, but at the last minute decided to look up techniques with which to stain metal.

Turns out alcohol-based ink will permanently stain metal to whatever color you may desire! Coincidentally enough, Copic markers are made of alcohol-based ink. So, I took the Mustard colored marker and stained the MG logo charms a lovely yellow-gold color.

In my earring box I had a pair of large plastic cherry earrings that I purchased last time I was in Japan that I never really wear. They just so happened to be on gold-colored hooks and jump rings, so with two pairs of pliers I removed the cherries and replaced them with my newly stained charms.

I suppose it's not the most impressive of art projects, but I am extremely pleased with the results of my experimentation. I'm looking forward to showing them off at the upcoming baseball games. These earrings (along with myself) will make their debut at a multi-division game between Meiji Gakuin and Daito Bunka University, where Meigaku (currently at the top of the second division) will aim for a spot at the bottom of the first division by stealing the title from Daito. It will be my first time cheering with the Ouendan as a full member, so it's exciting all around!

So yes. These are my Meiji Gakuin earrings. Personalized and one-of-a-kind...I think they're very me!

Here is what they originally looked like (picture taken from MGU's official store website): [link]

Copic marker, pliers, earrings hooks and jump rings. Constructed October 20, 2008.