American Girl Earrings - Piercing & Jewelry Making Tutorial 

Absolutely. I edited the description to point out that optional step. I have pretty steady hands and I go very slowly so I don't *always* pre-poke the hole, but I have done it before and it does help for sure. And yay for not having to guess about the jump ring size :-)

Thank you so much for mentioning this. My husband pierces the doll ears with his Dremel and I measure to place the holes, using a marker for the dots. I was wondering why it’s a bit hit or miss for the precision. I’m going to put a hole in the marked area now instead of just a marker dot, I’m pretty optimistic that this will fix the issue. I’m so grateful, thank you 🙏🏻 ❤

I just found them in white and was so excited. Seriously, I'd buy them in all the colors lol.

I will say this - I always use a 5/64 drill but and they're very snug (which I don't mind), but I'm currently doing some light customization to a doll for a friend's daughter and I pierced the doll's ears last night with a 3/32 bit. It wasn't too loose at all and the earrings go in and out more easily (important for a young child). I *might* switch to 3/32 going forward.

Thanks! That's Zariah - she's a TM 47 but we did an eye swap and she doesn't have a glued-down wig, so we change her hair up pretty often.

You can definitely pierce AG dolls' ears with thumb tacks, too. I've done nose piercings for them that way and Ann from @nowandforeverag made a great video recently showing the thumbtack method on her AG doll. It really comes down to whether you plan on using human earrings (or jump rings) or if you'd prefer to use AG earring posts, which are obviously thicker :-)

Good to know. I have never taken earrings out of my AG dolls, so I didn't realize the posts were thicker. I will definitely check out Ann's video too. ☺

Also Zariah is such a beautiful doll, I love her!

Hey these dolls are expensive enough as it is. I know not everyone is comfortable restringing, wig swapping, etc. but I will save my money where I can lol

@@anikacasanova9954 She really is!!!

I wish I could find a source to get the AG sized posts in bulk but for now I've been lucky enough to find used ones in lots on FB Marketplace or eBay. Good luck with doing the piercing. I believe I updated the description of this video to say you can definitely go up to the slightly larger of the two bit sizes I mentioned.

I wish I could find a huge lot of simple AG post earrings on eBay because I'm obviously fine with embellishing them but one can never have too many post earrings lol

@@agtakesoverDollofakind makes AG earring posts you can embellish yourself. They’re around $3 a pair depending on how many you purchase, not cheap but you get to make your own custom earrings that way. I’ve used jewelry glue to glue on stones, flower charms etc and they stay on no problem.

@@ALT-vz3jn thank you!!

How cool! Have you tried your hand at either (doll or human sized)?

@@agtakesover I have made matching duck tape bracelets but that's about it. I have came up with ideas though for some of them.

Last week we went to JoAnn Fabric and on clearance they had some human post earrings with different kinds of fruit. I bought a pack of them and used pliers and metal snips to break the backs and the fronts apart. Then I used glue dots and adhered the fronts to the a doll whose ears aren't pierced. It worked really well and was a good option if you don't want to pierce a doll's ears :-)

Haha! This is the way I always do it lol. I have changed to a *sliiiightly* larger drill bit, but other than that, this is my tried and true approach. Not for the faint of heart ;-)

Very cool! I'd love to know how it goes :)

I actually started using a 3/32 drill bit instead of 5/64. Both will work. I was worried that 3/32 might be too big, but it's not. And it's a bit easier to get earrings in and out with that size than with the 5/64. Good luck!!

@@agtakesoverthank you for the sizing advice! I think my husband uses the smaller bit, it’s a bit of a pain to get the earrings out at first 😮 I was worried about the bigger drill bit, as I purchased a Grace doll that already had her ears pierced and the holes are a little bit loose. Although I don’t know if she was pierced by AG or someone at home, so there’s that!

Of course- hope it's helpful!

I don't know where to buy only 12 gauge, but now I have a mission lol. Also, how many of your dolls are AG? What other brands do you collect? And do you have an Instagram account or someplace I can see them all? I'm so curious!

Doll of a Kind asked me to tag her on Instagram too. I purchased some of her outfits, beautiful glass eyes embedded with flowers, marbles, etc. and the companion wigs. She was suprised when I stated "I don't social media at all." I have pondered maybe in the future? I collect Gotz (Happy Kidz, Precious Day and Little Sisters), AG (18 in, Wellie Wishers, Bitty Baby and Bitty Twins), OG, My Life as, Madame Alexander, Disney Animators, Precious Moments, Maru and Friends, Heidi Ott, Adora, Glitter Girls, Engel Puppe plus Kennedy and friends. 18 in AG is about 400 dolls and makes the bulk of the collection.

@@shavonn923 Wow - that is a LOT of different doll lines. If you ever decide to do some social media to share your collection with others, I'm sure people will enjoy it. But at the end of the day it's most important that YOU enjoy them, right? :-)

@@agtakesover There was a time when doll collecting was frowned ☹️ upon. RU-vidrs would get brutal comments for sharing a hobby they love. So, I was the "quiet collector". People don't know unless they do. I live 30 minutes from Disney and 45 from Universal in Florida. When visiting Disney, reach out. You can come see the collection in person.

Great idea!!

I found another collection of earrings that will match what I already have so I will have multiple posts and since there’s duplicates I can make more necklaces. If there’s duplicate that matches one of the pairs I already have I can paint them different colors with nail polish

@@gretchennahas5994 great idea!! Good luck!

Not a bad problem to have, if you ask me.

@@agtakesover I was thinking of putting a dangling attachment to Josephina earrings. I think they are just a bit too plain

They're from AG. Usually indirectly, like from FB Marketplace. I'd love to find an additional source for them, but so far I've done alright finding ppl willing to sell a bundle of their AG earrings reasonably.

I use a foam-core posterboard (from the Dollar Tree) cut and stacked two layers thick (I used duct tape around the edges to hold the two layers together) and put the posts in that. Then I have a little craft supplies organizer that's a shallow plastic box with a lid and little plastic dividers for all the dangles I add to the posts.

I think you're asking if I've made my own posts before? No. I would love to but am not sure where to start.

I don't have any experience with this personally. I imagine if you heated the head by putting recently boiled water in it for a few minutes, you could pop the earrings out. But what size holes would be left, I don't know.

I do not. My suggestion would be to remove the pendant from the other one, too, and find two matching pendants that you like so you can at least make it a pair you'll use (even though it will look different from the original).

That's a good question - I'm not sure the diameter of OG earrings. Are you thinking of buying AG earrings for the OG doll?

@@agtakesover Not unless I find some for a cheap price in Europe. Trying to figure out what I can use to make earings for my OG doll. I have another OG doll that is my princess, and I want to pierce her ears. The pins on the OG earrings looks to be 1,6 millimeters or maybe 2 mm.

@@agtakesover I just looked it up and seems like OG and AG have the same earrings size. Wiki says AG has size 12G/3mm but another page I found says 2mm.

Since you found out they're the same diameter, my suggestion would be to look for an eBay listing for a lot of them that will ship to you. I have a ton of extras and would be happy to ship overseas, but all the extras I have are heart or star studs, not just round studs. When I need more round ones, I generally look on eBay.

I think that's a popular approach :-)

@@agtakesover oh ok

@@danielleedgefield8176 American Girl drills the holes in the salons at their stores, but some people either a) are afraid of taking a drill to their dolls' heads or b) don't like the look of the larger holes whenever the doll's not wearing earrings, so they do exactly what you do :-)

@@agtakesover that’s true .I’m just not trying to also spend the money for them to pierce their ears when I could do it myself

@@danielleedgefield8176 That's me, too! With a DIY so simple, I have no plans to pay them to do it for me lol.

Meaning you don't want that jewel in them or you're hoping to find a matching jewel so you can use the pair as they were designed to look?

Not all our dolls have pierced ears so we don't need a pair for *every* doll, but yes - you'll need several post earrings. I've gotten all mine secondhand through either Ebay or Facebook Marketplace, so prices vary.

Good question - I happen to have a Facebook Marketplace pickup scheduled for today and I'll be getting a bunch of AG earrings. My best bets have been FB Marketplace and Ebay.

They're from different places - ebay, facebook marketplace, etc. I have a LOT more dangles than posts, but that works out just fine.

Yep. I do want to try to find other manufacturers of that size post, though. Mainly because we need more of them and I am up to my ears in those star ones (which I never use because I feel like the dolls' hair gets stuck on them so easily).

@@agtakesover I wonder about supergluing some sort of cabochon down on those star posts. Plausibly one could make a mould and then cast them, but I'm not sure, cast them in what? I'm not sure if resin would be strong enough to hold up, maybe if there was a thin metal wire in the middle?

JoAnn Fabrics has had some GREAT deals on string beads lately so I've been having fun with those but I'd definitely like to check out a full-on bead store!