If you attend one of my basic jewellery making workshops I will show you in person how to make earrings, however attending one of my workshops isn't an option for most, so I have put together a photographic guide to making two very simple pairs of earrings. I have chosen to make two pairs to show how just by adding one extra element you can change the whole look to a pair of earrings, so I have one plain pair and one more decorative.
Why photos - not video?
Well I have on occasions watched videos to find out how others make their jewellery but when it comes to showing the detail I have found it is often not that clear and I have to watch parts of it over and over again and I often end up none the wiser and working things out for myself. Hopefully with photos the crucial details are shown more clearly.
How to make a simple pair of pearl earrings
You will need a pair of wire cutters, round nosed pliers, snipe or flat nosed pliers, head pins, ear hooks and your choice of beads.
Firstly select you headpin
A head pin is a thin blunt metal stick with a flat round base a bit like a pin with no point, they come in varying lengths and thicknesses.
Today I have chosen a short head pin as I am only using a few beads so it saves on waste.
Thread your beads onto the head pin starting with the bead you want at the bottom of the earring. I have kept it very simple with just a glass pearl and small silver bead.
Repeat for second earring
Once you are happy with your bead order for your earrings you need to trim the headpin down using your wire cutters so you have approximately 1/2 - 3/4 cm of wire left above your top bead. Try to cut the same amount off both pins for an even appearance.
Once head pins have been cut down to required length, use your snipe or flat nosed pliers to bend wire approximately 90 degrees away from top bead.
So it looks like this
And repeat for second earring
Using your round nosed pliers loop the tip of your wire back towards the hole of the top bead, leaving a small gap
Repeat with second earring
Repeat for second earring and then slip ear hook into loop through the gap.
Close loop with snipe nosed pliers, it is important at this stage not to pinch the loop closed, just hold onto tip of wire with the pliers and guide it towards the top bead hole to close the gap and create the loop.
For comparison I also made a pair of earrings adding a decorative bead cup on top of the pearl and before the small silver bead
And the finished items, plain and simple or decorated vintage vibes - Choose your style!
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