Another pair of super quick earrings made with only three materials. Even though it’s the middle of winter, I’m trying to keep summer alive with these wonderful turquoise teardrop earrings.
I absolutely love turquoise so these earrings really hit the spot for me. The teardrop beads have holes at the top (rather than up through the centre) so they lend themselves to wire wrapping.
Materials
Here’s what you will need to make these earrings:
- 14x5mm Turquoise Teardrop Beads x2
- 26 Gauge Wire – 2 pieces approximately 15cm long
- 19mm Silver Earwires x2
Tools
Instructions
Watch the video or read the instructions below.
Step 1
Thread the wire through the bead about 2cm (3/4 inch).
Bend both wires up towards the top of the bead.
Hold the wire between your thumb and forefinger and give the bead half a twist – you want the wires to cross over and wrap around once.
Using the flat side of your flush cutters, trim off the short end as close as you can to the twist. Remember to put your thumb over the wire when you cut it so it doesn’t fly away.
Step 2
Place the round nose pliers over the place where the wire is twisted.
Pull the wire back behind the pliers (away from you) and then around the pliers (towards you).
Remove the pliers. This is what it should look like.
Step 3
Holding the loop you just made in the chain nose pliers, hold the opposite end of the wire in the other hand and start to wrap around the stem coming out of the bead. Continue wrapping until you have covered the top of the bead and the hole in the bead. Don’t worry if it’s a little messy – that adds to the handmade quality of this earring.
If you haven’t made a wire wrapped loop before, you might want to watch this wire wrapping video.
Using the flat side of your cutters, trim off the tail of the wire nice and close.
Use your chain nose pliers to tuck the end of the wire up under the last wrap as best you can. Your aim here is to stop it sticking out and catching on anything, not to completely hide the end.
Step 4
Look at the earwire and find the side that opens. Hold the side of the loop that opens in your chain nose pliers. Make sure it’s well supported by the pliers – don’t just use the tip of the pliers, use the side. Hold the earwire between your thumb and forefinger of your other hand.
Move the hand holding the pliers down to open the loop.
If you need help with opening and closing loops you can watch the video about how to make a simple loop – the principal is the same.
Remove the pliers and put on the loop of the earring component.
Ensuring that the earring component is out of the way, hold the loop of the earwire in the pliers again, just like before, and reverse the movement to close the loop. Make sure the ball is up out of the way before you close the earwire loop.
Because we’re using 26 gauge wire which is quite fine, the loop needs to be well closed with no gap. If the loop isn’t closed properly, just wiggle up and down with your pliers applying a little pressure until it is closed.
Repeat the entire process for the other earring.
That's all there is to it. Super quick and super easy, using minimal materials. What's not to love!
Jewellery I'm Wearing
In this video I'm wearing my Bohemian Necklace. Here is a link to the tutorial.
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