Parts Needed:
Finished Length is about 1.5", not including the hooks. Photos are enlarged to show detail.
Notes:
- One spool of wire will make many many pairs of these earrings (or other projects). You'll only need about one foot of wire for this project from the twenty-four foot spool.
- Proper tools are a must! You'll need round nose pliers, bent nose pliers, and a good pair of wire cutters.
- These instructions are rather wordy and geared towards beginners.
Step 1
- Cut a piece of wire between 6" and 7" long.
- Insert wire through briolette. You'll want about 2" on one side, and the other 4" on the other side. In other words - you'll have a SHORT end of wire on one side, and a LONG end of wire on the other.
- Bend the wire ends towards each other so they cross each other as shown in the photo above. Make sure they're not tight against the tip of the briolette - you need to leave room for pliers to grasp that wire in Step 4.
Step 2
- At the spot where the wires cross, grasp the LONG wire with your ROUND NOSE pliers.
Step 3
- Gently bend the wire with your pliers enough to make it go straight up (instead of crossed to the side). See the photo above to see what it should look like when you're finished. The LONG wire is bent and goes straight up. The SHORT wire is still going sideways.
Step 4
- Grasp the wires with your BENT NOSE pliers, right below the spot where they cross.
Step 5
- While maintaining a firm but gentle grip on the wire as shown above and in Step 4, gently wrap the SHORT wire around the long wire. You may find it useful to count the number of twists you make. In this project - I made SEVEN full twists. Do NOT cut the wire when you're finished.
Step 6
- Put the CASBAH bead onto the wire.
- If you're new to wire wrapping, take a quick moment to review Basic Wire Wrapping
- This next part involves some eye-balling and estimations on your part. Look at the length of the twists you made in step five. You're going to want to leave yourself that amount of room to wire wrap down towards the Casbah bead. For example - if the wire wrapped twists were about 7 mm tall, then you'd want to put the ROUND NOSE pliers 7-8mm past the Casbah bead. Then - follow the instructions in the Basic Wire Wrapping tutorial, and make a loop.
Step 7
- Gripping the loop you made firmly but gently with the BENT NOSE pliers, begin wire wrapping back down towards the Casbah beads. If you made seven twists in step 5, then make seven twists here.
- You'll probably have a little space left over, as shown in the photo above....
Step 8
- To "fill in" that extra space, make a twist on the bottom, and then on the top - continue to alternate which side you twist on until the empty space is filled up.
- This step ensures that the length of the twists on the top and bottom are relatively equal.
Step 9
- Use your WIRE CUTTERS to trim the ends of the wire away.
- I use very good wire cutters, but even so there is always a tiny little wire end sticking out after I've trimmed the wire. You can push this wire inwards by applying gentle pressure with your BENT NOSE pliers.
- The wire wrapped stems of the earring may be a little bent from handling. Gently roll the piece between your thumb and forefinger to straighten them out.
Step 10
- Put your creation onto your earring hook (or post, or lever back). Make a matching earring.
- Let the complements flow!
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