All about jewellery making

  These earrings are fairly simple to make although they do take a bit of patience and you may have sore fingers at the end!  They are an excellent way to practice wire-wrapped loops (if you do not yet know how to create wire-wrapped loops see this post that gives links to tutorials on the net).

N.B. To see a bigger picture of these earrings please visit the original post where I first introduced them.

Here’s what you need:

2 x length of chain consisting of 9 fairly large links (if you don’t have any loose chain you can appropriate necklace extenders such as these for the task)
72 x headpins.  I used 2 inch silver-plated headpins
72 x crystals or 4mm beads of your choice
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
1 pair of ear hooks

For my example I used 3 shades of crystals to create a gradient effect.  You could use any combination of colours, a solid colour or even create a rainbow effect.

Start by adding 4 beads on wire-wrapped loops to the link at the bottom of the chain like so:

diagram 1

As you proceed to add beads up the length of the chain add 2 wire-wrapped crystals/rounds on one side of the previous set and 2 on the other side like this:

diagram 2

This will ensure that they hang nice and evenly.  That’s all there is to it!  Just keep adding beads as you wish.  To achieve the gradient effect I changed colour after 3 rows.  Once complete add to an ear hook and hey presto just the other one to do.

Besides changing the colourways you could also experiment with the length of chain and the number of beads.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-tute.

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I have recently updated the tiara making section of my bead shop with some alternative headdress options in addition to the traditional tiara bands.  I thought I would write a small piece about the different types of headdress and their advantages.

Tiara band - this is good for a full-blown tiara with lots of ornamentation - beads, flowers, diamantes etc.  Bands do need to be shaped by hand to ensure a good fit and for extra comfort the ends (or the entire band) can be wrapped with ribbon.  Click here for my tiara tutorial.

Tiara comb - the tiara comb is a good option if you prefer something a little more subtle.  The comb is inserted into the hair so that the decorated band sits like a small coronet on top of the head.

Hair combs - I sell hair combs in two sizes.  You can have any number of combs but usually the smaller combs sell in pairs and the larger ones singly.  These can be decorated as the tiara bands but offer an alternative to the headdress that sits on top of the head.  Hair combs could be used to complement an elegant up-do.

Bridal Alice band - The Alice bands that I sell are covered in plain white cotton ready for decoration.  They can be ribbon wrapped or embroidered.  You can be as creative as you like.  This sort of headdress is particularly well suited for the younger members of the bridal party as it is the most robust and easy to wear!

Also new at Bead Tree is an extended range of paper and ribbon flowers for decorating headdresses and other wedding crafts.

The crystal cluster earrings tutorial should be ready soon and I am planning to write another tiara/bridal headdress tute in the near future.

I really enjoyed making these earrings and they certainly provide an opportunity for practising wire-wrapped loops!  I like their weight and fullness.  I am planning to write a tutorial for these earrings which should be posted in the next few days.

Here is the prototype of a recently created wire, crystal and seed bead bangle.  I wanted to create a bracelet that didn’t need a fastening and was therefore adjustable so it would fit most size wrists.  I consider this to still be at the prototype stage as it is not as sturdy as I would like.  I used 18 gauge wire for the core but all that is holding the two core wires together is the series of beads on headpins with wrapped loops on either end.  I think it would be better to use the wrapping wire to thread through these beads somehow so that the two core wires are more firmly held in place.  Will work on it.  Also, I need to find a better way of finishing off the ends (not shown in the photo because they are not great!) - they are ok but could do with some refining to make them look more attractive.

A few days ago I started playing around with some copper wire and seed beads and these earrings are the final result:

I have been calling them my copper splat earrings!  I made the shapes using my wire jig although they took several goes and quite a lot of adjustment by hand to get them to look as similar as possible.  Each loop has been bound together at the base with the fine copper wire that I used to wrap them.  I found this made the overall shape a bit sturdier especially since copper wire is so soft.  I fashioned a pair of very simple ear hooks to go with them as I didn’t have any pre-made ones in copper.  Hope they don’t turn my ears too green!  They are fairly large measuring approx. 44 mm across.  I love earrings.  I only had my ears pierced a couple of years ago having wanted them done for a long time.  Big, dangly earrings give me confidence.  I guess it’s the jewellery equivalent of wearing high heeled shoes!