Inspired by a forthcoming Christmas concert I set about designing myself some really sparkly, super-dangly earrings. To me, dangly earrings are the jewellery equivalent of the high heeled show providing an instant confidence boost and a bit of glamour. Wishing to spread a little pre-Christmas cheer I will explain here how I made these glittery shoulder dusters. It really isn’t as hard as it looks and this design is hugely versatile in terms of length, colour and the potential for added detail.
I knew that I wanted to make my ‘Christmas party’ earrings in a Christmassy colour and had absolutely fallen inlove with some deep emerald faceted crystal rondelles that I had actually purchased as Bead Tree shop stock. Nevertheless I couldn’t resist and gathered a handful of these scrumptious beads to set aside for my own use. Also in my shop inverntory were some silver-lined apple green seed beads that not only complemented the rich emerald colour very well but offered a good dose of sparkle - fundmental to my vision of these showstopping, glimmering and twinkling, swishing and swaying earrings that I had in mind.
What follows here is a guide to their construction rather than a precise tutorial. This is to allow you to be creative with your own version. If you use my ‘Christmas party’ earrings tutorial and would like to send me a picture of your finished earrings I will be pleased to add it to this post.
Materials
0.6 mm wire (I have used silver-plated)
24 beads about 6mm in size (I have used my luscious green rondelles)
Small handful of size 8/0 seed beads (I used silver-lined transparent)
Small handful of size 11/0 seed beads (I used silver-lined apple green)
One pair of ear hooks
Round nosed pliers
Flat nosed pliers
Wire cutters
The first element of these earrings that I made were the individual dangles. I made my own headpins by cutting from my wire and making a small loop with the round nosed pliers at the end to stop the beads from falling off. (You could use ready-made headpins just as well if you can find some long enough).
Here is my schemata for the sparkly dangles but you can create any combination you like:
Make 2 of: (11/0 - 8/0 - 6mm - 8/0 - 11/0) rep twice then add 6x 11/0
Make 2 of: (11/0 - 8/0 - 6mm - 8/0 - 11/0) rep twice then add 12x 11/0
Make 1 of: (11/0 - 8/0 - 6mm - 8/0 - 11/0) rep twice then add 18x 11/0
Finish each dangle with a loop at the top.
To illustrate the construction of the top part of the earring I will draw some diagrams as I think it is easier to communicate the technique pictorially.
With a piece of 0.6 mm wire approx. 7 ins long use your round nose pliers to create a large loop as shown in diagram 1. Then using your flat nose pliers bend both ends of the wire so that they are at 90 degrees as indicated above. You should now have something that looks like this:
Before proceeding add your beaded dangles to the loop in order of your choice followed by a 6 mm bead that threads onto both ends of the wire. You now need to make a wrap with the wires just above the bead (holding the loop you made in stage 1 with the flat nose pliers will make it easier):
Next trim the wire that you have used to wrap with before threading on the second 6 mm bead. Finally make a wire-wrapped loop with the remaining piece of wire like so:
Make another earring in the same way, attach both to your ear hooks and you’re done!
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