Long Overdue Tutorial - Dangle Chain Earrings

Finally finished this tutorial yesterday and am on a roll as I've started another one today. These earrings are so fun to make. I saw something similar made by a high end designer and now I can't find them to even show them to you.  Oh, well here they are.  Enjoy!

Supplies Needed:

• Round Nose Pliers
• Flush Wire Cutters
• Flat Nose or Needle Nose Pliers
• 6” of 20 gauge sterling silver wire
• 2” of spare sterling silver chain
• Various beads
• Ruler
• Hammer (optional)
• Stainless Steel Block (optional)

Instructions:

1. Gather all your supplies
2. Cut wire into 2 – 3” pieces
3. Fold one wire in half equally
4. Insert your Round Nose pliers at the center
5. Twist the wire 2 times as shown
6. Remove your pliers and straighten out your end wires a bit
7. Make a second one to match
8. Even up the ends and trim if necessary
9. Make a small loop with your Round nose pliers at the end of each wire
10. Continue with the second wire piece
11. Insert your chain on one side of your wire by opening a bit the loop and then closing
12. Insert the other end of the chain on the loop of the other side and repeat with your second wire

 You may leave as is and finish off by adding your ear wire or continue by adding beads.

13.  Making a wrapped loop with your center bead
14.  Find the center of your chain and insert your half loop
15.  Wrap the wire around to finish the wrapped loop
16.  Trim excess wire
17.  Add your center bead to the other earring component
18.  Continue adding beads as desired to the links in the chain
19.  Finished earring components
20.  Handmade ear wires finish off the earrings

Lovely aren't they. Tutorial on the handmade ear wires will be coming soon.

Branch Earring Tutorial

I love to create these little fun dangle earrings and you can make them as casual or as dressy as you like by the type of gemstones or pearls you use. For the tutorial I used Spring colors that matched the shirt I was wearing that day. Enjoy and feel free to ask questions if the pictures and instructions are not clear enough.

Don't forget about the Copper Jewelry giveaway that ends tonight. http://danasjewelrydesign.blogspot.com/2010/02/plethora-of-copper-giveaway.html.

Supplies Needed:

Gemstone, pearls, or what ever beads you want to use.
24 inches of 26 gauge wire (I used sterling but you could use craft wire)
Ruler
Wire cutters
Needle Nose Pliers or Chain Nose Pliers
Round Nose Pliers
Earring Findings

Instructions:

1. Cut wire in half so that you have 2 pieces of wire 12” each
2. Insert bead on wire and fold in half with the bead at the bottom
3. Twist wires around bead 5 times
4. Add 2nd bead on one end wire, folding in half as indicated about ¼ to ½” away from the twisted wire
5. Twist wires until they meet at the center
6. Add 3rd bead on the other wire, folding in half as indicated about ¼ to ½” away and twist together
7. Add 5 twists to create the body of the earring
8. Add 2 more beads, one on each side like you did for bead 2 and 3
9. Twist the body wires 5 times
10. Create your second earring the same as the first stopping after step 7 to make sure they are the same length
11. Add your 3rd and 4th bead and your final body twists and measure again, make any adjustments as needed
12. Cut one wire off close to the twists on each earring
13. Make a wrapped loop at the top
14. Add your earring finding
15. Finished earring to enjoy

Here are some other examples of this same style of dangle. In the bottom picture, the garnet one was made by creating loops versus twisting the stones on the wire then I just made wrapped loops on the briolettes dangling them off the loops. I also twisted more small stones around the twisted wires.