Saturday, April 24, 2010

Chandelier Earrings: My First Attempt


Over the past couple years I had been investing in jewelry making supplies with good intentions. But so often we buy all of these supplies then never take the time to really work it out. Just recently had a get together with some friends to relearn some techniques and it was just what I needed to "revive" my interest.

One style of earring that I love is those chandeliers that come from South America made of silver and beads. I was amazed to find out that the parts that make up these delicate pieces are all hand made by women as they sit on the street corners creating!

Armed with tools, silver wire, beads and a nail, I was ready to tackle my first pair.The spirals were pretty easy to make using a common nail rather than an expensive tool. I wrapped the nail 10 times with the silver wire, slid it off then flattened it.

From here I slipped a wire through the center to make it a hanger.
You can imagine that by now I am getting pretty excited! They were coming together nicely and it was fairly easy to do. So now I was ready to form the top.

I made a loop with two remaining post. These I beaded with twisted silver. Each dangle off the bottom was made of silver post, beaded and hung from a jump ring.

I wanted to hang a small pearl in the very center, but there was no place to do that from. I realized that I should have used a jump ring at the very top to hang the two side post from. That way I could have easily added the center embellishment.

Here is my finished product. After I quickly publish this post I am heading right out to the bead shop and fill my head with visions of the creative possibilities!