Tutorial: earrings

I have been designing and building jewelry for the past ten years and one thing that really bothers me is poor execution. There have been numerous times at art fairs, gallery openings, artisan websites and even jewelry stores where the idea is amazing but the craftsmanship is a little rough.

Today, I thought I would share a few secrets to making earrings. Recently, I have been helping a lot of people improve their earrings to look more professional and all it takes is a few simple steps.

You will need: 

needle nose pliers

cutter tool

chain nose pliers

beads

headpins 

ear wires 

Headpins look like a piece of wire with a flat bottom... sort of like a sewing pin. 

A headpin is what you string the beads onto.

Using your needle nose pliers, you are going to bend the wire (right above the beads) at a right angle.

The next part is a little tricky and is where people often mess up!

In order to make a perfect loop you have to bring the wire back towards the beads. 

The best way to do this is to take your pinky finger and measure out a nails width of space and move your plier to that line.

Now that you have figured out where your plier should start. 

You are going to hold your pliers with your fingers pointing up towards you. 

This is very important!

If you hold your pliers with your fingers in towards your body you will not get the rotating motion needed to make a perfect loop.

Blurry but you get the point. Make sure you can see your fingers!

another pic with fingers up!

Then simply rotate your wrist: bringing your thumb towards you and exposing the backside of your hand. This turn of the wrist will pivot the wire back on itself. 

This will form half the loop.

Holding your wire as shown above, you will take the "tail" of your wire (or straight part) and curve it around the plier so that it forms a full loop. Using a needle nose plier is essential for this step because the wire forms to the curve of the plier.

Take the leftover straight wire and wrap it around directly above the beads. 

This is way more secure than simply cutting off the excess wire.

If you find that your wire is wrapping loosely you can squeeze it with your chain nose pliers.

Keep twisting until it is all secure. If necessary, cut off any leftover bits.

Using your chain nose pliers open the loop on your earwire. 

 Carefully close!

 Practice makes perfect but rotating that wrist will make all the difference in the world. 

I am uploading some of the earrings I've made on my Etsy shop right now. Come visit!

Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate

makeover

Hello! I can't believe it has been over a week. Things are still up in the air with work and there have been a few restless nights but I know things are going to get better. I am trying to stay positive.

Pat and I have been taking long walks and enjoying this beautiful weather. I have been trying to find little ways to keep my spirits up. Besides our walks, I have been journaling a lot and have made many wonderful lists of things to blog about. Jewelry tutorial tomorrow so check back for that!

Meanwhile here are a few pics of me with my new hair color. I wanted something totally different so I went BLACK. This color really makes my eyes pop and looks great with my new Clinique lipstick in "Shy."  Sometimes you have to take the plunge whether with a serious life change or a hair color. It is terrifying but I know in the end it will make me a stronger person.

 

I have been noticing that this blog is getting more hits and I have to say thank you. I would love for you to follow me. As soon as I get a few more followers I am going to do a super awesome giveaway.
Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate

low down

So things have taken a turn. My job went from being incredibly awesome to kinda sorta awful in a matter of months. This of course, has brought on a slue of feelings of guilt and remorse towards the places I have been and the people I have trusted. When you give a company six years of your life it is difficult to accept and embrace  such a change of events but here we go... I am trying to stay positive, look on the bright side and try to see the good in an overall crappy situation. Maybe this will allow me to focus on my blog and artsy projects. Who knows what the future will bring.

I haven't been taking many pictures but the other day I woke up to a friend in my bed. She must have sensed my general stress and worry because she just snuggled right in with me. Rescuing Cookie was one of the best things I ever did and she is 90 pounds of pure love.

In this last picture she looks like a giant and it makes me smile. Thanks for looking. Love, Ms. Kate