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Here’s how you can make your own sterling silver earring hooks that are embellished with gorgeous beads!
I love using pre-made earring hooks, but sometimes I want to add some additional luxe to my earring designs, so I make my own one-of-a-kind earring hooks that are embellished with some special beads. Follow along if you want to learn how to make your own, unique earring hooks out of sterling silver wire. Please note that this tutorial contains affiliate links.
You’ll need the following tools and materials to make this pair of earring hooks:
1: Two pieces of sterling silver wire, about 0.8mm in diameter and 7cm long each. (cut the wire with your cutting pliers).
2: A pair of parallel flat nose pliers, or ordinary flat nose pliers. The parallel pliers makes it easier to grip both earrings at once when you are shaping them.
3: A file and some sandpaper.
Find files here:
Find sandpaper here:
4: Two beads. I used some agate gemstone beads.
5: A pair of round flat pliers for forming the loop at the end of the earring hooks. It is also handy to keep your round nose pliers around as well.
Follow these steps to make your own bespoke earring hooks featuring a beaded embellishment:
1: File the ends of the wires so they are no longer sharp, use the sandpaper afterwards to soften the ends.
2: Use the round flat nose pliers or flat nose pliers to bend the end of each piece of wire to form an angle.
3: Create a loop using the bent part of the wire as a guide. You want to make a loop at the end of each piece of wire.
4: Add a bead to each of the wires
5: Grip each wire between the mouth of the parallel flat nose pliers and bend them at the same points, so they sit at equal lengths. Bending the wire will mean that the bead won’t come off (but be warned, seed bead sized beads can still slide around the corners of this design, the bigger the bead, the less likely it is to fall off your earring hook).
6: Once you have bent your earrings, you can adjust them slightly to form the square top to your liking using your fingers and pliers.
Now your earring hooks are done! They’re ready for some cute dangly charms!
Here’s what they look like with some brass triangle charms on them.
And here are some similar designs I have made using this earring hook technique. These ones feature patinated copper charms, you can learn to patina copper here.
This fun pair of earrings features a rainbow of seed beads and an adorable mushroom charm, you can purchase them here.
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How to Make Chain Back Earrings AKA The Prettiest Earrings Out
These earrings didn’t turn out quite how I had hoped but I’m still pretty excited about these asymmetrical chain-back drop earrings. These simple earrings are made using charm connector earrings and a simple piece of chain that is attached to the butterfly back of the earrings. Add your choice of beads to make these special earrings your own. I used a pair of stunning green fire agate beads.
You will need the following tools and materials to make these chain back earrings:
1: Pliers. You will need round nose pliers, flat nose pliers and round nose pliers to make these earrings.
2: Two charm connector stud earrings.
3: One head pin.
4: One eye pin.
5: Two jump rings.
6: Two pieces of chain. The pieces I used already had jump rings attached, however, depending on the chain you use you might need some extra jump rings.
7: Two feature beads. I used these green fire agate beads.
The Steps:
1: Add one bead to the eye pin.
2: Use the round nose pliers to make a loop at the other end of the pin, securing the bead in place.
3: Add the other bead to the head pin.
4: Bend the pin at a right angle to the bead using the round nose pliers.
5: Trim the pin using the cutting pliers.
6: Create a loop with the end of the pin using the round nose pliers.
7: Now you both of your bead charms are complete.
8: Take the double looped charm and attach it to one of the earring studs. Make sure you close the loop again to secure the earring in place.
9: Add a piece of chain to the other end of the charm.
10: Slide an open jump ring into a loop of a butterfly earring back.
11: Slide the end of the chain into the same jump ring. Close the jump ring using pliers.
12: Now one of your earrings is complete.
13: Take the other bead and attach it to the end of the second chain. Close the bead charm loop using your pliers.
14: Attach a jump ring to the middle of the chain.
15: Slide the earring charm onto the open jump ring and then close it using pliers.
16: Now your second earring is complete!
17: Now your earring set is complete. Head out and wear your new earrings with flair!
