DIY Tutorial: Handmade Earwires.

If you love making earrings, you always need earwires, right?

You can purchase commercial earwires almost at any craft store or on-line.
An average price for 1 pair of sterling silver hook earwires is $1.20, the av. price of 22ga sterling silver wire - $2.00/foot. To make 1 pair of earwires you will need 3"- 4" = $0.50- $0.65. Do you see a difference? Plus, you will have fun making them :)

OK, let's start!It's easy as 1-2-3!

Tools you will need:

Round nose pliers

Flat nose pliers

Dowel (Round pencil )

To make simple loop earwires (left on a photo), you will need two pieces of 22ga half hard wire 1 1/2" (4cm) each.

1. Make a loop with round nose pliers, so your wire piece looks like a "p" letter:

2. Bend the wire around the dowel as shown:

 3. Using  flat nose pliers, slightly bend the tip away from the loop, no more than ¼” from the end:

To make Earwires with a bead, (right on a photo), you will need two pieces of 22ga half hard wire 2" (5cm) each.
 1. Using round nose pliers, make a simple loop on one end of the wire, so your wire piece looks like an eye-pin now:

2. Slide a bead (3mm) and bend the wire at a 60 degree angle as shown. Note: the loop and the wire are on the same plane:

 3. Bend the wire around the dowel as shown:

 4. You may hammer the earwires slightly.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. 

All comments are highly appreciated :)