Earwire
Tutorial
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I start with two 2 inch pieces of 20 ga. sterling wire
I'm putting the pen right in the middle of BOTH pieces.
I'm pressing the wire firmly against the pen.
VERY firmly because I want it to conform to the shape of the pen and not form a peak.
I push the tips until they touch; they'll spring back.
This is the next step.
I keep pressing one side completely around the pen until I've made a letter "P"
This was difficult to take a picture of, so I've taken several pictures and made a diagram.
I usually put a coil or bead on, so I want the crook to be deep (so the coil/bead can't
slide off). The bend is at the center-line of the circle. The green triangles are my plier
tips; I grasp the wires there (yes I do both at the same time) and bend the excess wire
down until it's vertical. The diagrams below show how I put a bead on and then bend the
rest of the wire into a right angle. This is the piece I roll back toward the bead, in a
loop (I do each wire separately). To finish, I grasp the tails of both wires with my
pliers and bend them out slightly. I straighten them out and tumble them.
Here you can see
that I've grasped the wires from within the loop, with my pliers. I'll bend them
straight down, parallel to the other wires.
The two copper coil earwires are each from a different set. The one at right
has a sterling bead just above the coil. I make the copper coils by winding 22 ga
copper wire around a straight, smoothe piece of 20 ga wire (actually not sure if it's true
20--I've had it for ages). If it won't slide off neatly, I just put a drop of machine oil
on the coil and slide my pliers along the 20 ga wire, pushing the coils off. I just snip
off what I need.
As always, if you make an interesting pair, send a pic and I'll post it!
victoria@victoriasgarden.us
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Copyright 2005 Victoria Cochran