If you are not already making your own ear wires for earrings then you need to watch this ear wire tutorial now! Making your own earwires is easier than you might think, and with a little bit of instruction and practice, you will be turning out your own handcrafted earrings in no time at all.
This beginner technique is essential to jewelry making. If you're a complete beginner it may seem a bit daunting at first, but I promise, it's not at all as hard as it might seem. The tools and materials you need are minimal and are basic jewelry making tools that are essential to jewelry making, so once you invest in them you will use them for all sorts of jewelry making techniques and projects.
For this tutorial you will need:
Round nose pliers (sometimes called rosary pliers)
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters (aka wire cutting pliers)
*Wire straightening pliers
*A ball peen hammer (you can improvise with a different hammer you have at home if you do not yet own a ball peen hammer)
*A steel bench block (another thing you can improvise on if you do not yet own one)
A ruler
24 gauge wire
*A note on the tools:
The round nose pliers and wire cutters are essential tools but you can easily improvise with a different hammer if you do not yet own a ball peen hammer.
Same goes for the steel bench block; you can hammer on another hard surface until you acquire a bench block.
The wire straightening pliers are a great tool to have and really are useful, so if you do not have a pair, put them on your list to get in the future, as they will make working with wire SO much easier and will make your work look much more professional, but you do not need them to learn how to make earwires.
For this video tutorial, I used 24 gauge sterling silver wire but when you are just starting out and learning you should use inexpensive craft wire or copper wire (you can buy both at most craft stores and watch for those coupons!) Save the expensive precious metal wire for when you perfect your techniques and practice on the inexpensive stuff!
Did you know that you can also buy copper wire in many different gauges at your local hardware store? Check it out the next time you visit, and take note of the prices. When I first started out with jewelry making and wire work, I bought myself a wire stripper and a few spools of different gauge wire at my local Home Depot and paid only a fraction of the cost that jewelry catalogs charged for wire.
The wire that I bought was plastic coated, so the wire strippers were essential to easily removing the plastic coating from the wire. Be careful though, those buggers are sharp!
Check out the tutorial video below, or watch it directly from my YouTube channel.
Enjoy the tutorial and I'd love to know how your ear wires turn out, so be sure to leave me a comment below and on the video on YouTube and don't forget to subscribe!
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Laura
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Article copyright ©Laura Beth Love 2020 and may not be republished in print or other media without express written permission from the author. For any link corrections please leave correct info in comment area.
