Rock Candy Earrings
I know these earrings don’t actually look like rock candy. However, they remind me of a certain type of candy with a hole in the middle, and the beads are made from rocks, so I call them Rock Candy Earrings. Though I’ve used hematite and howlite here, these circular style of beads come in a variety of stones.
To make them, you’ll need:
2 20mm donut shaped beads
2 6mm beads
2 teardrop beads
2 eye pins
2 head pins
2 ear hooks
round nosed pliers
flat nosed pliers
wire cutters
1. Start by putting one 6mm bead inside a donut and try to line up the holes.
2. Then insert the eye pin through the four holes that are now lined up (one bead inside the other).
3. Use round nosed pliers and bend the straight end of the pin away from you.
4. If necessary, use wire cutters to trim off excess pin so there’s only about ½ inch of pin and curl this with round nosed pliers.
5. Add ear hook to loop made in previous step, and use flat nosed pliers to close loop around ear hook.
6. Add teardrop bead to head pin. Again, bend, trim, and curl to form a loop.
7. Use round nose pliers to open eye of eye pin, and slip teardrop loop onto eye.
8. Use round nosed pliers to close up eye.
9. Repeat steps 1-8 for other matching earring.
That’s it! You could also use the technique of adding a bead to the center of the donut bead and use this as a center piece for a necklace to match these earrings. Or make an 3rd earring as described above and use it as a pendant for a chain or beaded necklace.
This project is currently featured in our Beginners' Corner which is an archived list of projects and articles for beginning jewelry makers.
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All graphics created by Tammy Powley.
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