Sunday, September 28, 2014

DIY Earrings - Jewelry Tutorial for Beginners

DIY earrings


DIY Bead Dangle Earrings; Beginner Jewelry Tutorial.
I found these gorgeous floral porcelain beads at The Beadmixer so I just had to get them along with all of the findings to make these great bead dangle earrings.  This tutorial should be easy enough for a beginner plus I have a unique tip for even an advanced jeweler! Sometimes it is difficult to figure out online what size bead cap will really work for certain beads so I have links to most all of the bead caps and items used.


Tools:
Needle nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
Wire cutters
X-acto knife
Sharpie

Materials:
18x14mm oval porcelain beads
Ear wires or hoops of your choice
gold flower bead caps
bead caps 8 mm
8-10mm Czech glass beads  (I had these 10mm tangerine beads already)
1" head pins
2" eye pins
Florist tape


Step 1: Add your  8-10mm  Czech glass bead to your 1" head pin  then add the 8mm bead cap and bend the wire almost 90ยบ : (there are many helpful youtube videos)


DIY earring tutorial

Step 2: Take your needle nose pliers and make a loop, you can cut it off here or continue wrapping the wire around and snip the end. Then take your flat nose pliers and squeeze or bend to make the loop straight :



earring tutorial


Step 3: Take your long 2" eye pin, open it up with your flat nose pliers and add the bead dangle and close the loop and straighten out any bends in the pin with your flat nose pliers:


DIY earrings


Step 4: Add the larger flower bead cap then the bead and mark the spot where the bead ends:


large hole bead tips

beading tips


Step 5: Remove the bead and take 3" of florist tape (****this is my trick to keep the large hole beads from wobbling and turning!*** ) starting at the mark, wrap the pin with the tape down towards the bead cap. This does not have to be perfect. Then roll the tape between your fingers to make it tighter and smooth. Then slide the bead on, it should be tight but if it is too tight just squish the tape tighter. Make sure no florist tape is sticking out of the bead cap, if it is just slide the tape up. If the bead is still loose you can add a little more tape at the top and push it in with an X-acto blade:


beading tip
Tip: add florist tape to keep large hole beads from wobbling

large bead hole beading tips
Fill hole with florist tape using a point or X-acto

Step 6: Add either another leaf flower cap or the 8mm bead cap then make another loop to hang your ear wire. Open up your ear wire with flat nose pliers and add the earring and close up the ear wire then make sure the loops are all straight. Hold the earring up and turn the bead so the best side is showing in the front. Repeat for the other earring so you have a gorgeous porcelain bead dangle earring set :


bead dangle earrings


https://www.etsy.com/listing/205100209/dangling-bead-earrings-orange-poppy?ref=shop_home_active_3



bead hoop earrings



flower earrings


Similar purple earrings made with antique bronze findings and beads from The Beadmixer:

8mm bronze bead caps
6mm bronze bead caps
8mm Czech glass beads in purple

Be sure to check out the great selection of porcelain beads at The BeadMixer, there are many more colors and shapes to choose from!



Buy all of these floral earrings and more at BluKatDesign on Etsy.

Follow my Pinterest board for more tutorials:  DIY Jewelry Tutorials






Please let me know how your earrings turn out. Comments welcome!