Hammered Filigree Earrings with Beadalon Chasing Hammer

On today’s show I showed you how to take simple filigree pieces and make them into something artisan and handmade as hammered filigree earrings. *This video was sponsored by Beadalon but all opinions are my own.*

To complete this project I started with some filigree pieces, you can use any that you find at your local store. I then used ball side of my Beadalon chasing hammer and small bench block to create the texture. You will want to make sure that you have something under the bench block to help dampen the sound. For this project I used a folded up bead mat.

As you work the hammer around the piece you will want to make sure that you don’t over work the piece. You will want to make sure that you don’t flatten the piece too much or it will get too thin. One of the options that you have on your hammered filigree earrings is that you could add some paint to the piece.

If you put the paint on first you will get a chipped look as some of the paint flakes off with hammering. Another option is that you could also put the paint on after you hammer to keep more paint on the piece. In either case you could also use some sandpaper to get some of the paint off and let the base metal come through.

For this project I did some wire wrapping at the top to give the earrings more of a handmade look. Rather than adding dangle beads to the project I decided to add some baby tassels to the piece and chose to attach them with jump rings that I made. Remember when you use tassels to put a little bit of clear glue, even Elmers school glue will work, on the back of the tassel where they connect to make sure that they don’t fall apart with wear.

When using jump rings you could use pre made ones but I wanted to make my own. To make my own jump rings I used Beadalon bail making pliers. I like the bail making pliers better than the memory wire pliers because they are longer and allow me to make more jump rings at one time. Beadalon’s bail making pliers come in two different sizes so you can make large or small jump rings. I used 20 gauge wire to make my jump rings and made them in two small batches.

I hope you love this project as much as I do. Be sure to come back to my Facebook page each day at 2:30pm to see what the next project is that we make together.

BONUS: If you liked the cowl that I was wearing I added a little pop to it by putting a leather cuff around it. You can get the leather cuffs on my Etsy shop and add them to your own cowl!