When it comes to stringing beads the most important thing is the stringing material. This is determined by what you are stringing and what you want the finished piece to look like.
How to Make Easy Ear Wires
April 6, 2015 By 4 Comments
This post brought to you by Beadalon!
And here we are on Day two of Spring Beadalon Break!
Let me cut to the chase:
My name is Candie Cooper….
and I am absolutely obsessed with fringe (and jean jackets, but that’s a story for another day).
Have been for awhile, but lately with the fashions it’s gotten extra bad.
So, in this post I’m going to get you to come on over to the dark side and show you how to make fringed metal earrings with Beadalon Artistic Wire as well as how to make easy ear wires with their new Artistic Wire Findings Forms.
Shake it if you got it!
Let’s go!
These earrings go together so fast and you can make the metal fringe as loooong as you like because we are actually using a coil of flat Artistic Wire.
Materials list from Left to Right: Beadalon Quick Links in gold and silver colors (25mm and 20mm diameter), 20g. silver plated Artistic Wire, Artistic Wire Ear Wire jig, Flat Artistic wire in gold and silver, steel bench block, file, chasing hammer, riveting hammer, Ergo jewelry making plier set, sand paper and a few beads and head pins.
Let’s jump into making the fringe. Make a loop at the end of the flat wire with round nose pliers. Trim to the desired length. 
You’ll need five pieces per earring so you can decide what colors and lengths you like. The wire cuts easily with regular wire cutters.
File the corners on the bottom for obvious reasons.
Hammer time! Hammer the wire pieces on a steel block with the chasing hammer to create dimples on the surface of the metal. I like to hit the ends extra so it flares them a bit.
This is traditionally used as a riveting hammer. They make special hammers shaped like this for texturing too if you really get into this.
Now I want to show you how to make easy ear wires!
This handy dandy Findings Forms jig from Beadalon makes DIY ear wires a breeze. This one is especially cool because it makes long legged ear wires so you can change the ear wire to suit your design. For this project, I just need some good ol’ fashioned French ear wires with a slightly larger loop than traditional ear wires have.
Once you’ve wrapped the 20g. wire around, trim the back and pull the ear wire from the jig.
Like I mentioned earlier, because of this long leg, you could also add a bead or do an easy wrapped loop closure. Trim the front…
and roll it back to create a large loop. To add some extra strength to the ear wire, hammer the top arched part on a steel block to harden the wire.
Next open up all the fringe pieces and connect them to the large Quick Link.
I created a little Czech bead dangle to hang with my layered hoops. A little color never hurt anybody!
Done and done!
Two metal color jewelry makes me HAPPY!
Now go on with your bad self!
I’ll see you tomorrow with another tutorial!
How To Make Steampunk Jewelry
September 30, 2014 By 7 Comments
This post brought to you by Beadalon. 
Here we are with October knocking on the door! Already! This post is going to show you the basics of using Beadalon’s new Artistic Wire Conetastic tool designed by the lovely, Sandra Lupo. This is my first tutorial from my new home office.
So welcome! I had my work table downstairs for the summer because we don’t have air conditioning. Now that it’s cooling off, I’m back up in my nest and LOVIN’ IT!!! Do you like my Ikea task lamp? I’m still in the stage of trying to keep my desk really clean. Day 3: so far so good. By Christmas it will look like a tornado went through the craft store.
Back to the Conetastic! This jewelry making tool is designed to work with Artistic Wire so you can make your own coiled bead cones. It’s a really nifty little tool! This is my first time taking it for a test drive and after sleeping on it, I have some more ideas to try.
The first thing I really liked is how compact it is. For this tutorial, I’m using it with Artistic Wire 18g. in Tinned Copper (my fave).
When you open the packaging, you’ll find awesome instructions. To get rolling, you twist open the end cap and all the parts come out. Also, I liked how heavy the pieces are–definitely a tool made to last.
There are three different cone sizes and a little wrench. The wrench loosens the pin so you can set the desired cone size in the tool and then tighten it in place. Super easy! I practiced with the tiny cone first.
It took me about 30 seconds to make one coiled bead cone. Already I’m thinking I need some silver plated Artistic Wire so I can oxidize it with liver of sulphur and then distress it to highlight all those coils. I love the liver of sulphur patina.
Wrapping the 18g. wire really made for a heavy look. Depending on your project, you might want to play with wire gauges and cone sizes to get just what you want.
When you are finished coiling, all you have to do is snip the ends of wire away from the tool and spool.
For my next experiment, I used the largest cone to make some more playful and loose coiled bead cones. That’s when DIY steampunk jewelry popped into my head. Playing with layers in jewelry making is a love of mine so these Conetastic bead cones fit right in. Here’s my first attempt with brass bead cones under the coiled pieces with glass pearls. Fail. The glass pearls just weren’t cuttin’ it.
When you are settled with the bead stack, string everything onto a regular head pin and then finish the end with a simple loop using round nose pliers.
Grab some chain nose pliers and open the loop from side to side.
Connect the Modern ear wire and close the loop. I accidentally squashed one of the coils down too much, making it look a little wiggly, but I’m ok with it.
Here’s a link to shopping for the Conetastic tool in case you want to add it to your Christmas list. 😉
Hi, I’m Candie. I design jewelry and crafts, author books, teach classes and host television programs. I thrive on simple ideas that anyone can achieve. I also love projects made from unexpected materials that stand the test of time. Join me as I lead a creative life! 
