How To Make Wire Earrings With Beads

If you're new to wirework, this is a fun and easy technique that you can use to create some beautiful pieces of jewelry and accessories. It really is amazing what you make with a little wire, a few beads and some basic jewelry-making tools!

In this post, we'll show you how to make some basic wire jewelry components which you can then use to make earrings, bracelets, necklaces and more. Let's begin!

To start with, all you need is a little wire in any color and a set of pliers – flat nose pliers, round nose pliers and wire cutters. Use a relatively thick gauge wire that you can bend and shape – 18 or 20 gauge wire should work well.

Steps 1 and 2

Make some pretty beaded components using wire by making a figure of 8 shape with your round nose pliers and adding a bead in the middle of it. To do this, cut a length of wire with your wire cutters and then make a loop at one end using the widest end of your pliers as shown in the picture above. Add a bead, before making another loop in the opposite direction on the other side. Don't worry if you're using a long piece of wire, just trim off any excess you might have left over afterwards.

Steps 3 and 4

Made a "clover leaf" component by expanding on the previous design. Start off by making a figure of 8 shape (without the bead in the middle). Before cutting off any excess wire, make a 3^rd loop with your pliers, making sure to bend the wire in the opposite direction to get the three leaf effect.

Steps 5 and 6

Wire spirals are a lot of fun to make and they look very effective too! To do this, make a tiny loop using the smallest end of your round nose pliers as shown in Step 5. Then switch over to your flat nose pliers and grasp the loop that you've made so that you can bend the wire around to make spiral (step 6). Make as a big a spiral as you'd like! Finish off by making another tiny loop as a connector in the opposite direction.

Step 7

Another technique that's great to use when working with wire is hammering. If you have access to a jeweler's hammer and metal block, you can make some very nice textured or flat components simply by hammering away! Be careful when using colored coated wire though as it's possible to damage it and scratch it if you get a little carried away!

Step 8

Connect your wire components to make jewelry! As an example, we made some earrings by connecting the wire components with jump rings using pliers to open and close them.

We hope you enjoyed this introduction to wirework and that you're inspired to make some beautiful wire creations! Please take a moment to share this post with your social media followers.