Chain, Jewelry Wire & Beads Earrings Jewelry Making Project -- Page 9

Step 8:  Wrap the wire completely around peg 9 as shown at right. 

Step 9:  Remove the wire from your jig.  Using your flush cutter, cut the excess wire and close the final loop with your bent chain nose pliers. 

At this point, your brace wire component will appear as shown at right. 

Step 10:  Now, we need to convert both loops into eye loops.  This is done using your round nose pliers.  When completed the brace wire component will appear as shown at left. 

Step 11:  To finish the earring, we need to connect the brace wire component to the end loops of the bottom wire component.  In the earrings pictured at right you can see how the brace fits with the bottom wire component.  To actually connect these two wire components you need to first open one of the end loops on the bottom wire component and connect the loop on one end of the brace wire component, then close the loop in the bottom wire component.  Opening and closing loops is done with your bent chain nose pliers as described here.  At this point you have one  end of the brace connected to the bottom.  To connect the opposite ends, you will need to open both the loop on the brace wire component and the end loop on the bottom wire component.  With both loops open, you can connect the two wire components and then close both loops leaving the brace connected to the bottom wire component. 

Step 12:  For the earrings shown above-right, we used two segments of medium, oval chain, each 1 1/2" long.  Cut  your two segments of chain and make certain that you have the same number of links of chain in each segment.  To connect one end of each segment of chain to the earring body that you made in step 11, you need to open the end loops of the bottom wire component, connect the end link of chain and then close the loop in the bottom wire component.  (If you are really organized, you can connect the segments of chain as you perform step 11 so that you only have to open the loops on the bottom wire component once.  We were never able to be that organized so we had to open the end loops twice, once for step 11 and another time for step 12.) 

Step 13:  Between the top of the earring and the commercial ear wire finding, is a figure 8 connector.  Using one inch of 20 gauge wire make a figure 8 connector as described  here.  Connect one end of this figure 8 connector to your ear wire finding and connect the other end to both segments of chain making certain that your chain does not get twisted as you connect it. 

These instructions continue on the following web page.