Materials –

1 Tube of DP-Mix-12 (Circus Drop Mix)
2′ of open link sterling chain
2′ of sterling 24 gauge wire
2 earwires

Step 1 – Choose a number of drop beads in a range of colors. For each drop bead cut a length of chain between 1 and 5 links long.

Step 2 – Wrap each drop bead and create a wrapped figure eight of wire to connect it to the bottom of each small length of chain.

Step 3 – Slide the chain onto the opened earwire so that the chain links graduate from short to long to short again.

Step 4 – Repeat for the second bright and whimsical earring.

Miyuki Drop and Seed Bead Earrings

Materials -

Japanese Beading Needles
C-lon Beading Thread Size D (Burgundy)
11/0 Miyuki Seed Beads (11-2016)
Miyuki Drop Beads (DP-2035)
2 Earwires
2 Jumprings

Step 1 – Thread on one 11/0 and one drop bead 4 times. Sew back through all eight beads to make a loop.

Step 2 – Exit through the following 11/0 seed bead, then add three 11/0s and sew back through the first 11/0 in the same direction you exited originally.

Step 3 – Sew through the next drop bead and repeat step 2 for each of the original 11/0s.

Step 4 – Once you have completed your little diamond shape, sew it onto an earwire or soldered jump ring to complete it.

Shop for Miyuki drop beads here.

Looplicity Brick Stitch Earrings

Materials:

Japanese beading needles (extra thin)
C-lon beading thread size D (Burgundy)
Miyuki 15/0 seed beads (15-1428)
Miyuki Delica beads (DB1244)
Miyuki 11/0 seed beads (11-302)
Miyuki 10/0 triangle beads (tr10-1836)
Miyuki 8/0 seed beads (8-24f)
2 7mm soldered jumprings
2 earwires

Step 1. Add one 15/0 seed bead to your thread. Sew through the jumpring, and back down through the seed bead. Repeat nine times to complete your initial row.

Step 2. Increase in the following row by adding two Delica beads to your thread. Sew through the thread bridge between the first and second 15/0s on the edge of your work your thread is coming from, and go up the second bead added and then down the first. Come back up the second bead. For the row’s remaining stitches, pick up one bead and go under the next thread bridge on the previous row. Go back up the new bead.

Step 3. Repeat step two using 11/0 seed beads, always increasing by one bead for each new type of bead added.

Step 4. Repeat step two using 10/0 triangle beads.

Step 5. Repeat step two using 8/0 seed beads.

Step 6. Beginning at the edge of your work add thirty-two 15/0 seed beads and sew up through the center 8/0 seed bead. Sew down through the next further down 8/0 seed bead, and add another thirty-two 15/0s. Create a new loop by sewing back up through the second 8/0 from the edge, and continue to work across the earring, one 8/0 at a time until each one has been used once. The only 8/0 to have two strings of 15/0s coming from it is the center 8/0.

It is fun to use a slightly contrasting color of C-lon to accent the beadwork on these earrings. Send us a picture of your interesting combination to share with everyone!

Let me tell you a story. Back in 1992 when Caravan Beads was still a very young business, most of the customers who came in were clueless. (We owners were also clueless, but had practiced enough beading so that we could make jewelry that looked nice and held together and this gave us confidence to help other beginners.) These first-time customers entered the store, looked around with expressions that varied from puzzled to bewildered, and asked “What do you do here?”

And we’d reply, “We help folks make their own jewelry.”

“Really!” they would say. Or sometimes: “Really?” We could tell they had doubts. After some trialing and erroring, we figured out that earrings were a great place to start. Mostly these curious potential customers were women with pierced ears: prime candidates to take up beading—they just didn’t know it yet.

“Let me show you how easy it is. Follow me.” This became our standard line. We’d introduce the customer to headpins, help them select earwires, ask them their favorite color, and before you could turn around three times and sing Yankee Doodle, they’d be holding a finished pair of earrings.

“That’s amazing! It’s so easy!” Huge smile, sparkling eyes, another bead addict born and ready to shop for beads.

Now it’s 2009, seventeen years later, and guess what? New beaders are still coming into our store and we’re still helping them get started. “You’ll show us how? We can use your worktable? That’s great!” Or the ones whose friends drag them through the door saying: “You’re going to love it, I promise!”

Now I’ve put this entry in the beginner’s corner of this blog, so just in case you have not yet had the pleasure of visiting a bead store—which means you have a great adventure in your future!—let me build a simple earring right now. I’ll need these tools:

• Round nose pliers
• Cutters

And these supplies:

• An earwire
• A headpin
• Beads

In its simplest form a headpin is a straight wire with a small flattened bit at one end, like the head of a very small nail (#1 in the image below). They can also end in balls (#2) or be quite fancy like the swirly headpins (#3). There are lots of other variations not only in headpin styles but also in earwires; three are shown in the photo. In each case the ‘head’ of the headpin keeps the beads in place.

Headpin end closeup:

The steps are:

1. Choose beads and stack them on the headpin.
2. Bend the earwire at a right angle above the beads and trim it with the cutters.
3. Make a loop with the roundnose pliers.
4. Slip the earwire onto the loop and close the loop.
5. Admire your handiwork!

Stack the beads.

Bend the wire.

Trim the wire.

Grab the tip of the wire with the roundnose pliers and roll a nice loop.

The finished loop. Practice makes perfect. Your first loops probably won’t be perfect. Save your scrap wires to practice with!

Open the loop of the earwire. Do this by pulling or pushing the end of the loop perpendicular to the plane of the earwire. (Don’t worry; the bead store folks will show you!) Slip on the earwire and close the loop back up so the earwire can’t fall off. (And so the earring can’t fall off either…)

Et voila! A finished earring made with a sterling silver headpin, earwire, and spacers, and three sizes of Swarovski crystal cubes for some classy sparkle! Good job! I have nothing against mail order catalogs, but do you know how much you save when you make your own jewelry?

Some closing notes for new beaders. The earrings shown above are the easiest kind to make. There are innumerable variations but it’s not a bad idea to start simple, especially if you don’t have someone to help you. Once you learn how to make proper loops—and it’s not hard; you just need practice—the sky’s the limit. In another post I’ll show how to make wrapped loops which can also be used for making linked bracelets, necklace dangles, and more. Fun!

Thanks for reading!
Barry