A variation on bombay hoops

Some of my favorite hoop earrings that I made are these, the bombay hoops.

I made a variation on them, with beads in one of my favorite colors.  Now these are my favorite hoops!:

The how to is very similar to the original bombay hoops.

What you need:

-a pair of wire hoops

-a pair of earring hooks

-a thin wire, 24 or 26 gauge (I used a fun blue wire for these).

-16 beads (8 for each earring).

-pliers

-wire cutters

First, cut a piece of thin wire, about 20 inches long.  Fold one end over the hoop and use the pliers to wrap it around the hoop tightly.

Put a bead onto the wire and loop it through, then loop the wire another 3 times, to keep with the pattern.

Continue this process until all 8 beads are on the hoop.

Be sure to wrap the wire three times after the 8th bead and use the pliers again to tighten it.

Cut the wire closely to the hoop at both ends with the wire cutters and use the pliers to wrap the remaining bit around the hoop.

Use the pliers to connect the top of the hoops.  Slightly open the bottom of each earring hook and connect one to each wire hoop.  Close the bottom of each earring hook.

And all done!

In Pursuit of Suede String & Tassels

As you can see by what I post on this blog, I've recently been making jewelry with tassels.

When I found this picture of suede tassel earrings, the colors appealed to me: thin turquoise suede, ruby red beads and gold fixtures.

Anthropologie faceted fringe drops

As I tried to find materials to make these earrings, I found that the thinness of the suede is a large part of the effect these earrings hold.

So, my first move was to try to cut my thicker strings of suede in half.

I first used an X-Acto knife.. it was very difficult to cut evenly through the suede string with it.

Then I tried using sewing scissor, the sharpest scissors I could imagine.  With much fear for my fingers, I was able to cut the suede string thinner.

...But then the suede string fell apart.

Rather than waste more of the suede string, I just went to the art supplies store and bought thinner suede string.  AND, I also got some thin leather cord - and made two pairs of earrings!

My DIY Earrings.

What you need:

- The thinnest suede or leather cord you can find.

- Very thin wire.

- 2 of the same glass bead.

- 2 head pins with rounded top.

- A pair of earring hooks.

- Round-nose pliers and a wire cutter.

What to do:

1. Place each bead on a separate head pin.

2. Use the round nose pliers to close the head pin into a loop.  Make the loop a bit larger than normal - the suede string needs to go through it.

(The loop you made is pointing downwards)

3. With pliers, add an earring hook to the top of each head pin.

4. Determine the desired length of the tassels for your earrings.  The black pair above are about an inch and a half.  For the tan pair, they are over two inches.

5. Double the length you decide on and cut 3 to 4 pieces.

6. Fold the cut pieces in half and put one end through the loop at the bottom of the bead.

7. Start slowly and tightly wrapping the thin wire around the top of the folded suede.

8. Once you wrap the wire to desired thickness around the suede, cut with the wire cutters, and fold the raw edge in with the pliers.

9. Trim the ends so they are even.

That's all!

Tri-Color Tassels

Some more tassel earrings! Hurray!

These are super simple DIY earrings made from string and 3 colors of seed beads.

my DIY earrings

What you need:
-2 earring hooks
-2 bead tips
-nylon string (preferably in the color of the lowest color bead, in this case, brown)
-3 colors of seed beads (or more if you'd like).
-needle
-scissors
-pliers

First, cut 10 pieces of nylon string, about 4 to 5 inches each, depending on how long you want the tassle.
Then, string one bead of the last color onto one end of a cut nylon string.  Pull bead to middle and fold in half.
After folding the string in half, you can put a the two string-ends through a needle to make your life easier.  String all the following beads onto the needle so the first bead is stuck at the bottom (and no knot is needed at end to keep the beads on!).
Put as many beads of each color as you like.  Lots of freedom here!
Leave yourself plenty of room at the top.
Make 10 of these beaded strings.
With 5 beaded strings, slip the remaining string through the bead tip.  Knot the tops of the strings well so they cannot slip through the bead tip.  Cut the excess string.  Use the pliers to close the bead tip.
Repeat with the second set of 5 strings.
Use the pliers to open the bottoms of the earring hooks and slip on the bead tips.  Use pliers to close earring hooks.
All done!                   
                                          Wearing my DIY creation:

The most time consuming part of this DIY is definitely stringing all of the seed beads!