How to make easy drop earrings?

Silver wire yarn ball earrings

I never had any formal education in jewelry design and making. When I was learning how to make jewelry, I came across a youtube video that teaches guys how to make jewelry for girls. Jewelry making is actually really simple, much easier than most people thought. Its all about choosing the right “parts” for your design.

When I first started making jewelry, I attempted these yarn balls because I thought they would be easy. They actually ARE easy to make, but it does take some skills in controlling the pliers and bending your wires.

The 3 pliers you need

Before we begin, we need to gather some kits and parts. These simple silver wire yarn ball earrings are made of silver plated wires, fish hooks, 4mm jump rings and small cable chains. You also need 3 pliers – the round nose, the flat nose and the side-cutting pliers. You can get everything from your local crafts store like Micheal’s or AC Moore. You could also get some of the stuff online, but I’d highly recommend you go to a store to check out the actual quality of the materials before you buy, especially if you’re making these as a gift, because the quality of materials directly affects the quality of your jewelry.

For silver jewelry, most people prefer sterling silver for its long lasting quality. Some people might be allergic to certain metals so its also a good idea to make sure the materials you’re buying won’t cause any allergic reactions.

Two types of fish hooks

Fish hooks: I’ve seen 2 types of fish hooks available at Michael’s. One is just a simple fish hook wireform and the other one has little balls close to the top of the hook. I personally like the ones with little balls because they’re more delicate. You can choose any kind you like. You will need two hooks (obviously…).

Cable chain: Look for the smallest cable chain. The smaller the chain, the more delicate your earrings will be. Usually the product itself will tell you if its small, medium or large. If it doesn’t say, look for one that is similar to a fine necklace chain. If you really can’t find any small cable chain, you can skip this and just hang the little charm on the fish hooks with jump rings.

Jump rings: I am using 4mm jump rings. You use jump rings to connect the parts together. You’re going to need 4 jump rings if you use the chains, or 2 jump rings if you’re skipping the chains. You usually buy a bunch of jump rings in a bag so if you don’t expect to make a lot of jewelry, buy in smaller quantity if possible.

Silver plated wire: I use 20-gauge wire for these earrings. Each yarn ball requires about 22 inches. You’re going to get more than 44 inches in a bag so you’ll have plenty to work with (plus you need a few inches extra for practice).

How to make wire yarn ball

1. Loop the wire around the tip of the round-nose pliers 3 times.

2. With the loops still in tact, carefully pull the pliers out of the loops.

3. Use the round-nose pliers to bend/wrap the rest of the wire around the 3 loops you just created, turning direction for every 3 loops.

4. Once your wire start to become a small sphere, you can use your fingers to wrap around the looped core.

5. To close, use the round-nose pliers to bend the last bit of the wire 90 degrees and tuck it inside the ball.

Connecting the parts

Twist open a jump ring

Use jump rings to connect your parts together. When opening jump rings, make sure you are twisting the ring open away from you, not pulling it apart because you don’t want to weaken the ring. To close, twist back towards you, letting the ends of the jump ring slide next to each other.

1. Twist open one jump ring, add the little charm, then one end of the chain. Close the ring.

2. Twist open another jump ring, add the other end of the chain, then the first hook. Close the ring.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other earring. DONE!