by Beth Routhier
Make an easy pair of chandelier earrings. Will these be your ‘go-to’ pair of chandelier earrings — or will they be just one of many pairs you’ll be making to match different outfits and give to your favorite friends?
The focus of this free tutorial is to give you a starting point for designing your own chandelier style earrings using your favorite materials. And believe me, after you’ve made a pair, you’ll become hooked. These are so easy to make you’ll want to make a whole wardrobe of the things:)
Chandelier Earring Instructions
Experience Level: All Levels
About 30 minutes or less for experienced, and about 1-2 hours for beginners.
Materials
- 2 – (5 to 1) Chandelier Components
- 2 – 6mm Swarovski Crystal Bicones
- 12 – Swarovski 4mm Crystal Bicones
- 22 – 1.5mm Metal Round Beads
- 10 – 2mm x 12mm Twisted Tube Beads
- 2 – Earring Hooks
- 2 – 1 1/2″ Head Pins w/1.5mm Ball
- 10 – 2″ Head Pins w/1.5mm Ball
- 20 – 4mm Jump Rings
- 2 – 5.5mm Jump Rings
Tools
- Round Nose Pliers
- Flat Nose Pliers and Chain Nose Pliers
- Wire Cutters
- Beading Mat
- Sharpie Marker
Things to know before you begin:
To complete this chandelier earrings project you will need to know how to make a wrapped loop and to open/close jump rings properly. (The preceding links will open technique instructions in new windows).
Step 1
String Your Short Dangles
To begin, we are going to prepare the shorter dangles. These will be the outer dangles. There will be two on each side of the central dangle of each earring.
To string a short dangle, slide the following onto a 2” headpin: a 4mm crystal, a metal bead, a tube bead, and a last metal bead. Don’t make a loop at the top yet.- see Fig. A.
String 7 more dangles to make a total of 8 short dangles (4 for each earring).
Step 2
String Your Long Dangles
These longer dangles will be your central dangles. You’ll need one for each earring.
To string your long dangles: Slide the following onto a 2″ headpin: a 6mm crystal, a metal bead, a 4mm crystal, metal bead, a tube bead, and another metal bead – see Fig. B.
String a 2nd long dangle so you have a total of 2 long dangles.
Step 3
Make Your Wrapped Loops
Complete the wraps for each of the short dangles and long dangles. Lining up your headpin with the mark on your pliers makes consistent loops easy. – see Fig. C.
TIP: How to Make Your Loops the Same Size
To make uniform wraps, mark the jaws of your round nose pliers with a magic marker and line up headpins to that mark so that the ‘eyes’ of your wraps are the same size
Step 4
Make Two Crystal Dangles
These will be the little dangles that hang from the top of each of your filigree chandelier components. They add a little extra flirtiness don’t they?
To make a bead dangle, slide a 4mm crystal bead onto a 1 ½” head pin, and make a wrapped loop at the top. Make a second one.
You should now have 2 single bead dangles, 8 short dangles, and 2 long dangles.
Step 5
Attach the Long and Short Dangles With Jump Rings
Lay out the dangles in order per the picture – Fig. D.
Attach the long dangles with two 4mm jump rings each dangle. This adds security to the dangles since the 4 mm jump rings are usually made of a thinner gauge of wire.
Be sure to open and close ther jumprings properly using the “twist technique”.
Step 6
Finish by Attaching the Single Bead Dangles and Earring Hooks.
Attach the single dangle to the top of the earring with the 5.5mm jump ring as shown – Fig. E. Attach the ear finding to the base component.
Done!
About the Artist
Beth Routhier is an assistant editor here at How-to-Make-Jewelry.com and is also the owner of The Moods of Eve featuring artisan jewelry.
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