Bright Copper Crystals

Bright Copper Crystals

Being a fan of healthy competition, Capitola Girl has been working up the courage to try an online beading contest for some time. She's always admired the creativity she has seen in other people's work, so she recently got over her competitive hang ups, and entered her jewelry in a few contests on her own! Being new to beading, she certainly doesn't expect to win, but she figures a little "putting herself out there" is good practice for the future.

The Bright Copper Crystal earrings shown above were made by Capitola Girl for the "It Takes Two" Challenge over at Beading Daily. If you love to make earrings, you can enter your earrings too. You must first become a Beading Daily subscriber and then follow these instructions to enter.

For this challenge, Capitola Girl decided to use two of the ten challenge techniques: Bead Stringing and Wire Wrap. The center circles on the earrings are made of two twisted strands of copper beading wire, which Capitola Girl twisted herself. She then used regular wire wrap loops to make the dangling copper and crystal bead strands. To finish it off, she used antique brass earring hooks, attaching them to the twisted circle loops with a lighter gauge copper wire, which is also twisted around the center circle.

A couple of Capitola Girl's bead-stringing friends asked her how she made these, so being a Technical Writer by trade, she put together this quick How-To for them:

Lazy Susan Technique for Twisted Circles - Get out the Power Tools Ladies!

1. Cut a long strand of heavier gauge beading wire.
2. Fold the wire in half.
3. Remove the bit from your electric power drill. Then, place the two cut ends of the wire in the bit holder and tighten.
4. Hold the folded end of the wire away from your face with round nose pliers. Hold the wire taut.
5. Wearing safety goggles, slowly turn your drill's power ON.

CAUTION: Don't drill too fast! If the wire gets to tightly twisted, it will snap! If it hits you in the eye, it will hurt!! A lot!!

6. Loosen the bit holder on your drill and remove your twisted wire.
8. Wrap the twisted wire around any circular or tube-shaped object. Capitola Girl used the top of a small bud vase for these twisted circles.
9. Cut each twisted wire circle. Capitola Girl recommends using either heavy wire cutters or a saw to complete your cuts.

Making Beaded Dangles

1. Select your beads for the project. Capitola Girl chose clear chinese crystal beads and copper colored bead separators for this project.
2. On headpins, string your beads in the pattern you prefer. Use at least two varities of beads for a prettier look.
3. Close each bead strand with regular wire loops. Ensure that your loops are wide enough to be strung onto your twisted circles.

Assembling Your New Earrings

1. String the three bead strands onto your twisted cooper circle. Its prettier if you use spacer beads to separate each strand.
2. Hide the cut on your twisted circle using a single bead or more wire. You might need to use a metal glue to ensure the closure is solid.
4. Use a lighter gauge wire to attach your earring hoops to the twisted circle loops. String the light wire through the earring hook's ring loop and also through the bead that you used to hide the cut on your twisted circle loop.

5. Tightly wrap and tuck the loose wire ends into the bead holes that you placed on your twisted circles.

You've successfully created the Bright Copper Crystal earrings, and hopefully you've used some of your own creativity to give your new pair of earrings its own special twist!