Make Simple Dangle Earrings or Design Your Own
| Want to make simple dangle earrings? It’s a great project for beginners and only needs basic tools and findings to construct. Crafting simple dangle earrings is the perfect way to get your feet wet as you make your own handmade jewelry!
Simple Dangle Earrings: What Do I Need?
The materials suggested for simple dangle earrings are two French hooks, 20 jump rings, and 20 brushed discs.
We’ll also be using tools today; the chain nose pliers and the bent nose pliers. Jewelry making tools can be found on our website.
How do I Open a Jump Ring?
So, to begin with, we are going to learn how to open a jump ring. Your instinct may be to pull apart the two sides of a jump ring. That is completely wrong!
You’ll warp the jump ring, and it will never go back to its beautiful, perfect circle shape again! So you’re going to take your pliers and hold on to one side of it very firmly and keep your grip tight. If you let go a little bit, your jump ring will just fly out of your pliers. And you are going to take your other plier and go right across from that first one on the other side, and you’re going to use a twisting motion so that it opens just easily like that: front to back, instead of side to side.
Simple Dangle Earrings: Adding Findings to the Chain
You are going to take one of your brushed discs then, and you’re going to put the jump ring through the hole, and you’re just going to reverse that motion with your pliers across from one another, and you are going to close that up.
And you can run your finger across the top of it and feel that it is flush and smooth and that you don’t feel an edge. Then you know you have the perfect jump ring!
We are going continue to add jump rings, creating a chain with the discs attached to it. The suggested materials are enough to add ten jump rings and ten discs to each earring. However, if you prefer shorter earrings, you don’t have to add all of them. It’s completely up to you!
Simple Dangle Earrings: Finishing the Project
Opening our jump ring, pulling towards you, we are going to add the jump ring with the disc that we have already made on to create a little chain. We’re growing our chain. Then, follow with your disc and close your jump ring. This process will continue for as many as ten jump rings and discs, continuing until you finish.
Once you have all your loops on, it should look something like this. And remember, if you prefer not to have your earring as long as this one you’re welcome to leave off as many discs and jump rings as you desire. But we do need to make sure you can wear your new earring, so we’re now going to put on the French hook. It’s very similar to opening a jump ring!
You never want to pull with the loops because it will misshape them. You want to twist, bringing towards you in one motion. Then, you’re going to take your top most jump ring, and you’re just going to reverse that motion as you push it right back into line. After you attach your French hook, you are going to repeat the process for your second earring.
And when you’re you finished, you’ll have dangle earrings!
Please visit LC DIY in the Education Center for more tips and videos.
Simple Dangle Earrings: Bonus Tips
• Never open a jump ring by pulling it apart, as it will ruin its perfect circular shape.
• Run your finger across the top of a closed jump ring. It will feel smooth. That’s how you know you did it perfectly!
• A quick and easy way to customize your earrings is by varying the length of chain. You can go longer, shorter, or even asymmetrical!
• It’s perfectly okay to follow the instructions to the letter. If you decide to try your own thing, go for it! There’s no right way, just what’s right for you.
• Feel free to substitute other findings for the brushed metal discs.