Valentine's Day Idea #4 - Swingin' Red Earrings

Only 37 days until Valentine's Day!

Looks like I might have started on a Valentine's Day project-a-day series. We'll see how long I can keep it going.

Today I've made a pair of earrings with the following Rings & Things blog partner package items:

4 - 6mm ruby faceted round glass beads
2 -10x6mm faceted puff coins (the listing given here is Siam, but the ones I got seem to match the ruby color of the beads above)

Plus (from my own stash):
6 sterling 2" ball end head pins (I suggest the longer ones because that's what I used to make the ear wires, but you could use the 1" size instead for connecting the round beads)
8" inches of silver chain (I used chain from my bulk spool of silver plated curb chain)
4 small silver bead caps (those aren't the ones I used, but would make a cute substitute)
Some 21 gauge non-tarnish silver Artistic Wire (or other silver colored wire you might have in a 21 gauge size) for the double wrapped loops on the puffed coin beads

Using ball end head pins and wrapped loops, I attached the round beads to the ends of the chain segments. I began another wrapped loop with a section of wire for the puffed coin bead and put it on the chain just off the center before I wrapped the loop. It's hard to tell in the picture, but one of the glass beads is on a slightly longer segment of chain than the other so they don't clink against each other and break.

I then made another wrapped loop at the top of the puffed coin bead to attach to the ear wire. Since I didn't have any simple ear wires handy, I made them myself from the longer sized ball end headpin. (I've embedded a tutorial from Art Jewelry Magazine towards the end of the post to show how you can do this - I didn't do the hammering part, though)

These are quick and easy to make and not at all expensive, but they'll really look darling when you're out on that special Valentine's Day date!

Here's a close-up shot of the faceting on those round beads - they really reflect the light.

I didn't have enough of the round beads handy to make earrings with more than two chains, but I think having 3 or 4 chains per earring would be a great alternative. Mixing up two kinds of chain, or using chain with a fancy texture, is another way to improve upon the basic idea, but my goal right now is to use what I have, and I've got a whole spool of the curb chain!

I'll have more Valentine's Day ideas again next week - tomorrow Supplier Sales Saturday will be back and Weekly Wanderings will be back on Sunday.

Have a great Friday!



FTC compliance notice of material connection: The faceted glass beads, as noted above, were provided to me for free, to be used for design purposes, or for a statement of my honest opinion of them, by Rings & Things.