Stained Glass Wire Earrings Tutorial

It snowed. I know I make the choice of living in Minnesota, but seriously. A foot of snow in November is not cool. I have not left the house for a couple of days, so I figured I better make use of my time and start making more tutorials.

Lately, I have been getting tired of making fish hook style earrings so this tutorial involves stud posts instead.

Materials Needed:

• 4 mm pad posts
• 18 gauge wire (I used silver plated copper for all the wire) 
• 16 gauge wire
• 24 gauge wire
• round nose pliers
• wire cutter
• flat nose pliers
• super glue/super glue gel/E6000 (whichever you prefer)
• clear nail polish
• alcohol ink color of your choice
• scratch piece of paper and small snippet of 24 gauge wire

This tutorial might get a little long, since I just realized how many steps there are. They are all relatively simple steps, though, so it's definitely worth it to try this pair of earrings out! 

To begin, take your 16 gauge wire and round nose pliers. I began winding my spiral with the round nose pliers. Crimp the end down with your flat nose pliers so there isn't a hole in the middle of the spiral. Then wind the spiral a couple of times with the flat nose pliers. 

Cut the spiral from the wire with enough wire on the end to wrap a loop. Using your round nose pliers, grip the end of the excess wire and twist into a loop like the first picture below. Repeat this for your second spiral.

Using the glue of your choice, glue the posts to the middle of your spirals. Leave this to dry according to the recommended dry time on your glue. My super glue gel sets in a couple of minutes.

For the next pieces of your earrings, you will use 18 gauge wire. I cut two pieces, around 3.5 inches each. Begin by forming a loop at the end of your wire with your round nose pliers. Then with your flat nose pliers, grip the wire like the third photo, and angle the wire as pictured. 

Continue using your flat nose pliers to angle the wire into a rectangle. You'll have to do some guessing when it comes to measurements. I made a couple of scrap shapes until I got this one how I wanted it. 

Once you have formed your last angle, you will wrap the excess wire near the base of your initial loop. Sorry about the blurry pictures for photos two and three. Basically, you bend the wire behind the loop, and wrap it two or three times. I use the flat nose pliers to pull my wrapping tight. 

Once your wrapping is secure, cut off the excess wire with your wire cutter. To make sure there are no sharp edges sticking out, I crimp the end of the wire with my flat nose pliers. 

For the third part of the earrings, grab your 24 gauge wire. cut two pieces, about three inches long. Using your round nose pliers, you will form the loops that go on the inside of your rectangle. Play with the wire a bit if you have never worked with it before. 

The basic idea is to wrap the wire around your round nose pliers until a loop forms, then move onto the next loop. I use the ends of my pliers so the loops aren't too big. Start about an inch into the wire so that you will have excess wire on both sides of your design to use for the next step. 

I formed five loops and fit it into my rectangle to see how it would look. As you can see, I have enough wire on each end to wrap the design around the rectangle. Using your flat nose pliers, wrap the wire, pull it tight, and then cut off the excess wire. 

Next, you will fill in the loops with nail polish and alcohol ink. I used a third hand tool to hold the earrings while I worked with the nail polish. You don't need this tool. It's just more convenient. If you use your hands instead, just make sure that you hang the earrings on something as they dry. 

Using your scrap piece of paper, mix approximately five drops of polish with one drop of ink. Mix this together with a scrap piece of wire. I didn't include the pictures of how to put the polish in the wire, so if you want more visual directions check out this link. 

Basically, you dip the wire in the colored polish so that a drop accumulates on the end. Then, place the wire inside one of the loops. The polish should stick to the sides of the wire. You can use a light circular motion to touch the insides to the loop to help deposit the polish. If the polish doesn't hold tight, and form a complete surface, try adding more polish. If that doesn't work, the loop might be too big. 

Let the polish dry completely, then move on to the assembly stage! You will need two jump rings. You can either make them yourself with 18 gauge wire or use ready-made rings. Follow the pictures below to make your own jump rings. All you need is wire, your round nose pliers, and a wire cutter. 

Using your flat nose pliers, open your jump rings and connect the loop of the stud to the loop of the rectangle. Close your jump rings, and enjoy a nice new pair of earrings. 

If you have questions or comments, please let me know! And thanks for stopping by!