So I know you are used to seeing lots of bracelets from me (I confess, I’m a bit of an addict!) but I do like to mix it up everyone once in a while. ;) I’ve had my eye on a pair of grapevine earrings and thought I’d try my hand at making a pair. I love how they turned out – and even more, I love that they were easy! I shared this project last month over at Crafts Unleashed, and today I’m going to show you here how to make a pair of grapevine earrings of your own.
Just like any good jewelry project, feel free to put your own spin on the design and choose other colors or even other sizes of beads! Personally, I am loving turquoise lately… if you can’t tell already.
What you will need:
- 4 mm beads – you will need 13 beads for each earring. I recommend 2 coordinating colors, but get creative! The beads I used are 4mm white glass pearl beads, and 4mm Turquoise Shell Twister Beads.
- (26) 2 inch Jewelry Head Pins
- A pair of Earring Wires
- Jump Rings – I used (26) 4mm jump rings and (6) 7mm jump rings for this project
- Round-Nosed Pliers
- Wire Cutters
The first step is to make your beads into charms. Charm-making is something I have shown you before when I shared the design for a Spring Buds Charm Bracelet and a few other designs, and once you master it, there are so many possibilities in jewelry making. (Side note – it was pointed out to me that while I make it look easy, and I say it’s a simple process, it still might take a few tries to get really comfortable with making charms easily. So you may want to try a charm or two first and see if you really want to commit to making 26 of them. I will assure you that once you’ve made a couple, you can make the others in just a minute or two – I finshed this whole project in about 45 minutes, but them again, I make a lot of charms.)
But on to the charms themselves! To create a beaded charm, you just thread a bead onto a head pin. Then, using your round-nosed pliers, loop the pin over the pliers, wrap the pin around the “neck” of the loop you just created, and cut the excess wire off with your wire cutters. The process is shown below:
If you find that the little tail you cut off is still poking out slightly, just use your pliers to wrap it more snugly.
Then, repeat the process until you have enough charms. In my case, that was 26 charms.
The rest of the project goes much more quickly, though! Next, chain three 7mm jump rings together, and attach them to an earring wire.
You can now begin adding your charms to the earring. This works best if you start at the bottom. Open a 4mm jump ring, and use it to attach a charm to the lowest ring. On the bottom ring, you will be attaching 3 charms.
After you have added 3 charms to the lowest ring, then add 6 charms to the center ring (3 charms on each side of the lowest ring), and then 4 charms to the top ring (2 charms to either side of the center ring). This will give you that full “bunch” look! I alternated colors so that my charms were pretty evenly mixed. Of course, feel free to experiment, adding more or fewer charms to suit your own style! You could also rock a bolder look by using some 6mm or even 8mm beads instead. I like the delicate look of the 4mm beads, personally, but we all have a little different style – so go with what feels right for you!
What color combinations are you loving this summer?
Just as I love all of your post, I love these and want to make them. Question: You state that the jump rings are 4mm and 7mm; is that OD or ID or if that is not known where do you get them and I can go from there. I just finished making my 26 (28 for mistakes, which I have been known to make) sterling headpins with my trusty butane torch and cannot wait to try these.. I will make the jump rings as soon as I get a reply from you. I am stingy with my sterling wire! Thanks, Shery
That’s the OD but quite honestly you could get away with going a little bit smaller, especially on the 7mm ones. I don’t use sterling for tutorials (not much point in using the good stuff when I’m experimenting, after all!) so I just use whatever I have on-hand – which happened to be 4mm and 7mm this time around. I think 6mm would be totally safe for the larger size!
I loved these earrings,,,,I am a newbie to this craft but I thought what is the worst that could happen,,,so I gathered up my “stuff” and then realized that I did not have the flat head pins or any to be precise,,so I did have lots of 24 gauge wire so I made head pins,,,lol,,of course they are not flat,,just finished the first one and it does not look too bad,,they are a gift for my best friend,,I used 4 mm pearls,,I was afraid that they might be too long for her but the length is perfect!!!! Thank you very much for the tutorial,,it explained everything so even I could understand,,,I will be browsing for more of your ideas,,,again thank you very much,,I do realize that this is an old post but it still rocks!!!!!!!
I love these earrings and the colors. Where did you get your beads? I’ve been looking for them and haven’t seen anything as pretty.
I got them at ConsumerCrafts.com last year, but I don’t see them still available on their site. :( You can check out the category here, though – http://www.consumercrafts.com/store/browse/catalog/jewelry-twister-beads anything in a 4mm size is perfect for this design.
I love your ideas. Is it okay to pin them with a note in the comment listing your website?
Absolutely! Thanks!
Thank you for the excellent tutorial. You are a great wrapper and designer!
So pretty! Love the colors :)
So pretty!! I am loving all your jewelry tutorials!! Thanks so much!!
You make it look so easy! I really need to get my jewelry supplies out and make this!! I’m featuring this on my PINASTIC Friday post, tomorrow, May 31…stop over and say hello!
Cindy @ crazyloucreations.blogspot.com
Adrianne, these are breathtaking! Simply stunning! Pinned!
These are so pretty!! I love the colors! Totally pinning.:)
These are so cute. You do really great loops! I’ll have to make these for my next earring project.
These are so pretty! I love how you make the ‘charms’ – thank you for sharing this technique.
Rhondda
These are so pretty!
Thankyou! Everything you make is beautiful x