Wire Wrapped Copper Earrings

I don't usually use copper in my jewelry.  However, I was inspired by Taniri's Helen Earrings to give it a try because the oxidation makes it look dark and rich rather than....orange.  I used 18 gauge round wire for the structure and wrapped those with 24 gauge round wire.  I usually use thinner wire for fine wrapping, however, I needed to get these done fast because I was making them to wear to a wedding this weekend and thus didn't have time to wait for a wire order to show up in the mail.  I used the hard boiled egg method for the initial oxidization and have ordered some liver of sulfur to make them even darker.  The beads are 4mm amethyst AB crystal bicones.  These have great texture to them, which I love.  Maybe I'll have to work with copper more often.

The Inspiration

My Interpretation

Wire Wrapped Bow Ring

You know that old saying that if you need to remember something, tie a string around your finger?  I don't think anybody wants an ugly little string on their finger all day but a cute little bow ring is a different story.  I've had this idea for a while, but couldn't quite figure out how to 'tie' the bow.  My first attempt was an absolute disaster and sent me back to the drawing board.  I had to get my mind out of the rut of how you tie a traditional bow, since wires don't like to bed that way, let alone a bundle of wires already wrapped together.  I came up with a nifty solution that let to this super cute ring.  It is made with 24 gauge round and 30 gauge round dead soft sterling silver wire.  If you want to learn the secret to tying this bow you can check out the tutorial in my tutorial shop. 

Don't Give Up If Your Original Plan Fails

In my mind I had this idea of a bead surrounded by fine wire weaving that would join together to form a four stranded braid above the bead up to the ear wire.  I wanted to take the 4 woven sections and then weave them together like the pattern on the right.  However, they didn't want to cooperate and ended up being too stiff to get all the intricate bending needed.

I was frustrated, but I had just spent 2 hours doing all this fine wire weaving so I wasn't about to throw away all my effort (or all that sterling silver wire).  I did me best to straighten out the 4 woven sections and then just started to play with them and join them together in a way that the wires wanted to go.  The result was a beautiful teardrop shape.  I love the gentle curves of these earrings.  They're just so elegant!  If you like these as much as I do, you can buy the tutorial to make them yourself in the Tutorial Shop.  If you'd like a pair but don't want to make them yourself, please feel free to contact me.  The lesson here?  Don't give up when your original plan doesn't work.  Accidental designs can turn out to be even better.