How to Make a Pair of Wire Wrapped Tiered Hoop Earrings

SKU VID-1709
Designer: Alexandra Smith
In this video, you will learn from start to finish how to create this design using 22 gauge craft wire with the BeadSmith 6-Piece Wooden Mandrel Set. First you will see how to cut and form the wire into hoops using mandrels ranging from 3/8 to 7/8 inch in diameter. Next, you will see how to connect the tiered hoops using simple wire loops. You will also see how to attach an earring hook using an 8mm jump ring. Finally, you will see how to add beads to the design using head pins and wrapped wire loops.
Audio Transcript
Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
hi this is Alexandra at beadaholique and in this video I'll be showing you how to make this tiered hoop earring featuring some Czech glass beads on 22 gauge wire we'll be using the beadsmith six piece wooden mandrel set as well as some 1.5 inch head pins a Bali style earring hook and eight millimeter jump ring and these czech glass beads that are a beautiful Lasher blue Rondo in five by three millimeter and an 11 millimeter hibiscus bead buy Ravens journey so here's my wire my 22 gauge gold tarnish resistant and then I also for tools have some flush cutters nylon jaw pliers chain nose pliers and round nose pliers so you can see there's four different sizes of hoop that we'll be making and let's begin with the smallest and work two larger at the very top is our 8 millimeter jump ring and we'll add that on at the end so let me bring in my ruler and my dowel and I'm going to start by cutting two and a half inches of wire cut that with my flush cutters and we're gonna shape the wire to the size of this 3/8 inch dowel I'm just gonna bring the two ends so they cross over each other at the top of that mandrel dowel they're the same thing about equal tail lengths on either side slip that off and with my chain nose plier what I'll do is grip right where it crosses with its opposite tail and I'm going to angle the one tail up I brought it a 90 degree angle headed off the top of that loop then I'm going to grip the other one about a quarter-inch away and do the same thing so once I've got my two tails up there I'll bring in my round nose plier grip that with the very tip of the tool angle it off toward me and I'm going to create a loop that's headed in the opposite direction as the larger loop so that it's going like so and what I'll need to do to get all the way around is go ahead and click the tail so that let's see here's my plier so that I can grip and complete that round and make a nice curved shape on one side and clip the extra so it makes an even little loop and then I'll flip the hoop around I'm going to do the same thing we're on angling off to the side bringing the wire this time toward me that way both are headed in the same direction here and again I'm going to clip that little tail regrip my loop bring it all the way around and clip that loop flush see get a good angle there alright so we've got our larger loop with the two small simple wire loops on either side at the top evening those out and closing them up for now we have our first little tear of the 3/8 inch so I'm going to do the same thing now using the 1/2 inch size and for that I'm going to cut three inches of wire so each tear is going to use half an inch more wire than the previous one but otherwise it's the same process shaping and wrapping bring my plier up and create those angles again at 90 degrees again with about a quarter inch in between each uplifted tail like so bring in my round nose plier angle off to the side create my simple wire loop at the top giving myself space by clipping the excess wire and pulling the remainder fully around the the base like so do that on the opposite side like I did before I'm gonna flip it over so that I I'm right-handed so I'll have it on my right side I'm gonna angle the wire off in the opposite direction of the larger hoop curve the top of the tail over and clip adjust those little top loops so they're nice and straight and you've got the second size in our tier using the half inch dowel now I'm gonna bring in the 5/8 and do the same thing this time cutting three and a half inches of wire I find the 22 gauge works really well you could go a little thicker do 20 gauge or even 18 if you want pick up my 5/8 inch dowel cross the tails over the top and repeat the process and going up at 90 degrees leaving that quarter inch space and see my tails are a little uneven but I think we'll have just enough wire to do our simple wire loop at the top still bringing the wire around clipping and completing my loop now if you don't want to flip the piece over and you just want to work on the same side you're at then you can do that too so this time I'll demonstrate that just coming around the same way again both wires are looping in the same direction so that clipped tails are headed in a uniform way you'll notice that I'm constructing all the loops first and then we will latch them together again it's do my final loop here on the 7/8 inch and for that I'm going to cut four inches of wire over-the-top creating my angles squeeze that in a little you can reshape as you go to create my last set of simple wire loops angling and looping and clipping give those a little squeeze let's get them in the right direction there okay so now we have our four size two tiers of hoops and get these dowels out of the way and scoot these tails off to the side okay so to connect let's start at the top and connect them in the order they'll be hanging and to do that I'm going to bring in my chain nose pliers taking the second tier down to connect it to the first what I'll do is angle the little simple wire loop off to the side the same way I would a jump ring do that on both loops and then latch them on to my previous tier it gives a satisfying little snap and then I close up the loops just like so move down to my next one to do the same thing angling off and latching on make sure my lips are closed tight and what I realized I'd like to demonstrate to you with these pliers and nylon jaw pliers is to work harden the wire to keep its shape what you can do is squeeze with that nylon jawed the plier all around your wire and that will help to work harden and keep the shape of each loop you can do that really at any stage of this since they pivot around each other like so oh I see my little loop has come off at the top here so let me make sure that my attachment is strong and flesh there we go okay give this top one just a little squeeze alternatively what you could do is before you even start wrapping you could run the nylon jaw pliers along the length of your wire to do that as well okay and you can see I tightened up that closure just by squeezing the loop a little bit get that spacing even I'm ready to add my last little tear my largest tear actually I'm gonna grip in angle and latch here we go all right now to finish off the top with this jump ring and at our earring hook we can go ahead and do that I'm going to open this 8 millimeter jump ring just like so off to the side and I'm gonna slide on the 2 simple wire loops of my top tier and I'll also slide on my jump ring and close it up and there we have the structure for our tiered hoop earring so now we get to add beads and that's a fun thing about this design as it could feature any number of beautiful combinations of glass beads or semi precious stones whatever it is you'd like to add in there other metal beads possibilities are endless so I'm taking the 1.5 inch head pin sliding my bead on angling off and creating a simple wire or I'm sorry this is a wrapped wire loop above the bead and so I have my loop there I'm going to open it off to the side and you can see that I am graduating the numbers of beads starting with one at the top and I'm going to latch that on to my jump ring by doing that it will hang down into the first tier of the hoops I'm gonna grip flat on the loop I just made and coil around the base to complete my wrapped wire loop when we round twice and clipping where did it go there we are okay and now I'm going to move to the next tier take my next head pin and put on two beats I'm gonna work in this same fashion down the length of the earring adding first two and then three and once I'm completing my final wrap with a hibiscus flower I'll meet you back for the final wrap so I'm ready to do my final wrap and I'm coming through the bottom of the flower where the two petals are cleft and bringing my head pin in that direction and that way when I bring my little bead over the top it'll lay nice and flush on the curve of that other petal I'm gonna grip with my round plier or over the top and do my last wrapped wire loop opening it up and sliding it on it also do a nice thing by hammering each of these tears if you wanted to get more of a rustic artisan look good grip and coil and this wrapped where a loop is going to help stabilize the hibiscus flower and keep it from pivoting within the loop as well now we've completed our second earring so these are the tiered hoop earrings I hope you enjoyed this video please visit our YouTube channel for all the latest updates and you can find all of these supplies at beadaholique.com thanks for watching

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