The instructions for this pair of earrings can be found on pages 84 and 85 of “Perfect Match”, an earring book by Sara Schwittek. I loved making this pair as it was my first time hammering with the proper tools. I don’t think I did too bad of a job.The book calls for vessonite faceted roundelle beads. I’ve never heard of Vessonite. I opted to go for two facetted Crystal swarovski roundelles instead. I think it is a pretty close match. I purchased the silver marquis links from Art Beads.
Here they are! My first attempt at making wire wrapped hoop earrings. This was designed by Sara Schwittek and can be found on page 65 of her book “Perfect Match”. Mine aren’t perfect. I don’t have a tremendous amount of experience with wire wrapping. I did find the directions to be clear and easy to follow though. I had a lot of fun making these. The little faceted garnet beads are pretty, especially in light.
There are a couple of reasons why I love ordering from Art Beads. First off I think it is awesome that I can order a couple of Swarovski Beads if that is all I need. Projects tend to get spendy when you have order things by the dozen. I needed two 8mm Swarovski Roundelles. I could pay $10.20 (plus shipping) for a package of 12 from Fire Mountain or I could pay 61 cents a bead from Art Beads. It is a better price per bead from Art Beads. I don’t have to pay shipping, and I’m not left with extra beads lying around that I don’t need. I also ordered a couple of other neat things that I had trouble finding elsewhere.
Not only were my goodies protected by a padded envelope, but they were neatly wrapped up in tissue paper too. It is like getting a little present for myself every time I order something!
“Perfect Match”
I was excited to find this book at a local craft store. I wasn’t to excited to see what I could get for it at amazon, but full retail is the price I pay for my impatience. Literally. At any rate. I’ve seen some pretty cool earrings in magazines over the years. I really get excited when I see cool ear wires. Unfortunately I never seem to have the right supplies, and there are some things you just can’t *make do* with.
I tried to make some cool earrings while I was in Florida last fall. I needed to hammer some silver wire. I took my dad’s hammer and headed out to the sidewalk to get the job done, which incidentally didn’t happen. The silver wire really didn’t like the cement. I think I also tried wrapping it in a cloth. That yielded *slightly* better results.
At any rate. In the very beginning on the book it tells you what you need for two kits. A basic tool kit, and an earring wire tool kit. Then, for each project it tells you which kit you need. I love it when things are simplified for me as I’m more into the creative aspect of jewelry than I am the technical aspect.
The projects are pretty cool. There are a variety of styles. I believe that if you use this book to learn the basic techniques, with a little creativity you can get a lot of mileage out it. There are hoops to be made, regular ear wires and some pretty cool stuff that I wouldn’t have even thought up. I never thought I’d buy a book devoted just to making earrings but this one had me after flipping through the first third of the book. I’m going to get my kits together, and then I’ll start posting some of the projects.
