Guest Post ~ Spiral Earrings Tutorial....

When I was looking for guest craft bloggers for my National Craft Month celebrations Sykes Cottages contacted me.  They had created a craft guide featuring a series of easy to follow craft tutorials and were happy for me to feature one of them.

Over to Leanne from Sykes Cottages to tell you more....

Hi, Crafting is one of the world’s most rewarding pastimes; it’s creative, engaging and artistic. Sykes wanted to offer simple handmade craft guides for beginners as a stress-free introduction to the world of craft. After teaming up with six UK-based craft bloggers, we created Simple Handmade Crafts: A Guide for Beginners, to encourage those who’d never tried craft to take up scissors and thread and have a go. All of the tutorials in the guide were designed to be easy to make, giving novices the chance to create something special in just a few simple steps.

One of the tutorials in the guide was contributed by Erin; a UK craft blogger who creates wonderful handmade jewellery and other incredible crafts on her blog, e-eliseETC. Her tutorial for a pair of wire work Spiral Earrings are inexpensive to make and easily-transportable, making it perfect for beginners who’d like to try their hand at basic wire work techniques.

If you’d like to have a go at making these gorgeously simple earrings you can read how below....

You will need:

• Sterling silver wire (0.6mm-0.8mm), 
• Six beads (this tutorial uses Jade rondelle beads 4x6mm), 
• Wire cutters, round and flat nose pliers, 
• A pen 
• A small file.

Step 1:

To begin, cut approximately 2 inches of wire. Using flat-nose pliers, bend one end to form the centre of the earring’s spiral.

Step 2:

Holding the centre loop firmly with the flat-nose pliers, carefully wrap the wire around the centre bend. When you've done this a couple of times, your spiral should begin to take shape.

Step 3:

Once you’re happy with your spiral, use pliers to make a 90-degree bend in the wire in the opposite direction.

You’re now ready to add the beads.

Step 4:

To complete the charm, make a 90-degree bend above the three beads. Then, use pliers to make a small loop which will be used to attach the charm to the earring wire. Repeat the above steps to create a second charm, before setting both aside.

Step 5:  

For the earring wire: cut a 2” length of wire and create a small loop at one end using round nose pliers, this will allow you to attach the charm.

Step 6:

Using a small round object like a pen, make a curved bend in the wire. Then, use round nose pliers to bend the other end of the wire outwards to give the wire its earring shape. Be sure to check if the end of the wire is sharp; if it is, you may like to smooth it down with a file. 

Repeat step five and six for the second earring wire.

Step 7:

To complete your earrings: use pliers to open the small loop on the earring wire and attach the charm. Then, secure the charm in place by closing the loop with the pliers. 

Repeat this step for the second earring and hey presto, you've created a wonderful pair of earrings!

Thank you Leanne for sharing this tutorial. These earrings are so pretty and I can't wait to try making them for myself.  

If you are new to jewellery making and you would like to know more about the basic techniques I would recommend visiting the tutorials here by Beads Direct.  They are free and helped me when I first tried making jewellery.

To find out more about Erin, the blogger behind this tutorial, you can find her over on...
Her blog 
Twitter
Instagram

You can find the other tutorials featured on Sykes Cottages' blog here.

Sykes Cottages kindly provided this tutorial for free and have NOT sponsored me or this blog to use it. You can find out more about Sykes Cottages and their 5,000 self-catering cottages to rent across the UK and Ireland on their website.