My friend Clara recently posted a super tragic Instagram story saying how she lost her favourite earring. The earring she lost was a spirally hoop earring that as it turns out, is incredibly easy to make! Of course I DMd her explaining how I think she would be able to make one, but thought a step by step post would better show how I make them. So with that being said, here are the step by step instructions on how I made my own earrings (dedicated to Clara, of course)!
These are so easy to make and you only need a couple materials. You’re gonna need a nail file or sandpaper, pliers and some wire. The wire you want is 20 gauge wire. 20 gauge (or 20 ga) is the perfect thickness for making earrings and it wont misshapen with wear. I don’t have sensitive ears, so I’m able to use brass jewelry wire (I got 5 yards of wire for $6 at Michaels). If you do have sensitive ears, it’s probably best that you stick with silver or gold plated wire, which you can get at a local bead/jewelry making store (which there are tons of in Vancouver) or on amazon.
To make the spiral, you need to wrap your wire down and around something cone shaped so that you are able to get a spiral that starts off small and slowly gets bigger. I made my wonky looking cone from some cardstock I had on hand and a bit of painters tape. You’re definitely going to have to fool around with your finished product a bit to get your desired outcome but I find using a pencil to smooth the inside edges helps a bunch. Happy earring making!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 20 gauge wire
- pliers
- old nail file or sandpaper
- Cardstock or a couple pieces of printer paper
Instructions for spiral hoops:
- Roll a piece of cardstock into a cone. Alternatively, you can roll a cone out of a few pieces of layered printer paper to make it more sturdy.
- Using some pliers, cut off eight inches of wire.
- Loosely wrap the cut wire clockwise around your cone 4-5 times, making sure each loop you’re making is lower than the last. (See above photo)
- Cut off the excess wire with the pliers. Squish your spiraled wire down to form a flat spiral, it might stick out a bit but that’s okay. You’ll need to play around with the wire to get your desired shape.
- Use a nail file or sandpaper to smooth out the cut ends.
- Cut out another eight inches of wire for your second earring. Remember this time to wrap it counterclockwise around the paper cone.
- Repeat steps three and four.
- To really flatten the spirals, leave them under a heavy book overnight.
Remember to sanitize your earrings with some rubbing alcohol before wearing them! For these spiral hoops, simply just wear them like regular dangly earrings!
Thanks for reading!
Subscribe to my blog via email and follow my socials to stay up to date with new creations (posted every week)!
Check out some of my recent posts here