How To Make Earrings With Preciosa Beads

In a world of ever changing fashion trends on the high street, it can be very gratifying to create your own custom accessories that perfectly match the colour scheme of your favourite outfit. This can be daunting if you're new to the craft, however this simple tutorial will teach you about the basic tools, jewellery components, and Preciosa Beads needed to make your own earrings. We also include some handy tips and tricks that will encourage you to give it go yourself!

Video Tutorial

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Findings for Jewellery

Almost all Jewellery is made up of metal components, also known as "findings". For the earring pictured above we have chosen the Gold Plated Shepherds Crook Ear Wire, this is a popular choice when making earrings that have a large dangling design.

Another commonly used metal finding is the 2-inch-long Flat End Headpin. The hole in all beads or pearls that are larger than 3mm will fit around the point of this Headpin, meaning Preciosa Beads can be threaded onto it with ease. The flat head will act as a stopper and will sit at the bottom when everything is assembled, this makes them perfect for earrings. You could use wire off a roll to do many aspects of jewellery making, however the flat end makes headpins perfect for beginners.

In jewellery craft you will almost always need to bend something, and Round Nose Pliers are perfect for creating the smooth, tight loops you will need to connect one component to another. When there is excess wire, it is best to trim with Side Cutters; these are much better than Scissors and the flat side gives more accuracy when cutting.

Jump Rings are another popular way of connecting components and these act like links in a chain. You can open these by gently gripping it with pliers and twisting either side of the loop open and closed, avoid pulling Jump Rings open as this damages the metal.

For a steady grip and a clear look at what you are doing, we recommend using pliers for the majority of metal work. Chain Nose and Bent Nose Pliers are great for both holding and bending wire in a variety of ways and these can be found on our website along with Side Cutters, Round Nose Pliers and Flat Nose Pliers in our tools section.

For more examples of jewellery making plus crystal embellishment with Preciosa Flatback Crystals we recommend having a look at our various social media feeds on Tiktok, Instagram and Youtube.