Homemade Jewelry: How To Create Your Own Handmade Hoop Earrings

Hoop earrings are the first and only type of earring I've ever made because they are so simple and adaptable. They're easy to produce and often weigh less than a pound. Hoop earring crafting became an obsession once I got going.

It's not hard to make your own silver hoop earrings, but I've seen that many people who make their own jewelry buy them ready-made. It's not required, and if you construct your hoops, you may customize the size and material to your liking.

Those who aren't afraid of a little DIY jewelry experimentation can follow these straightforward directions to construct their hoop earrings.

1. Use the Right Wire

It's simple to make the mistake of using any old wire you happen to like the look of for your creation. Use a wire gauge of 20 or 22, but make sure it's not too soft or too hard. If you choose dead soft, your hoops will be flimsy and lose their shape easily. To make a sturdy hoop frame, a stronger metal like sterling silver wire is preferable to softer metals like copper.

2. Make Do With A Mandrel

It's not necessary to use a ring mandrel or any other type of conventional mandrel. Anything big and cylindrical will do. In reality, I use a giant highlighter to form my earring hoops. When making a hoop, it's crucial to use a mandrel that's about a third of the diameter of the finished product.

You may also wish to use tape or a marker to indicate where on the mandrel you want to wrap your wire if the diameter varies. That will aid in standardization.

3. Encase the Wire

Wrap your wire around the mandrel now. You should bear in mind the following: It is not possible to create a hoop by wrapping the material around the mandrel just once. Since you'll need some extra for a) when the wire springs back towards its natural curl and b) forming your hook and eye, you'll need to go around the mandrel roughly one and a half times to make a single hoop.

It's also preferable to make two identical hoops at once before beginning to wrap. With practice, you'll get a sense of how much wire larger hoops require compared to smaller ones. Wrap the wire around at least three times to make two hoops as a starting point.

Your wire ought to be able to spring back outward and release itself from the mandrel when you let go. Not ideal for hoops if the wire doesn't spring back at all when bent.

4. Snip the Wire and Form a Loop

When you get to the end of your coil of wire, snip it off the spool. To make two wraps with overlapping ends, like a double jump ring or a keychain, simply cut the coil in half.

Round off one of the severed ends with a file. A nail file or jewelry file will work just fine for this purpose. After that, grab a pair of round nose pliers and squeeze the tip of the filed end. Make a 3/4 circle by curling it to one side. Finally, use the pliers to gently squeeze the opening shut. This is what the hook-and-eye part of the combination will look like.

5. Deck the halls!

The good stuff starts now! It's your turn to string beads onto the earring hoop. Let your freak flag fly! You can customize the necklace by adding as few or as many beads as you like. This is why we blocked off one end of the hoop: if you drop it (as I do), there will only be one end where the beads can slide off. Don't doubt me, doing that will end up saving you a lot of bothers.

6. Get People's Attention

Put the beads on the hoop and secure the other end when you're satisfied with the design. Note that the finishing bead may fall off the earring if it is a thin, flat bead because it can get around the hook's right angle. Be cautious with your dangling beads.

Snip off the surplus wire before continuing with the hook. Make sure that the wire "eye" you made earlier overlaps by about a quarter of an inch. Then, use the flat nose pliers and grab the excess quarter inch, bending it upward at a right angle. Having done so, you now have a hook that may be inserted into the eye. Put the final chapter in the books.

7. Conclude It

A quick check for quality is all that's left now. Verify that your hoop earrings have a simple closure. The earring shouldn't have to be twisted too much to insert the hook into the ear. To get a better fit, you may need to shorten your hook or tilt the eye downward. Don't forget to file your hook again after making any adjustments to its size. You don't want to stick a sharp metal shard in your ear.

Now, please hold out your earring so I can examine them. Does the wire appear to be crooked when viewed from an angle? If so, you can just straighten it out. If you find that your wire has lost some of its curvatures, you may easily restore some of it by placing your mandrel within the hoop and gently pressing the wire around it.