Hoop-La! My Love Of Hoop Earrings

Last week I have been mostly making.... hoop earrings with post fitting. Strangely I've never made this type of hoop before but it is a style I like to wear myself so I thought it was about time I made some!

I've made the hoops in sterling silver, copper and bronze using wire from 2.6mm {10g} up to 3.5mm {7g} and sterling silver earring posts with the pad. I use the posts with the pad attached as I find it easier to solder them to other things that way. The posts sit nicely in a hole in my honeycomb soldering board then I can position the end of the hoop using a third hand on top of the pad part for soldering. I then trim, file and sand the ends to remove any of the pad part that overhangs the end of the hoop. I do have some of the sterling posts without the pad which I have used before but being a bit shaky of hand at times I'm going to need to practice a bit more before using them on the hoops.

Bronze wire hoops with swirly texture pattern.

Apart from the thing I have about circles {I really like them in other words} the main reason I like making these hoops is the simplicity of them and their sturdiness plus how easy it is to make variations.

I've done various things to the wire such as flattening it and adding a pattern with the rolling mill, using leaf vein textures, adding silver balls and wrapping with sterling wire...

Copper hoops with leaf vein texture and fine silver balls. The round wire was flattened, the texture added then they were formed and the silver balls and posts added.

I used a stripe texture hammer on these copper and silver wire hoops. I think it's the first time I've ever used the texture hammer since I bought it several years ago! I hammered at a 90° angle to the wire which gave it a rectangle-ish almost faceted pattern that I really liked. I always thought the texture hammer was a bit of a waste of space but now I'll no doubt be using it again very soon :D

I also got a bit OCD with some masking tape to make these copper and silver disc hoops.

I flattened the wire then spent a fair amount of time cutting very thin strips of masking tape with a scalpel and ruler which I then very carefully stuck to the flattened wire. I then put it through the rolling mill again and ended up with this block pattern. The very thin strips of masking tape end up wider as they are compressed in the rolling mill and gave the copper a contrasting textured and smooth design.

I like the end result but next time to speed up the process I think I'll try flattening some 20g or 18g copper wire and wrapping that round the hoop wire before putting it through the rolling mill to create a similar pattern.

And I mustn't forget good old sterling silver..... leaf vein texture and ball pein hammer texture versions.

You've probably noticed I like making these hoops...

One problem I encountered as I made them was what to use to shape them if they are too small for my bracelet mandrel and too big for my ring mandrel. I managed with a wooden block and cylinder with a curve the right size for the pair that didn't fit but there is an answer in the form of a hoop mandrel.

Which of course I've just bought....♥

   

Wire Wrapped Hoop Earrings in Silver and Copper

Circles are a definite theme in my life. It started when I was old enough to grab a crayon and scribble on a neighbour's wall. My Mum said they always knew when it was me because the circles gave me away. I still love circles and sometimes have to tell myself to NOT make another pair of disc earrings! Hoops are also a favourite and something I come back to often. I finished three pairs of hoop earrings this week, one pair in silver and two in copper.

I started with soldered hoops made with 2mm copper and silver wire and teamed them with some wire wrapping. I love coils of wire especially when it's oxidized and the contrast of dark and polished areas of metal really shows up.

 I normally like to make at least one pair in copper as it's useful for working out how much wire I'm going to need and I always find copper is easier than silver. I don't really know why other than maybe as it's much cheaper I'm not afraid to make a mistake ( I think that probably is the reason!) I actually made two pairs in copper. This pair has 4mm green grass turquoise beads added to the earwires for a bit of colour. The second copper pair has unakite beads threaded onto the earwires which is a beautiful coloured stone - a mix of olive green and brick red and looks fab with oxidized copper.

I then made a silver pair because you just have to..... I added some turquoise jasper beads to the earwires which is a favourite coloured stone of mine. It's a bright sea-green turquoise colour and as I've had the beads for so long I can't remember where I bought them but I think it was maybe Lima Beads.

I really enjoyed making these earrings. I started out making wirework jewellery several years ago with a bit of basic wire wrapping before I moved onto more metalwork type stuff so it was nice to do something relatively easy.

I went a bit coil-tastic this week and have also made a silver and copper bangle both with soldered coil decorations. I love the addition of coils to bangles and I'm planning to make myself three silver coil bangles as a belated birthday treat to myself. 

As soon as I have photographed the copper version of the coil bangle (Tuesday is looking good weather-wise) I will write a post about them 

♥

Hoop Crazy!

I've definitely gone a bit hoop crazy in the last few days! I bought some copper washers from eBay a while ago and fancied doing a bit of wirewrapping with them. "Bit" being the operative word - I love the elaborate swirly wirewrapped jewellery people make but I'm not sure I could manage it myself without a lot of swearing :D

Rummaging through my bead boxes in search of beads to go with the copper hoops I remembered these strangely shaped pearls I've had for years.....flat on the bottom and rounded on the top, all in pretty pale icy colours - pink, green, gold, blue, peach and a funny peacock greeny-grey which are perfect for wrapping to the copper washers.

So I was off!

I fancied adding some sterling wire to these for contrast and actually remembered to oxidise it first - I always have trouble getting sterling to oxidise well when it's in contact with copper. Then I thought I'd make some in sterling silver so I cut some discs with a slightly off centre hole and added a pink pearl......

Then I made a matching pendant.....

The copper earrings with the pink pearl also have a matching pendant which is ready and waiting for it's copper chain, currently winging it's way from the States. I just need to make a fastener for it and oxidise it and then it will be set free in my Folksy shop with the others!

Definitely going to make myself a pair of these......