Weddingbee

This guest blog is by Emily of Blossomluxe, who made 90 pairs of earrings for her friend to give as wedding favors to female guests.

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This project was a real labour of love for a friend’s wedding. She and the groom planned to give beer coolers (stubby holders in Australian lingo!) to the male guests as favours and were looking for an elegant alternative for their female guests to bring the tone up a notch.

Together we came up with idea of earrings; I gifted her my time in making 90 pairs (!) and resources in sourcing the best quality but cheapest materials (which she paid for).

The earrings were designed to match the colour scheme of the bride’s gown (rich embroidered and beaded lace in autumnal gold tones); half of each colour in gold and half in silver. They were packaged in custom made silk lined pashmina gift bags (also made my me and a complete extravagance) with a printed and stamped gift tag (ditto).

The guests loved getting such a special gift and most wore them at the brunch the next day. They also proved to be a nice icebreaker as guests swapped pairs among themselves during the night.

I thought it was a cute and cheap favor idea for semi-crafty brides and worth sharing. I managed to get the DIY cost per pair (using online retail suppliers, not wholesale) down to around US$3 - using sterling silver, 14 k gold filled components, freshwater pearls and swarovski crystals, including the bags and tags. Which is pretty amazing and much cheaper than you’d think.

These are the DIY instructions:

Materials (per pair):
2 large (8-9mm) freshwater pearls
4 Swarovski 4mm crystal bicones
4 small (4-6mm) freshwater pearls
2 earring hooks or posts & backs (or DIY wires; 1 inch of 20 gauge wire per hook)
15cm / 6 inches of fine (24 gauge) gold filled or sterling silver wire
9 cm / 4 inches of thicker (20-22 gauge) gold filled or sterling silver wire

Tools:
Cutting pliers
Round nose pliers for forming loops
Flat nose pliers
Bent nose pliers
(www.beadaholique.com has a set of good quality pliers in a pouch for $15.99 not including postage)

(I definitely recommend practicing the techniques below with scrap wire before attempting with precious wire. The neater your wraps are the more impressive the finished product will be.)

Instructions:
-Cut the smaller gauge wire into 3/4 inch lengths with cutting pliers.
-Cut the larger gauge wire in half to get 2 2 inch long pieces
-Make a wrapped loop (clear directions with pictures here) with a 3/4 inch length of 24 gauge wire, leaving a 10mm tail at one end.
-Thread on a Swarovski crystal and using the flat nose pliers, bend the leftover wire over on itself to create a crimped loop that holds the pearl in place. With practice, you will be able to get this loop as small and subtle as a manufactured headpin. Trim any excess wire.
-Repeat for the other Swarovski crystal and each of the smaller pearls.
-Using a piece of the 20 gauge wire, make a bend 3/4 of an inch from one end. Begin to make a wrapped loop with a large loop (use the thicker end of your round nose pliers), being careful to slip the four smaller wrapped beads onto the wire and into the large loop before you wrap the wire tail. The beads should be positioned so there is one pearl and one crystal on each side.
-Wrap the long wire tail around the wire neck five or six times. This creates a stem and the right amount of space for the beads to dangle freely above the larger pearl. Trim excess wire.
-Thread the large pearl on the exposed wire and create a crimped loop as before and trim excess wire
-Using a pair of each pliers, twist the ear hook open sideways (the correct technique is listed here) and insert the earring.
-Twist the ear hook opening closed
-You have a finished earring!
-Repeat to make a pair.

Tips:
-Buying materials in bulk and online means great savings- If you are prepared to shop around for the best prices. The following suppliers sell in bulk, ship all over the world and have some of the best prices I’ve seen for the quality of their products:

Swarovski Crystals: www.anybeads.com
Genuine Swarovski crystals, great range at amazing prices.
(4mm bicones work out to 6 cents each not including postage)

Freshwater Pearls: www.integritypearls.com
These guys are great. Wonderful range of pearls to choose from and super cheap.
(8mm nugget pearls work out to 10 cents each, 5mm nugget pearls are 4 cents each not including postage)

Semi Precious wire: www.beadaholique.com
For sterling and 14 k gold filled wire, ear hooks or posts.
(Prices vary)

10KT 10/40 filled gold wire and .925 sterling silver filled SS/40 wire   www.catdancingranch.etsy.com
This wire is cheaper than standard gold filled wire as the gold layer is thinner. It is still perfectly fine for this purpose and the gold won’t wear off. Great range and great service; highly recommended.
(prices vary)

Please: Always be very, very careful when buying beads from ebay. I would suggest you first buy from reputable sellers like the ones above; but if you want to risk it, here are some tips:

-Swarovski crystals: should never have bubbles in the crystal and are never sold on a string. Look for a seller with a broad range of bead shapes and colours; the more they have the more likely they are to be the real deal. Swarovski crystals aren’t called “clear” “blue” or “red”, they have very descriptive names for each colour tone.

-Pearls: look for subtle colours. Brighter colours are more likely to be heavily dyed and fade or transfer dye onto your skin or clothes. Natural freshwater pearls are very rare; most of what you’ll see for sale are cultured freshwater pearls. Shell pearls are lovely but they are man made pearls; they have a reconstituted outer layer of nacre (the pearly finish). The only ‘natural’ pearl colours are muted pinks, peaches and purples. All the rest (including white and peacock) are bleached or dyed.

-Gemstones: Often the clear quartz family (citrine, amethyst, smoky quartz, crystal quartz) are sold as gemstones when they are glass. Look at the other stones the seller is offering. Catseye? cheap Gemstone Chips? Then I’d suggest they are synthetic. Bubbles are a dead giveaway. Likewise the ‘fruity’ quartzes are synthetic too (cherry quartz, pineapple quartz…). As is most of the stuff called “Moonstone”, which is actually synthetic Opalite. Real moonstone is a chalky white with rare flashes of blue. Opalite is a translucent milky white with yellow/pink/blue reflective tones. Most gemstones these days are colour treated or chemically altered. Very few sellers will actually tell you this! It’s not a bad thing, but just be careful not to pay more than what they are worth.

DIY Earhooks
There are lots of sources on the web, particularly this.
A ballpoint pen with a grooved rubber grip is the only tool you’ll need (other than pliers). Bending the wire around the pen gives a perfect bend that can be replicated again and again for a uniform finish. The rubberised grooves stop the wire from slipping while you bend it. Remember to file down the ends of the wire with an emery board to avoid rough cut edges cutting your guests ears!

All the best,
Emily
www.blossomluxe.typepad.com

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