Wire twisted stud earrings

I branched out recently. I had only ever made dangly earrings before, and I hadn't made findings apart from jump rings, but making these twisted wire studs was really easy. I got the idea from a book, though I can't remember which one now. Anyway, you start by just winding the wire into loops, round round-nose pliers is easiest, and when you've got a little bit left poke it through the middle to make the post. Add a butterfly back and you're done!

Kit necklace and earring set

This set is from a kit I've had for years, from France. The instructions were in French so I learnt something from it too.

Items for sale on Folksy!

I went to Leeds at the weekend and bought lots of beads for making Xmas presents, but those will not appear on this blog till after Xmas. However, I also got some other things too, among which these nice bumpy beads. I made links by putting each on an eye pin and linked them together, then attached a length of Byzantine chain maille at each end, then a length of pale pink ribbon and fastened it with a toggle clasp. I've listed it for sale on my new shop on Folksy too.

And I listed this one - made with my jump ring maker out of turquoise and silver-plated wire linked in pairs with seed beads on alternate links.

Handmade jump rings

I've been enjoying the chain maille, which takes a lot of jump rings. So when I saw this jump ring maker, I thought I'd splash out. It came today (from The Bead Shop Nottingham, £9.95) and it's great! I got some silver-plated wire in two thicknesses, and some turquoise wire to play with as well.

You choose one of the widths of mandrel and screw it into the base like this:

Then you put the wire through the little hole to hold it in place and wind the wire round the mandrel as many times as you want jump rings. You cut the wire and take the resulting spiral off the mandrel and you get something like this:
Then you just cut through the spiral with wire cutters and your perfect little jump rings are complete. Like these:
I made these ones with 1mm wire on the 4mm mandrel. I got 0.6mm wire too, which is fine for 4mm jump rings for attaching clasps and headpins and so on, but is a bit thin for much bigger. It's really easy to use, mine came out perfect the first time I tried it, and wire is cheap so I think it's definitely worth just making my own from now on instead of buying them.

Copper, suger and charms (as Hawkwind never sang)

This is a charm bracelet, my first experiments with chain. It's easier than I thought, and looks cool, I think. The charms are all ones I had from something I took apart ages ago, and I think they look much better on the bracelet. It's fiddly, mind.

These beads I bought because they look like they're covered in sugar, which can only be a good thing in my opinion. the design is similar to one I did a few years ago, made by twisting the beads onto strands of wire and twisting the strands together. The seed beads are loose so they move freely.

And another one I love and didn't want to give away. Copper lined pale blue beads, on memory wire with blue and copper seed beads, and little stars. I haven't got any more stars left now so I can't make another just like it.