Curly Q Earrings
Inspired by Sharilyn Miller’s Twin Spiral Bracelet, featured in Bead on a Wire, these earrings are impressive and elegant. Add additional swirls of wire, longer dangles, or oxidize your silver for an even more dramatic effect!
Level: Intermediate/Challenging
Materials
16g sterling silver round, dead soft wire
Earring posts with loops
2mm turquoise round beads (2)
3″ thin sterling head pins (2)
20g sterling wire or 3mm jump rings (2)
Clean and straighten wire using a polishing cloth. Cut four lengths of 16g wire 3″ long using flush cut pliers.
Curly Q Earrings
Upper swirl:
Using a round nosed or stepped pliers, make a closed loop (approx 4mm) at one end of the wire. Use a flat nose pliers to continue the swirl, holding the swirl horizontally and making tiny turns to wrap the wire around itself. This will ensure your swirl is nice and tight. Nylon-jawed pliers will decrease the chances that your pliers will leave marks on the wire.
When you have wound all but approximately 5mm of wire around the swirl, make a second closed loop, in the opposite direction at the end of the wire.
Hammer swirl if desired.
Lower swirl:
Same technique as above, but make your final closed loop approximately 2mm, using the smallest end of your round nosed pliers.
Connecting the swirls:
Cut two 2 3/4″ long pieces of 16g wire. Lay the two swirls end to end (swirls together, loops at opposite ends) and center one 2 3/4″ piece of wire across them — mark where the centers of the swirls are on the wire. You will be using this wire to hold the two swirls together, so while you want some give in your connector, you don’t want it too loose.
Make a 90 degree bend in the wire at each mark. You will now have a squared U shape.
Thread the swirls onto the U. The swirls should lie flat on the connector. Bend the top arms of the connector down so that they are parallel to each other across the swirls. Use a flat nosed pliers to gently compress the bends where the connector holds the swirls in place.
Use a round nosed pliers to begin a swirl on the connector wires, making the swirl in the direction toward the center of the connector. To finish the swirl, you may need to slightly bend the wire away from the two swirls you are connecting; just remember not to bend too many times or you will over harden the wire and make it brittle. Stop the swirl when you reach the center.
Repeat on the other leg of the connector. The two swirls for the connector will now meet in the center of the connector, and will be at a 90 degree angle from the upper and lower swirls.
Repeat to connect second set of upper and lower swirls.
Finish the earring:
Put one turquoise bead on a head pin and make a tiny (2-3 wraps) wrapped loop at the top. Attach to bottom closed loop (open loop, hang dangle, close loop).
Attach the entire component to the earring finding using a jump ring (or make a jump ring from 20g wire).
Repeat process for second earring.
– L. Kvigne
