Saturday, August 8, 2009

Details, Details

When working with beads or making any type of jewelry, details are so important. Here's one of the little details of creating beaded drops that I find critical.


After stacking beads on a headpin for creating a pair of earrings, we most often make a wrapped loop in order to attach the drops to earwires. I make 2 types of wrapped loops: neat and messy. But that's a topic for another post. This post is about the neat type of wrapped loop. Chances are, you have a favorite method of creating said wrapped loop. Take a close look at the last pair of earrings you made. You will notice that they do not look the same when viewed from the front as they do when viewed from the back.

This first photo shows one drop facing one way and the other drop facing the other way. Can you see the difference in the wrap? This may seem like a minor point, but in a simple pair of earrings, if each one is not suspended from the earwire in the same direction, it can really stick out like a sore thumb.



I won't try to tell you which way is right and which way is wrong, I only suggest that you assemble both earrings the same way. I always hang my drops as seen below, because I see this side of the wrap as "the front". You may see it the other way. Just be consistent!

4 comments:

Creative Treasures by Donna said...

Awesome points Vicki. Thanks! I also hv a problem with the amount of wraps, sometimes I see more on one earring that the other. It just irks me when my turn out that way! LOL! I always have to redo one. :(

Thanks for the pointers.

Deronda designs... said...

No wonder I have never made earrings. But if I ever do, I will remember this.

Orion Designs said...

Donna - yes, it is sometimes tricky to get the same number of wraps on each earring too!

Cindy Lietz, Polymer Clay Tutor said...

Great advice Vicki! I think the same thing should be said for the number of wraps. Can't tell you how many times I've watched demo videos from craft stores where they just sort of whipped the wire around without any regard for how it looks. No wonder there is so many unprofessional looking earrings out there! :-)