Dainty-Wire Earring Tutorial

You may have noticed that I have a serious affinity for accessories-jewelry specifically. I could very happily live my life without purchasing another piece of clothing as long as I had access to unlimited jewelry! In short, I'm warning you that this is yet another post about making jewelry (see here, here, and here). I'm normally all about statement pieces and lots of layer- I maintain that I must have been a Christmas tree in a past life- but for some reason, these dainty earrings really struck a chord with me.

I previously saw these gorgeous earrings from Kathleen Whitaker (via HonestlyWTF) and while I absolutely love them, I couldn't justify the price tag, especially because you have to purchase each earring separately. I am a subscriber of Whimsey Box and happily I receive their Friday afternoon emails detailing easy DIYs that can be executed over the weekend. In its most recent iteration, I saw this tutorial for these wire earrings and I was SOLD.

I ended up making 2 pairs, because my first pair sucked (honestly). But I promise you, this tutorial is very easy. At first, I cut the disc of my earring posts and left them too large and it didn't give the look that I wanted, so I threw them out and cut my next set (using kitchen shears) down to a tiny dot-just enough to support the post. Also, you should know that this is a big step for me. I'm one of those people that when I find a place for something, it's not moved to a new place for any reason short of catastrophe. I'm a one and done kind of girl-so it's actually a big step for me to stand in my kitchen and think, "These are okay, but I can do better. Let's start over". Life is all about baby steps, and if I can work on improving myself while making jewelry, then I'd say I had a productive Saturday!

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Dainty Wire Earrings: 

Earring Posts/Backings (Sold Separately)

Strong Adhesive (I recommend Gorilla Glue or E3000)

Sharp Scissors

Wire (I used 16 Guage Jewelry Wire)

Pliers (Needle Nose if possible)

• Cut jewelry wire to your desired length and straighten if needed. 
• Snip earring posts as small as possible while still leaving a circle of metal attached to the post for the wire to sit on. 
• Apply glue to earring post, let sit for a minute to become tacky. 
• Attach wire-at this point, I stuck my earring posts into a slice of an apple to help them stand up straight without me holding them.
• I recommend allowing them to dry for at least 2 hours if you can wait-the longer the better!

As you can see, I left the original posts too large. On my second go 'round, I left a very small circle-just enough to balance the wire. 

I've been loving these earrings-I find myself reaching for them everyday and I'm very pleasantly surprised by how sturdy they are!

You should also check out Virginia Wynne's Etsy shop for similar styles at a fraction of the price- I love every single piece of her collection!