My First Attempt at Ear Wires ...

[JewelrybyNaLa]

Shimmering 6mm chocolate brown and caramel Tiger Eye Quartz rounds and antiqued bronze beads dangle freely from hand-forged ear wires in 20 gauge no lead or nickel antiqued bronze. The ear wire ends are gently and carefully sanded to a smooth finish for comfortable use. Earrings dangle 2 1/4 inches from top to bottom.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/54819747/tiger-eye-antiqued-bronze-earrings

[CraftedRoots]

They look fabulous!!!! That's definitely on my list of craft to-dos.

[JewelrybyNaLa]

I'd been wanting to try making my own ear wires ever since the first time I saw others making this shape. I just think it's beautiful, and it's a shape you don't often find in retail stores. Plus I got to use my new Wire Whacker to harden the wire, and it was a blast! 

I'll have to make a pair of these ear wires for myself before I can say for certain, but I'm hoping to find that this shape stays on the ear better than standard French hooks ...

[jewelrybyjanelle50]

Great job! Jus' one question, what's a wire whacker? 

[JewelrybyNaLa]

The Wire Whacker is for hardening wire: http://www.jewelrysupply.com/products/WS100.html

[jewelrybyjanelle50]

Well, how hard do you whack it? Wouldn't it flatten it out? I would think...

That is a neat gizmo, something I may have to have.

[JewelrybyNaLa]

It was amazing Jan, I just put the wire between the two plastic blocks and whacked it with a hammer. The ear wires came out completely untouched, but firmer. The blocks are even a little textured, and the thought of putting my beautiful wire between them and whacking it was freaking me out, but they didn't flatten or mar in any way. I'm not sure I whacked the wire hard enough, but it seems pretty firm, so I guess it's okay.

I tried to find more detailed instructions on using the Whacker (and how hard to hit it), but couldn't find any on the Internet ...

[jewelrybyjanelle50]

Thanks! I will have to give wire whacking a try, some day soon! 

[Larissa]

Those are great!

[Colette]

They look fabulous and very elegant.

[raedawn]

Lovely earwires, and lovely earrings.

[lovely7designs]

very cool!

[JewelrybyNaLa]

Thank you everyone ... 

[kmarie0218]

Nice job, NaLa!  I make my own using the wig jig, but I usually just make the french hook style.  It's a good idea to switch up the shapes like this!

[trusk4u]

Beautiful job NaLa! Isn't the wire whacker fun? I knew you'd like it!