Droplet gemstone earring recipe

Learn to wire wrap in 3 minutes!

If you’ve ever looked at dainty droplet earrings and thought, they must require high-level jewellery skills, relax – these are wonderfully easy once you crack the simple wire-wrapping trick at the top of the bead. Once you’ve got that tiny little twist mastered, you’ll go wild earring making! You’ll be raiding your bead stash like a woman possessed – crystals, pearls, gemstones, charms – nothing will be safe!

Skill level: Easy (once you’ve grasped the wrapping) 🤪

Time: 5 Minutes

Style: Classic

Ingredients

x2 6mm gem stone beads of your choice
A beautiful set OR A smaller string
x2 38mm (or simular length) sterling silver ball headpins
x2 Sterling silver fish hook earring with spring

Tools

Pair of square nose pliers
Cutters
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers

Not sure which plier are what? Check out my plier guide – it’ll point you to the exact pliers you need for what.

Steps

Grab your ingredients. I’m using fish hook earrings with springs – 14mm heigh with 19mm arm, 0.8mm wire, avg weight 0.16g per piece. And 38mm head pins with ball end, 0.5mm thick (24 gauge) wire (make sure your gauge is not to thick as you will struggle to wrap the wire if too thick). And two pretty 6mm glass/stone beads.

Pop your bead onto your head pin.

Get your chain nose pliers. I normally pinch the wire about 2mm from the bead. With your fingers bend the wire like the image below.

Grab your round nose pliers and place them as per the image above. Your wire in between the two tips of the round-nose pliers.

As the looping and wrapping is challenging the first few attempts, I’ve made a little video which hopefully helps you out a little more.

Heads up: There’s a little bit of relaxing Jazz coming up! ☺️

Hold the end of your loop with your square nose pliers. Turn the pliers, not the wire, guiding it with your finger. Once you have wrapped your wire all the way around and it feels tight, (ie: bead not moving) I like it snug! Get your cutters and trim off your access silver.

Don’t forget if you regularly use sterling silver you should have a scrap jar to collect all your offcuts (more about scrap jars here!) – pop the off cuts in your jar.

With your chain pliers, tidy up the end of your wire with a little squeeze… completing one wire wrap bead charm…ta da!