Make Wire Wrapped Copper Spiral Earrings

Part of the fun of making jewelry is teaching others how to do so. As I learn more skills, I'd love to eventually teach some jewelry making classes. Doing crafts is fun and a great stress reliever; so even if you don't intend to open a jewelry business, you can still make a simple jewelry piece on a rainy afternoon. There are many jewelry patterns online that will show you how to get started.

That said, I just published another jewelry making tutorial on HubPages. This one gives step-by-step instructions for making wire wrapped copper spiral earrings. They're extremely easy to make, but so, so pretty -- and they make lovely, inexpensive gifts. With Mother's Day right around the corner, these are a good choice for Mom or Grandma or an aunt or sister. If they're anything like my mother, they'll appreciate getting a beautiful handmade gift.

Anyway, here is the link to my tutorial on wire wrapped earrings.

To purchase my other jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs On Etsy.

Wire wrapped copper chandelier triangle earrings with blue Swarovski crystals

As I said in a previous post, I've been trying to design more challenging pieces of jewelry. This weekend I finished these wire wrapped copper triangle earrings.

These earrings weren't technically hard to make, but were very labor intensive. Altogether, I had to make 42 little triangles -- 21 on each earring -- so that took a few days to complete. I think they look really cool, though, almost like a waterfall. My original plan was to weave the blue Swarovski crystals throughout, but I think that would have been overkill. I like how they turned out with just the little pop of blue at the top of the triangle cascade.

These chandelier earrings are pretty long at about 3 1/2 inches, but are surprisingly light-weight. I test drove them today while I was cleaning and almost forgot I had them on.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Studio or Naomi's Designs.

Silver wire wrapped chandelier earrings with sapphire blue teardrop crystals, spirals and filigree design

Wow, that's a looong title, but there's a lot going on with these wire wrapped chandelier earrings. These statement earrings were a true labor of love, but I like ho they turned out.

First, I made the filigree pattern - and that was the easy part. I then had to make every spiral, altogether 28. And then I had to made the links with the sapphire blue crystals. Sidenote: these crystals are not Swarovski; they're Celestial Crystals, which are available at Fire Mountain Gems. I love Swarovski, but they can get pricey. Celestial Crystals are also really pretty, but cost a lot less. They also have some different colors and shapes from Swarovski so I like to mix and match.

Anyway, once I had all of the parts, I put together the earrings. I then had to get all of the spirals to hang evenly, which took a lot of cutting and tightening and adjusting.

It took me a couple of weeks to finish these, but it was worth the work. I'm trying to make more complex, challenging pieces and I'm proud of these.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Studio or Naomi's Designs.

Wire wrapped heart earrings with red Swarovski crystal hearts

I've made many earrings with Swarovski crystal hearts, but in this pair, I made the hearts themselves.

For these dangle earrings, I used a simple spiral design to create the interior curve of the hearts, then twisted the wire around to form the rest of the shape. I then attached two and finished them off with the red Swarovski crystal heart. It's a very classic triple heart design, but has an abstract take on it.

What I really love about these earrings is the way the gold and red colors play off of each other. They're very "warm" earrings because of the colors used and they look great with almost anything. I can definitely see pairing them with a little black dress. Sometimes the simplest designs can be the most complex.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Studio or Naomi's Designs.

Wire Wrapped Earrings With Purple Swarovski Crystal Hearts

Here are two other designs from my Swarovski triple heart collection. These are silver wire wrapped chandelier earrings with purple Swarovski hearts.

These earrings take me back to when I was a kid and purple was my favorite color. For a while, purple and lavender were very "in." I even had an outfit that was entirely lavender from my shirt to my sandals. I felt soooo sophisticated when I wore this ensemble!

I only wish I'd had these purple triple heart earrings to go with it because both pairs are so cute. One is your standard tiered dangle earring; the other had some spiral designs worked in and is a little fancier. But they both follow the same concept: the two outside hearts are dark purple and the one in the middle is lavender.

Purple is no longer my very favorite color; that would probably be turquoise. But I still have an appreciation for the hue that made me so happy.

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs on Etsy.

Earrings Silver Treble Clef With Pink Swarovski Crystal Hearts

All of my talents are in the arts, which can be a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, I love what I do and I love being creative. However, let's face it -- it's really hard to make a living as a musician, writer or jewelry designer, and when you're dealing with subjective opinions, you face a lot of criticism.

I'm fortunate in that I have a steady job as a writer for a magazine, but I got a rude awakening when I attempted to have a novel published a few years ago. I had to deal with agents and editors -- and though many were helpful, there were also many who hated my work. I faced a lot of rejection, but ultimately think that the suggestions did improve my book. I took a break from it because the writing process stopped being fun, but I'm proud of the work I did and am glad that I put myself out there.

Anyway, the point of this long post is that another one of my loves is music. I've played flute for almost 30 years at this point (yikes, that's a long time) and while I used to participate in music competitions, now do it strictly for fun. I put out an album a few years ago for which I had 100 percent creative freedom. I've never become a famous musician, but that's fine with me -- I play when I want to and what I want to.

That said, I designed these very classic and simple treble clef earrings in honor of my love for music. I call them the "I Heart Music" earrings (real original, huh?). I think it's cool that I'm writing about my jewelry making that involves a piece dedicated to another one of my passions. Somehow I managed to combine all three! Now if I could find a way to include cats, I'd be all set...

To purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs on Etsy.

Wire wrapped pink coral earrings

I first saw coral in its natural state when I was in Australia. Up until then, I'd seen it in aquariums, but it was a whole different experience when I went swimming in the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing! The coral came in so many colors that it looked as if there were a garden beneath the sea.

That said, I was very excited to get my shipment of coral nuggets and had visions of creating "Enchanment Under The Sea" necklaces and whatnot. Unfortunately, the nuggets turned out to be not the most attractive things. They were, well, nuggets ... that happened to be made out of coral.

First, I tried to make a bracelet out of them, but they were so bulky that my piece looked like something that Wilma Flinstone would wear. I then decided to experiment with some wire wrapping. I figued that brass would look good against the pink and you know what? After I did some work, the coral actually looked pretty cool. I twisted the wire into a spiral design because I wanted to make it look a little like a conch shell. I then finished them off with brass wire hooks.

In making jewelry, I've collected a lot of failed experiments. Sometimes, though, it's worth it to try a new technique!

To see or purchase my jewelry, head to Naomi's Designs or Naomi's Studio.