so the lovely j.r. wanted to see what i wasted so much wire on yesterday. i've been mulling over the idea of a horseshoe hinged earring design - where the lower part of the hoop is made up of substantial hammered wire and then the loop that goes through the ear is thinner but still sturdy. i wanted movement but chunky - does that even make sense? i have to admit that i am not the best at making wire loops
(damn carpal tunnel!) but i've been trying.
the main design issue for me is making sure that the loops on the larger part of the earring are roomy enough for the smaller wire loops to move so that the earrings have some swing to them. i also need to use a thinner gauge wire for the part that goes through the ear - 18 gauge is a little too thick, i fear.
here are the workable "prototypes" of the lucky horseshoe earrings that i finished last night. the larger one is in copper
(which i probably should have started with in the first place instead of wasting all that sterling) and the smaller in silver. "lucky" is an appropriate name since it was probably not a good idea to have worked on them after having a drink - i was pretty lucky that i didn't hammer my fingers off.
(i did get my thumb once though. #$%#$^.)
thoughts?
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i have to show these off. finally i think i have perfected my "horseshoe" earrings - i had posted the first attempts in march but they just didn't seem to work. today i had a lot of time to fool around with the design and some scrap wire and voila! my new favorite earrings! lightweight but quite substantial, shiny and perfectly balanced, i think these would be suitable for almost any occasion. except for maybe sleeping. they're a little too pretty to be hidden! i'll be making a set in copper, brass and gold filled, so watch this space! it surprises me that you can do this with just a simple design, pliers and sterling silver.
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