Am I the only one that close a headpin properly?

Question

I am new to jewelry making and decided to jump from necklaces to earrings. My headpin loops look awful! Any suggestions? Or does practice make perfect?

Answer 1

Once you've strung your beads on the pin, bend the remainder with your round nose pliers like you normally would to make a loop. Then, instead of cutting the excess off, wrap it around the pin between your loop and the top bead a couple of times. I reccommend at least twice, but not more than four times around. Then, snip off any excess and use a pair of flat nose pliers to squeeze the end flush with the rest. This method will make your earrings a little sturdy (fewer places for it to slip off the hook) and will also disguise irregularities in the loops.

Answer 2

Easiest way is to make a sharp 90 degree bend toward the tip of the wire, and sort of "roll" the excess in a smooth motion with your pliers for a clean loop. A tip that helped me was to make the loop look like a tight question mark. Keep practicing- you'll get it!

Answer 3

You don't say if you're using round-nose ("rosary") pliers or flat nose ones, but it's really essential to use the round ones for making loops if you're using pliers.

There are lessons and links to more lessons on making loops of various kinds with wire (whether they're on headpins or not) on this page at my website:
http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/wire.htm
... click on BASIC WIRE SHAPES...
(you'll probably get lots of tips on what you might be doing that isn't working as well, from the info and lessons all under that category).


HTH,

Diane B.

Answer 4

Talking from experience it does take alot of practice to get those lil suckers to look good!