More Handmade Earring Wires
Part 1 of 2
You might be wondering why I bought the E-Z Earring Maker Tool when I know how to hand forge ear wires - see my past tutorial How to Make Earring Wires. The reason is I wanted an assembly line way of making lots of ear wires quickly and consistently and wondered if this tool could do help. So now I can not only show you how to use one but what I thought of it too.
The E-Z Earring maker tool consists of three parts - the main jig which has two spring loaded pistons, a round plastic doodad with a hole to take the metal pin you see in the picture below.
1. First you cut a length of wire approximately the length of the jig. The wire in the picture looks a little longer because I am holding it closer to the camera and not against the jig. Nice touch as it saves one from having to measure the wire.
2. The round doodad and pin is for forming the loop. I wasn't too thrilled about this because it didn't do a good job compared to using round nose pliers. But as you can see below, for some really fun creative designs, it didn't matter.
3. Next put the loop around the pin on the jig. Then press in the bottom piston which now forms the lower part of the ear wire.
4. Now curve the wire around. It is a little bit tricky to maneuver as the second piston is in the way. When you do push in the second piston, you've got yourself a ear wire!
5. If you omit the loop step and leave yourself a long length of wire (straighten this part with nylon jawed pliers), you can load up with all sorts of decorative beads.
6. You can certainly make pretty conventional styles of ear wires with this gadget. It's useful for those who need to make lots of ear wires or for those who aren't into hand forging their own ear wires.
7. Don't forget to debur the rough edges of the end of the wire that's going through the ear holes. I like to use a cup style file (see previous tutorial). You can also hammer the curved parts.
8. As I said, you could add all sorts of beads so let your creativity run riot. Below is my Flower in A Vase earring!
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Part 1 of 2
You might be wondering why I bought the E-Z Earring Maker Tool when I know how to hand forge ear wires - see my past tutorial How to Make Earring Wires. The reason is I wanted an assembly line way of making lots of ear wires quickly and consistently and wondered if this tool could do help. So now I can not only show you how to use one but what I thought of it too.
The E-Z Earring maker tool consists of three parts - the main jig which has two spring loaded pistons, a round plastic doodad with a hole to take the metal pin you see in the picture below.
1. First you cut a length of wire approximately the length of the jig. The wire in the picture looks a little longer because I am holding it closer to the camera and not against the jig. Nice touch as it saves one from having to measure the wire.
2. The round doodad and pin is for forming the loop. I wasn't too thrilled about this because it didn't do a good job compared to using round nose pliers. But as you can see below, for some really fun creative designs, it didn't matter.
3. Next put the loop around the pin on the jig. Then press in the bottom piston which now forms the lower part of the ear wire.
4. Now curve the wire around. It is a little bit tricky to maneuver as the second piston is in the way. When you do push in the second piston, you've got yourself a ear wire!
5. If you omit the loop step and leave yourself a long length of wire (straighten this part with nylon jawed pliers), you can load up with all sorts of decorative beads.
6. You can certainly make pretty conventional styles of ear wires with this gadget. It's useful for those who need to make lots of ear wires or for those who aren't into hand forging their own ear wires.
7. Don't forget to debur the rough edges of the end of the wire that's going through the ear holes. I like to use a cup style file (see previous tutorial). You can also hammer the curved parts.
8. As I said, you could add all sorts of beads so let your creativity run riot. Below is my Flower in A Vase earring!
Beader Design #: 486
For more tutorials check out my Jewelry Making Tips
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Thank you for sharing...This is a cool tool and tutorial, like you said it is for someone who does more production, I think since I make very few ear wires I will stick to melting the silver wire tip and then bending around my mandrel (the one with the 5 or 5 round layers) to make the round parts and such...lovely earrings by the way...
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't even know there was a tool for making those! Cool!
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful for shepherd hook-type earwires. I wish I had a jig to make my current favs. I don't know what to call them (see them here: http://joslinjewels.blogspot.com/2009/03/very-cherry-earrings.html) It takes longer than I'd like to get my earwires perfectly matched (as much as humanly possible anyway.) Nice to have a way to do it quickly.
ReplyDeleteSheridan, you make lovely earrings! Try experimenting with a wire jig and see if you can your ear wires faster.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that tool, pretty nifty!
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks. I've heard there was a tool for this but never seen it. Teri
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sandtcreations.com/wordpress
It was nice to read your review on this tool as I've been thinking about purchasing one. There are times when one needs a lot of ear wires and they need to be all the same size and shape which is hard to do when each one is individually handcrafted, so this device looks like it could save a great deal of time and effort.
ReplyDelete