I've noticed  many women prefer to wear lever back ear wires because they are more secure than the common shepherd's hook ear wires. As it is not possible to make the former, the alternative are French ear wires. These have little hooks which capture the tail end of the ear wires.

If you look at the picture , the silver plated one on the left was a bought finding. The copper one on the right is the ear wire I made following the general design. It's not that hard so here are some instructions to get you going.

Cut about 3-4 " of 20G wire depending on how long you want the ear wires to be. Round the wire around chain nose pliers at about 3/4" from one end of the wire.

You need to make two bends on either side of the open loop you just made. Position your chain nose pliers such that it grips the upper wire and gently put a slight bend (as shown in the picture). Reposition the pliers again such that it grips the lower wire. This bend should be about a 90 degree angle.

Use either round nose pliers or broad nose pliers to bend the short end back on itself. Trim the end to form a neat hook.

I like to use my bail forming pliers to form the top part of the ear wires. It's a very useful tool - check out my past post on how to use bail forming pliers. How far up the you go before you bend is entirely up to you. It depends if you want a long or short ear wire.

Use a small broad nose pliers to put a slight kink at the end. This is the part of the ear wire which will slip behind the retaining hook. Trim it if it is too long.

Don't forget to debur the part which goes through the ear holes. I use a cup debur but you could also use a needle file (see how to debur ear wires tutorial).It's easy enough, isn't it? The tricky part is making an identical ear wire for a pair!  Practice makes perfect. (Update : as two commentators pointed out - make two at the same time so you are sure to bend in the same places!)

Now you can hang whatever dangles you want on your new French ear wires!

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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