Making Hoop Earrings – Let’s Make Professional Jewelry Journal

Phew! What a crazy few weeks! It’s taken me a lot longer to write the next instalment of my “Let’s Make Professional Jewelry” journal than I anticipated! Project 3 – making hoop earrings, was meant to be completed between 20th June – 10th July. In all honesty, I was a little late (and I still haven’t started the next project!). What can I say? The reality is that being a parent came first. In the UK, we’ve had a sudden spike of Covid cases, which has meant that I’ve been homeschooling my children again.

My 1st Attempt

The “Let’s Make Professional Jewelry” book instructs you to use 0.6mm thick sheet metal. I couldn’t seem to buy metal in that exact thickness, and I didn’t have the confidence to anneal and roll down some metal to the correct thickness (something to come back to for my next attempt!). So I figured I’d use 0.4mm copper sheet for practice.

My learning point is that 0.4mm is really very thin, and while I managed to get the earrings to keep their shape, they do feel quite flimsy.

Like Project 2, I watched Melissa Muir’s YouTube video, which I found really helpful.

The book contains a template for the earrings, drawn to the correct dimensions. Unfortunately, in the Kindle version, all the images are resized to fit onto the Kindle screen! I admit, I had a minor panic, trying to figure out what to do, without drawing out the template by hand (because, let’s face it, I’m not very accurate at drawing!) Luckily, I remembered that all of the relevant files are also uploaded to the “Let’s Make Professional Jewelry Facebook Group“. (Check the group out, if you fancy having a go at some of these projects yourself – they are wonderfully supportive, with really expert tutors!).

Day 1

As I mentioned, I struggled with finding time for this project. By the end of the 1st day, I’d managed to cut out the paper template and use it to cut out my two earrings. So… limited progress!

Day 2

A few days later, I found time to carry on with my earrings. I spent quite a long time filing the earrings. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to make earrings, but trying to get two objects idential in shape and size is a real skill! I’ve not made many earrings before (partly because I don’t wear them, and partly because, it’s really hard to get them exactly the same!). So this was a novelty for me.

Tip: You can try sticking your two earring pieces together with double-sided sticky tape. This should help keep them together, so you can file them both at the same time!

I’m learning that it is well worth the time and effort to measure things accurately and to shape, file and clean them thoroughly. And whilst I know the theory, it takes a lot of discipline to stick to it! (And yes, I did rush these, so I’m not happy with the finish!)

Once I’d hit the 80% there point, I annealed the metal and then got on with curving the earrings. This is really fun and a good stress relief! The book suggested various materials to support your metal whilst you shape it… I opted for an old tax book that I found in the garage. To make an indent int he book, I gave it several good whacks with my ball pein hammer. I probably should have used a bigger hammer or made a deeper indent. Live and learn, I guess!

By the end of the 2nd day, I’d managed to shape and curve my earrings.

Day 3

On Day 3, I finished shaping my earrings, and then drilled the holes for the posts. So here’s another tip for you… don’t get your drill bits mixed up! I have a little box of drill bits for my Dremel 4000, which are all labelled with the drill bit size. Unfortunately, at some point, they all fell out of the box and I now have no idea, which is which. I did my best and measured each drill bit, but admittedly, there was a bit of trial and error involved!

Soldering on the earring posts was interesting, as I found that either the solder blew off or the earring post moved. But I eventually got there, and so far, the earring posts haven’t fallen out!

The final job was to clean everything up and give it a good polish and finish (most definitely, not my strong point!)

And here are my finished earrings:

As far as a 1st attempt goes, I’m fairly happy. I’d have liked to have had more time to give it another go (and I will, since I’ve got some more copper and a bit of brass, too!). I found it a struggle to curve the edges, and I’m still not happy with the curves. I’m also curious what would happen if I were to use a thicker metal.

Last Thoughts

This is a great, self-contained project! It’s fab for giving you some practise with controlling the hammer, as well as a little bit of soldering practise (you can never have too much soldering practise!). The instructions in the book are well-written and easy to follow, too.

Have you had a go at this project? Let me know in the comments how you got on!

Next Project

I’m really looking forward to the next project, although I suspect I may not get a chance to make it until the children go back to school! The next project will be Project 5 from the book – Twist Ring. I’ve seen photos of the rings made by my fellow students and I can’t wait to get started! Join me on my journey – I record all of my projects in video form on my YouTube channel. And if you can’t wait for the next instalment, then feel free to check out some of my other videos!

PS Here in the UK, the school summer holidays have kicked in! So please forgive me, if my posts and videos are little more sporadic over the summer months – it’s not intentional!