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The inspiration for these 4 Dangle Earrings was a package of 2x4mm crystal silver lined (S/L) bugle beads that we received as a return. This package had been returned by a customer who had torn open the package for the beads so that we could not re-sell the beads. In processing that return, I thought that the beads looked so nice that these 4 Dangle Earrings were designed around those bugle beads. We tried to turn lemons (torn package) into lemonade (4 Dangle Earrings). Hopefully, we succeeded.
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4 Dangle Earrings
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Jewelry Supplies:
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14 inches of 20 gauge wire preferably 1/2 hard
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Two 6mm beads
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Eighteen 4mm beads
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Twelve 2x4mm bugle beads
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Six 1 1/2" or 2" head-pins
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One pair of ear wire findings
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Jewelry Tools Required:
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Round Nose Pliers
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Flush Cutters
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Bent Chain Nose Pliers (2)
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Any Clear WigJig
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Fine Step Jaw Pliers
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Nylon Jaw Pliers (recommended)
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30 minutes of free time
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Jewelry Making Skills Required:
For these earrings, we will first show the pattern for making the earrings on our new WigJig Centaur. In a later section, we will show the pattern for making these earrings on our other transparent WigJig jewelry making tools.
Step 1: Cut and make a loop in one end of a piece of wire 4 1/2 inches long. Use your Fine Step Jaw pliers to make this loop. Use the first step for the Delphi or Centaur and the second step for the Olympus, Electra or Olympus-Lite.
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Centaur Pattern
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Step 2: Using your nylon jaw pliers, straighten the wire.
Step 3: Position your pegs in your jig as shown and place the initial loop on peg 1 with the wire resting inside peg 2.
Step 4: Remove peg 3 so that it will not be in your way and wrap your wire around peg 2. Push the wire until it rests next to the hole for peg 3 as shown. You need to push the wire far enough that when you remove your hand, the wire will remain in the position shown.
Step 5: Remove peg 4 and replace peg 3. Now bend the wire against peg 4 so that when you are done, the wire rests next to the hole for peg 5.
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Step 6: Replace peg 4. Now remove the wire from your jig and replace in on the jig in the mirror image position as shown at right.
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Step 6
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Step 7: Wrap your wire around peg 2. Continue pushing the wire until it will naturally rest against peg 1 as shown. To do this you will have to push the wire beyond peg 1 so that it will "relax back" into the position shown with your hands removed.
Step 8: Wrap the wire around peg 1.
Step 9: Remove the wire from the jig.
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Step 10: Now position your Fine Step Jaw pliers so that the round jaw of the pliers is inside the two loops around peg 1. With the WigJig Delphi, Cyclops or Centaur, push these loops all the way down on the first step and grasp them securely with the pliers. While holding the piece securely, with the pliers in your non-dominant hand, use your dominant hand to wrap the wire tightly around the wire component two full revolutions. If you don't have Fine Step Jaw pliers this can be done with round nose pliers, but it will not come out as nice because of the conical shape of these pliers.
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Step 10
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Step 11: Cut the excess wire. Using your bent chain nose pliers, gently squeeze the wire tail where you cut so that it lies flat. This can be easily accomplished with a simultaneous squeeze and a slight twist of your pliers. This completes the body component for your earrings.
Step 12: Now, we need to make two modified figure 8 connectors. Use about 1 1/2 inch of 20 gauge wire to make each modified connector. Add the connector to the top of the earring body wire component by opening the loop on one end of the connector, sliding it into position and closing the loop.
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Step 13: Now we need to make the central bead dangle with the 6mm bead. Thread a 6mm bead onto a head pin. Slide the bead down to the bottom of the head pin. Using your bent chain nose pliers grasp the head pin about 5/16" above the bead. At this point, bend the wire against the jaws of your pliers to an angle of about 80 degrees. Now grasp the wire at the bend with your round nose pliers. Because we need a larger than normal loop, grasp the wire close to the hinge of your round nose pliers and make a loop.
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Step 14: Open the loop in the bead dangle that you made in step 13 and slide the bead dangle into the loops in the body of the earring that were made on peg 1. Position the bead dangle properly so that it will hang in the center of the body of the earring and close the loop in the bead dangle.
Step 15: At this point we need to make three bead dangles using the 4mm beads and the 2x4mm bugle beads. Thread first one 4mm bead, then one bugle bead, followed by a 4mm bead, a bugle bead and a 4mm bead onto one head-pin. Slide the beads to the bottom of the head-pin and make a bead dangle using either the technique described above (but with a much smaller loop) or the wrapped wire dangle taught in our online book "Wire Design Basics". Make three bead dangles and connect them to the loops made around pegs 2 and 4 and the bend at peg three.
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Step 16: Finish your earring by connecting the top loop of the modified figure 8 connector to the loop in your commercial ear wire finding. Be sure to orientate the earring body so that the side of the earring that shows when it is worn is the best side. The side with the final loop made around peg 1 (instead of the side showing the initial loop) was the side that we choose.
Repeat the above process for your second earring.
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Alternate Designs:
The first alternative configuration for these earrings is that they can be made on the WigJig Olympus, Olympus-Lite, or Delphi using the peg pattern shown at right.
The second alternative configuration is that you can make a loop around peg 3 instead of just bending the wire at peg 3.
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The third alternative is that you can add a single 2x4mm bugle bead above the 6mm bead in the central bead dangle. This can be seen in the jet earrings shown below, but it does not stand out well in this picture.
There are many other alternative configurations including replacing peg 3 with a small Super Peg (1/4").
Obviously, these earrings can be made with many different styles of bead dangles. We will have to check our returned items to see if they provide us any more inspiration.
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Materials Used:
20 Gauge 1/2 hard round wire
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20 G Gold-Filled 1/2 Hard Round Wire (Item 1012)
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20 G Sterling Silver 1/2 Hard Round Wire (Item 2210)
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20 G Anti-Tarnish Silver, Silver-plated Wire (Item 0276)
6mm Beads
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6mm Swarovski Tanzanite Bicone Beads (Item 2691)
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6mm Swarovski Jet Bicone Beads (Item 2683)
4mm Beads
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4mm Swarovski Tanzanite Bicone Beads (Item 2688)
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4mm Swarovski Jet Bicone Beads (Item 2682)
2x4mm Bugle Beads Silver Lined
Ear Wire Findings
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Earring Post with Loop Gold Filled (Item 2660)
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Earring Post with Loop Sterling Silver (Item 2659)
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Lever Back Ear Clip Gold-Filled (Item 0117)
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Lever Back Ear Clip Sterling Silver (Item 0421)
Ear Clutches for Post Style Ear Wire Findings
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 Sometimes as you get older, you get smarter. It would be nice if this happened every day, but it doesn't. When it does, we should take advantage. This particular jewelry making design can be made in a couple of ways. In the sections, we discussed a technique for making these earrings using one wire component. In the following sections, we will discuss a technique for making these earrings that uses two simple wire components and should be easier to make. We think that the approach we describe here may be a smarter way to make almost identical earrings.
The earrings shown at right have more of a diamond shape than the teardrop shape shown previously. At the end of this section, we will provide a pattern for the teardrop shape. The following paragraphs describe how we make these diamond shaped earrings using two wire components on one of our WigJig tools with a square peg pattern.
Step 1: These earrings are made with two wire components that we will call the top wire component and the "V" shaped wire component for obvious reasons. Begin by cutting two wire segments each about 2 3/4" long.
Step 2: Make a loop in the end of both wire components.
Step 3: Straighten both wire components using your nylon jaw pliers.
Step 4: Position pegs 1 and 2 in your jig and place your initial loop from one of the wire segments on peg 1. Wrap your wire around peg 2 as shown so that with no pressure on the wire it will rest adjacent to the hole for peg 3.
Step 5: Add peg 3 and wrap your wire around this peg; then remove your wire and pegs from the jig.
Step 6: Position pegs 4 and 5 in your jig and with your second wire segment place your initial loop on peg 4. Bend your wire against peg 5 so that with no pressure applied it will rest adjacent to the hole for peg 6. (You can modify this design by moving pegs 2 and 5 each up one hole to make a teardrop shape.)
Step 7: Add Peg 6 and wrap your wire around this peg; then remove your wire from the jig.
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 Step 8: Cut the excess wire from the ends of both wire segments and close the final loop with your bent chain nose pliers. At this point your top and "V" shaped wire components should appear as shown at right.
 Step 9: At this poin,t we need to begin re-shaping the top wire component so that it can connect to the "V" shaped wire component. Start by converting both the starting and ending loops on the wire component to eye loops. This is done with your round nose pliers.
 Step 10: Now we need to re-orient both the beginning and ending loops on the top wire component by twisting them 90 degrees. This is done, one at a time, by grasping the loop in your bent chain nose pliers and twisting it 90 degrees. In the completed top wire component at right you can not see the beginning and ending loops because they are perpendicular to the view of the camera. 
Step 11: With the reorientation of the loops in the top wire component completed, we are ready to connect the top wire component to the "V" shaped wire component. One side is connected by opening the end loop on the top wire component, inserting the loop from the "V" shaped wire component and then closing the loop in the top wire component. (Opening and closing loops is done with your bent chain nose pliers. ) On the opposite side of these two wire components, you will need to open the loop on both wire components, connect the two pieces of wire, then close both loops.
Step 12: At this point, you are ready to add the three bead dangles at the bottom. For the earrings shown at right, each dangle was made of three Swarovski round 4mm crystal beads and two 2x4mm crystal silver lined bugle beads.
Step 13: For the earrings shown at right, 22 gauge 1/2 round, 1/2 hard wire was wrapped around the point where the wire crosses in the top wire component. This is accomplished by making a "U" shaped bend in the wire about 3/4" from the end, positioning the "U" at the point where you want to begin your wrap, then wrapping the wire around about 2-3 times. After the wrap is completed you will want to cut the excess wire and tuck in the cut ends. This step is purely optional.
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