Captured Bead Earring Tutorial

You’ve probably heard the expression, “Those that can’t do, teach...”. While I sometimes agree with the other part about teaching gym, I’m not fond of the phrase. I think that people should only teach what they can do, especially if they do it well. This is why we’ve never had an earring tutorial here on Inspirational Beading. Until today!

Our good friends at Beads Direct have shared a really fun earring project that you can make in minutes, using some simple chain mail techniques and your favorite seed bead color. This project is a great way to get started with using jump rings in your work. It’s also a great instant gratification project that you could do with crafty friends.

To make one pair of earrings, you will need:

2 silver plated ear wires
4 8mm jump rings
16 6mm jump rings
6 size 6/o seed beads
4 eye pins
Pliers and snips

1. Create a captured seed bead by threading one bead on to an eye pin and making an eye to either side. Thread one eye onto a large jump ring and bring it to the bottom of the jump ring. Thread the other eye on and close the ring, so the bead is captured inside it.

2. Link two small rings to the captured bead, placing one to either side of the eye pin. Use one small ring to catch these two small rings and attach it to the ear wire. Close the ring.

3. Make a second captured bead, and link it to the first one, using 2 small rings to either side of the eye pin.

4. Place a bead on a small ring and close it. Link this beaded ring to the bottom captured bead with two small rings, to either side of the eye pin.

5. Repeat to make second earring.

The simple design offers lots of great color possibilities. You could make a whole set with seasonal palettes, like pastels for spring and earth tones for fall.

Happy beading!

Copyright 2011 Inspirational Beading and Beads Direct UK
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