Drop earrings are among the easiest earrings in the world to make. The trick to making them look professional is to have the right tools and findings on hand when you make them. It is possible to make drop earrings with nothing more than a piece of wire and some beads, but the result will be childish and awkward, unless you're very good, indeed. The right tools and findings make all the difference. And, of course, choosing classy beads to start with doesn't hurt. The first and most useful thing to have will be a set of headpins. You can find these at most craft stores or sometimes even in the craft section of your local retailer. Sometimes little packets of findings will include headpins. Their most distinctive feature is a broad, flat head. This keeps beads from sliding off, without being as obtrusive as, say, bending a piece of wire to keep the beads on. The second most useful thing is a pair of needlenose pliers, or a pair of jewelry pliers. Jewelry pliers are often smaller, and handle tiny jewelry better than needlenose, but either will work. A pair of wirecutters will often come in handy as well. Finally, earwires and spacer beads. French earwires are recommended, because they have the little coil-and-ball design that adds that professional, finished touch to jewelry. Plus, they're the easiest to work with. Spacer beads are always small and metal; you can use tiny seed pearls or other small beads as spacers, but they rarely add the same touch as the metal ones. Spacer beads keep the other beads from touching, and lend just one more elegant touch to your earrings. Choosing your beads is another important part of making your earrings look professional. Of course, there is no rule that says you can't use brightly colored plastic beads in the shapes of hearts and daisies. Just don't expect them to look classy if you do. Swarovski crystal beads look elegant in almost any arrangement. Use a drop bead at the very base of your earring, and ovals, rondells, or round crystals above it, with metal spacers inbetween. Or, if you want, it is sometimes possible to find very small gemstone beads at reasonable prices. Of course you probably won't be able to make the entire drop earring out of diamond beads, but stones such as Amazonite, Amethyst, and Jasper are often reasonably priced, if not as cheap as other kinds of beads. The arrangements on the drop earring are almost endless; feel free to experiment, putting beads onto the headpin and slipping them off again until you find a pattern that pleases you. In general, larger beads should go on first (this will be the bottom of the earring) and smaller beads should go on closer to the top of the earring. Be sure to leave a little of the headpin free at the very top. Once you have a pattern you like, use the needlenose or jewelry pliers to bend the top of the headpin into a loop. This will go into the earwire, allowing the earring to dangle properly. Careful use of material and color is important when making earrings. Onyx beads with silver spacers, for example, can't help but be classy. And there's nothing cheap or childish about seed pearls arranged in a classic waterfall design (one large bead on the bottom, one medium sized bead in the middle, one small bead next, and a very tiny bead at the very top, with no spacers). But having the right findings and the right tools, you'll find, will often make the difference between "home-made" and "professionally made at home". |