Project

Hoop Earrings

We're about to shape your destiny — or at least your spring look — by showing you how to craft these simple, sculptural earrings.

Photography: Raymond Hom

Source: Martha Stewart Living, March 2018

Introduction

To make a few surprisingly inexpensive pairs, all it takes is high-quality yet inexpensive gold wire, a couple of tools, and a few minutes of your time. Plus, if you lose one, no worries. You know just the jeweler to create a replacement.

For more ideas, scroll through our entire collection of Handmade Earrings.

materials

Gold wire (Pictured: Fire Mountain Gems 22-gauge 12-karat-gold-filled wire, $6 for 5 ft., firemountaingems.com)

Cylindrical object (such as a spice jar, shot glass, or spool of thread)

Circular pliers

Miniature anvil (Pictured: Bead Landing mini anvil, $24, michaels.com)

Ball peen hammer (Pictured: Bead Landing ball peen hammer, $8, michaels.com)

steps

Bend it: For an oblong shape, wrap both ends of wire around cylindrical object, leaving the middle straight. For a circle, wrap it all the way around. To make closure, form one end of wire into a loop with pliers, bend other at a 90-degree angle, and cut.
Finish it: Strengthen wire by doing what jewelers call "work hardening." Lay flat on anvil and tap with hammer; turn over and repeat. You'll know you're done when metal is harder to bend and clasp springs closed easily.