Marquise Earring Tutorial - Spoilt Rotten Beads

Marquise Earring Tutorial

These beautiful earrings were designed for us by Sarah from Whittle Wire – you can find more of Sarah’s work in her Etsy shop – just click here

You’ll need to gather the following supplies:

0.8mm Wire

0.4mm Wire

3-4mm Gemstones or Crystal Rondelles

Round Nose Pliers

Side Cutters

Chain Nose Pliers

Round Your Wire Tool

Step by Step:

Cut 2 lengths of 0.8mm wire approximately 8cm long (depending on how long you want your earrings)

Smooth both ends of the wire with a wire rounder or file. Repeat on the other piece of wire

3cm from one end of the wire, using chain nose pliers, bend the wire to 90 degrees. Repeat on the other piece of wire. You will then have one short side (the back which will go through the ear) and a long side (the front of the earring to be decorated)

Using the natural curve of the wire and your fingers, bend the wire slightly inwards on both sides

Using your finger and thumb, pinch the ends together to bring the sides in, forming the marquise shape. Carry on gently curving and pinching until you are happy with the shape and both earring wires match

Taking the longer side of your earring wire, form a loop at the end using round nose or bail making pliers. If possible, try and do this on both wires at the same time to ensure both earrings wires are the same. I like to use the first step on the bail making pliers and turn the loop inwards so that the gap is at the back of the earring wire.

Using chain nose pliers bend the loop back slightly to centre the loop.. Repeat on the other earring wire. This is not strictly necessary but creates a nice finish. This is your marquise shaped earring finding. The short side is the back of the finding and the long side with the loop is the front of the finding.

To decorate: Leaving a small tail, wrap 0.4mm wire a few times around the longer side of your earring finding starting at the bend or ‘top’ of the finding. I usually do about 5 or 6 wraps. Add onto your 0.4mm wire, one of your small gemstones and working in the same direction, continue to wrap 2 or 3 times before adding another gemstone. Continue wrapping 2 or 3 times and then adding a gemstone until you have filled up the long side of your earring finding. Finish with again about 5 or 6 wraps, trim the excess off both ends of your gemstone wraps and squish down any ends of wire that may be sticking up with your pliers. I usually add about 10-12 gemstones of between 3mm and 4mm diameter. I prefer to preload my wire with the gemstones and work from the spool (especially if I am working with sterling silver wire). If you prefer to work in short lengths, I would allow about 25 – 30cm of 0.4mm wire.

Repeat the process with the other earring finding ensuring that each earring has the same amount of wraps at the top, same number of gemstones and same amount of wraps at the bottom.

For extra sparkle, add a dangle to the bottom of each earring by threading on complementary beads to a headpin and form a simple wire wrap loop as below

Attach the dangles to each finding by opening up the loop at the bottom of your finding, threading the dangle on and close the loop with your pliers.

Recommendations, work harden the findings before adding the beads by gently hammering the wire. This creates a stronger, more sturdy finding. Variations – rather than a loop, the ends of the long side can be hammered flat to create a slightly shorter earring and different look. I usually use 0.8mm wire for the finding as this goes through most ear holes and is reasonably sturdy. 1mm tends to be too thick for me and 0.6mm can be a bit too bendy. I use 0.4mm for the wraps, although 0.5mm down to 0.2mm can be used depending on the holes of your beads – you will need a slightly different length. Beads can also be threaded directly on to the earring wire before forming the loop or hammering the end, giving a different look again.

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