How to Make Dangle Earrings With Charms

Tools and materials:

• Two earring wires
• Two beads
• Charms
• 20-gauge half-hard round wire
• Wire cutters
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Bent nose pliers

1. Cut the wire

Start by cutting a piece of wire about 6 inches (15cm) long. When you cut your wire, you want a few inches on each side of the bead so take an account the size of the bead when determining the length.

Also, when choosing your beads and charms for this project, have a think about how heavy they will be on your ear. You don’t want them to pull your ear, however beyond that, it doesn't matter what kind of beads you use as long as the wire can fit through it. 

2. Make a wire loop

We are going to start by making a wrapped wire loop. To do this, take the wire and hold it in your round nose pliers, and you’re going to have about 1.5 inches from the top of the wire. Then you're just going to bend the wire down and around one barrel of the pliers to form a loop.

3. Add the charm

Now slide on one of the charms. If you prefer, you could just complete the loop and then add the charm using a jump ring at the end.

4. Wrap the loop

Next, hold the loop in the flat nose pliers and go around once with the shorter wire to make a loop. Now you might want to use your bent nose pliers to go around two more times. Keep your wraps tightly close together and straight, don't cross them over each other. Once done, trim off the excess wire using the wire cutters and make a flush cut. Finally, use the flat nose pliers to make sure that the end is tucked in.

5. Add the bead

Now take a bead and slide it on. I call what we have a wire-wrapped bead link. 

6. Make a wrapped loop

Now grab your round nose pliers and hold them about a quarter of an inch (0.6cm) above the bead and repeat what you did before. So wrap the wire around, forming a loop, this time, we're not adding a charm. Hold the loop in the flat nose pliers and bring the wire around once, and then wrap it around two more times towards the bead. Make sure it’s all straight, and then trim off the excess wire making a flush cut.

7. Twist the top loop

When this earring hangs, I'd like the feather to be able to be seen, and right now, it is hanging in such a way that it won't be seen. To fix that, you can just twist the top loop with the flat nose pliers.

8. Make the second earring

Now we just repeat all of those steps again to make the other earring.

9. Add the earring wire

All that's left is to do is add earring wire. So open up the earring wire very slightly, just as you would a jump ring. Now attach it to the loop at the top of the earring. Once done, close the earring wire.

How to make dangle earrings with charms

Here are the finished earrings! We have the feather dangles at the bottom, the beads in the middle, and the wrapped wire on either side of the beads. I think these earrings look very stylish and professional; I’m sure that you could find similar-looking earrings in a store, but why buy a pair when you can make them yourself? 

Here is a necklace that I made in a similar style to complement the earrings. I enjoy creating multiple pieces of jewelry along the same theme so that they become part of a matching set.