Ear wires

[Ruedeleglise]

Hello my friends. Yet further advice requested! I want to make my own ear wires (not for me personally) and have made the basic but want to add a tight spiral just above the loop and bead, as in the cooksons and many other ones. I can’t find any ready made spirals.....can one make them with fine wire and if so how can they be hardened so as not to unwind easily.
Where would us amateur novices be without all of you?


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[Dennis]

I have a reel if very thin wire, and have tried doing this but the results were not to my satisfaction.
So I would recommend these ear hooks from Cookson below with the front very thin and elegant.

There are also alternatives at Rashbel https://www.bellorerashbel.co.uk/product/search?search=silver+ear+wires

[CJ57]

Do you mean these ones? https://www.cooksongold.com/Findings/Sterling-Silver-Hook-Wires,--------Pack-of-6,-With-Bead-And-Loop-prcode-NVK-007X&query=Silver%20earwires&channel=uk
If so it’s a continuation of the earwire and coiling the wire hardens it even if you choose to do a separate wire. If you do that though you’ll have 2 ends whereas if you finish off the earwire with a coil there will only be one unfinished end to neaten off

[Ruedeleglise]

Yes. That is exactly what I wanted to make myself! If both of your preferences it to buy ready made, I guess it probably isn’t worth the time and effort to be too puritanical and try to diy! I might play around with 2 or 3 beads for fun.


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[misspond]

Yes. That is exactly what I wanted to make myself! If both of your preferences it to buy ready made, I guess it probably isn’t worth the time and effort to be too puritanical and try to diy! I might play around with 2 or 3 beads for fun.


Im my opinion the kind of ear wires you're describing can be bought very cheaply and to be honest I think they make hand made earrings look cheap. Bizarrely it takes minutes to make interesting ear wires, much better to play and make something yourself I think.

[CJ57]

I only make plain wires and will admit if I wanted these I would buy them. I would imagine you might have to redrill the bead to get the wire through twice, just all too fiddly

[Ruedeleglise]

Im my opinion the kind of ear wires you're describing can be bought very cheaply and to be honest I think they make hand made earrings look cheap. Bizarrely it takes minutes to make interesting ear wires, much better to play and make something yourself I think.

Being a bit creative and adventurous.....I should be bold...er.


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[pearlescence]

Why? they're such an old and bead-y very amateur design.
And cheap!
In the scheme of things if you must use these hooks just buy them. It's not worth hours of your life to make them.

If you are determined to make them this gizmo thingy helps churn out identical hooks and the other below tool smooths the end so you don't cut the ear

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[Dennis]

Somewhere there's a video showing how to make identical ones by doubling up the wire at its centre, making the hooks as one, and then cutting them apart. Dennis.

[china]

I Have made these many times, once you have made the main wire leaving space for the spiral just wind the ( annealed ) spiral on tightly, make sure the ends are smooths and round, it really takes no time at all. I have never had any issues,
They are soft and will not unwind, as there is very little forces acting on them during wear that would cause them to come adrift.
Once they are wound and in place grab your chain nose pliers and roll the ends in direction of the spiral this rolls the little end over.

[mizgeorge]

I have a reel if very thin wire, and have tried doing this but the results were not to my satisfaction.
So I would recommend these ear hooks from Cookson below with the front very thin and elegant.

There are also alternatives at Rashbel https://www.bellorerashbel.co.uk/product/search?search=silver+ear+wires

Now that shows that you don't wear earrings Dennis. The moment you have a heavily forged area on the wire like that, you risk it travelling up into the piercing, where it cuts and irritates. Horrid. Like earwires that are made from too thin (or too thick) wire.

I have to agree, the little bit of silver gimp just makes them look cheap. There are much nicer ways to decorate an earwire and I highly recommend playing around with them.

If you don't feel like making them, come and buy some of mine. At least they're properly handmade, and most importantly, not plated like the cheap commercial imports, which are almost invariably 999 plated over 925 so they don't need to be properly polished. Many wearers who think they can't wear silver earrings have actually had a reaction to the tiny bits of plating flaking off through wear and irritating the piercing.

[pearlescence]

Many wearers who think they can't wear silver earrings have actually had a reaction to the tiny bits of plating flaking off through wear and irritating the piercing.[/QUOTE]
Or they have American manufacture/market findings which don't comply with the EU nickel etc rules.
An ear wire even a tiny bit bigger diameter is excruciating - agree!

[Dennis]

Another illusion shattered.
Luckily most if my earrings are studs, or suspended from studs.
That said, from my limited experience of five family members, I have had no complaints about shape or thickness of ear hooks.
Just one of them prefers wood, which is quite thick, but the least sensitive for her.
Ear lobes are normally quite elastic and forgiving, so sensitivity to the thickness of wires seems to imply that there is unyielding scar tissue, as a result of the piercing. Dennis.

[pearlescence]

I could make some very rude and sexist jokes, Dennis....

[TDA20]

When making ear wires and pins do you go for 0.8mm or slightly thicker? I'm torn between making sure they are comfortable but not looking cheap.

[Sheen]

I'm sensitive to sterling silver, I can wear them for a while then my piercings start to weep, then I do too :'( Argentium has solved the problem for me, that's what i wear most of the time and this year i even managed to get several jewellers to make me argentium ear wires for their designs; which has been so appreciated :)

[Sheen]

When making ear wires and pins do you go for 0.8mm or slightly thicker? I'm torn between making sure they are comfortable but not looking cheap.

I usually use 0.8mm, it's the standard thickness. But 0.9mm could probably be used too. 1mm would be too thick for a lot of people.

[Ruedeleglise]

So far only 0.8mm. I have some 0.8mm drilled silver beads 2.5 diameter so will play about with these.


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[CJ57]

Aesthetically I find the coil and bead wires look quite cheap, sorry:/ it’s the sort of wires you see on costume jewellery in High St shops and they are always really thin which doesn’t help. It’s possible to make really interesting wires quite easily for handmade jewellery and if you want standard I’d buy them.
I use .8 or .9 but there was a discussion recently on a professional group on fb and they vehemently said no bigger than .8. I’ve never had complaints from any of my customers about .9 but maybe it’s an age related thing as well

[china]

Times seem to have changed for some reason, I always used .9 wire although the trend now seems to be .8, personally I do not believe 99% of those wearing them could tell the difference

[CJ57]

Times seem to have changed for some reason, I always used .9 wire although the trend now seems to be .8, personally I do not believe 99% of those wearing them could tell the difference
That’s what I feel Bob, .9 is my preference but I’ve been guilt tripped by my peers! Maybe when newly pierced it will be obvious but in relation to the years of wearing some heavy earrings that shouldn’t have gone into piercings I’ve seen some awful lobes that could have taken 1.5 at least!

[TDA20]

Thanks Sheen, Ruedeleglise, Caroline and Bob. I was taught to never user thinner than 0.9mm but have felt pressured by those same FB posts to use 0.8mm. Maybe I'll just use 0.9mm and see if anyone notices... ��.

[mizgeorge]

Times seem to have changed for some reason, I always used .9 wire although the trend now seems to be .8, personally I do not believe 99% of those wearing them could tell the difference

I can tell the difference, and these are in piercings that are forty years old. I'm told that there is a difference depending on how the original piercing was done and where, but I cannot wear anything above 0.8 or below 0.7 comfortably.

My understanding is that 'gun' piercings are the most likely to be sensitive, followed by doctor's surgery/old fashioned jeweller needle ones, with modern hollow needle (piercing studio) ones the most able to tolerate wider gauges - not least because they're pierced wider to start with.

Argentium's great for making wires, but must be properly hardened - it's way too soft without both heat and forging.

[Ruedeleglise]

I pierced my elder daughters ears using a sterilised darning needle and a cork behind the lobe. I had researched the best “stabbing”site and sprayed the lobe with lidocaine a topical anaesthetic. She wore gold keepers for a number of weeks. No probs......35 years ago! Daughter number 2 wouldn’t let me do it!


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[NickD]

Im my opinion the kind of ear wires you're describing can be bought very cheaply and to be honest I think they make hand made earrings look cheap. Bizarrely it takes minutes to make interesting ear wires, much better to play and make something yourself I think.

101% with you there
Nick

[CJ57]

I pierced my elder daughters ears using a sterilised darning needle and a cork behind the lobe. I had researched the best “stabbing”site and sprayed the lobe with lidocaine a topical anaesthetic. She wore gold keepers for a number of weeks. No probs......35 years ago! Daughter number 2 wouldn’t let me do it!


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I don’t have pierced ears but it used to be done a lot like that if you weren’t near a jeweller

[pearlescence]

I can tell the difference, and these are in piercings that are forty years old. I'm told that there is a difference depending on how the original piercing was done and where, but I cannot wear anything above 0.8 or below 0.7 comfortably.

My understanding is that 'gun' piercings are the most likely to be sensitive, followed by doctor's surgery/old fashioned jeweller needle ones, with modern hollow needle (piercing studio) ones the most able to tolerate wider gauges - not least because they're pierced wider to start with.

Argentium's great for making wires, but must be properly hardened - it's way too soft without both heat and forging.
That's interesting, because mine are diameter sensitive and mine are also around 40 years old - gun method. I had some findings which were very elegant, the hook flowed into a sort of lily flower shape but no-one could wear them because the loop had been turned so that 0.93 was at the piercing. It HURT! (I adjusted the loop and all was good btw)