Earring wires

[RichL]

Hi All,
A couple of pairs of earrings I've made from Argentium. I have made the wires myself and formed the ball by torch.Do you think the balls are acceptable for hand made jewellery ? or do I need to try and get them a bit better ?
Thanks,
Richard.

[china]

I think the balls would look better "or more conventional" if they were more accurately centered, this just takes practice

[RichL]

Hi China,
Thanks for your reply,by more accurately centered, do you mean less of a 'golf club ' shape ?
Thanks ,
Richard.

[CJ57]

I think it depends on the design of the earring. Sometimes for my more quirky keum boo earrings I leave them like that. As Bob says it’s just a bit of practice on where to put the flame and turning the wire round if it doesn’t want to round off

[RichL]

Thanks Caroline,
Never occurred to me to try turning the wire round , I'll give that a go Thanks.

[CJ57]

Thanks Caroline,
Never occurred to me to try turning the wire round , I'll give that a go Thanks.
If I remember rightly too, once it starts to melt if you move the flame up the wire it seems to ball better, doing it in stages to the size you want. Of course I don’t use Argentium so it may be different. It is just a bit of trial and error

[RichL]

Thanks Caroline,

[mizgeorge]

Actually, I think the balls look OK - it's hard to go wrong balling argentium (unlike sterling, which can end up looking, erm, very 'organic').

IMO it's the loops below them and the construction that's not quite right. The loops below would look better if they were smaller, and I think both designs would really benefit hugely from having a small jump ring between the wire and the dangle - this will make them hang better, give more movement, and look more finished. If you want to keep them facing 'forward' (which actually looks a bit odd on most ears), add an extra ring to change the orientation.

Hope you don't mind a bit of what's definitely meant to be constructive criticism.

[pearlescence]

Can I suggest you don't imitate stuff you could probably buy as cheaply (if you add in your time as a cost) and make something unique? While I may raise a tidal wave of wrath with this, I personally hate that design, to me it shouts 'amateur' maker even though I see them on even high end products. Make the hooks or other method of suspension part of your overall design and not just an afterthought to fix them to the ear lobe.

[Dennis]

Well said Wendy. I was struggling to put that in to words and you've done it. Dennis.

[RichL]

Hi ,
Thanks for your comments, I do take your point about the design of the wires , to be honest they were done as you say more or less as an afterthought just as a way of fixing the to the ear I'll have a rethink !

[mizgeorge]

Wendy - you've made me laugh - you say you 'hate' that design and think it screams amateur, yet you sell an almost identical product (albeit with a rather odd forged and stamped front edge) on your own site...