Easy Guitar Pick Earrings

Here in the Live Music Capital of the World, guitar picks are pretty easy to come by.  But they're not just for strumming guitars!  They can easily be turned into earrings, and the possibilities for transforming them are endless!

The first step is to find some guitar picks that really catch your eye.  Any music or guitar store will have them, and they'll most likely be standard looking picks (colored with a Fender label).  The ones shown in the picture are decorative picks from Austin's own Wild About Music, located on E. 6th Street.

Next you need to put a hole in the pick.  Guitar picks come in different thicknesses.  If you get a thin or extra thin pick, you can probably poke a hole in it with a bead reamer.  Personally, I like the weight of medium to thick guitar picks. They still make very light earrings, but I think they have a nicer swing.  It's entirely up to you!


If you go with a medium or thicker pick, you'll want to use an electric drill with a very small bit.  Probably no larger than 1/16. Remember to protect your eyes when drilling.  Safety first!

Mark each pick with a Sharpie where you want to drill.  The placement of the hole should be close to the top.  If you drill too far towards the center of the pick, you'll have a much harder time attaching your pick to anything.

Once you've marked the spot to drill, you should secure your pick to your drilling surface.  Don't try to hold it with your hand!  Fingers should keep a safe distance from power tools.

Also, keep in mind that when you drill through the pick, you'll also drill through whatever is directly below your pick.  Get a stack of old magazines, and use a hand clamp like the one shown in the picture to hold the pick steady on your drilling surface.

I used an old edition of Vogue, and I positioned it on a table with a ledge so that I could clamp the pick, the magazine, and the table together all at once. Position the drill directly over the hole you marked, and gently press through the pick. You should get a pretty clean hole, but check the back side for any rough edges that might require filing.

Now that the hard part is over, it's time to let your creativity run wild!  You can use jump rings to attach chain for added dangle, or go simple and hang them directly from an earwire.  You could even drill a hole in the bottom of the pick to dangle beads!  Guitar picks are pretty inexpensive, so you can try lots of different looks!

Bottle Cap Earrings

We're hoping everyone had a fun New Year's while kicking off 2012! And just in case your New Year's involved the requisite imbibing of holiday hooch, here's a fun little project for any leftover bottle caps you may have acquired! Here's what you'll need:

• A pair of matching bottle caps
• Beads (optional)
• Earwires
• Europunch tool
• Round-nose pliers (for making loops if you're adding beads)
• Needle-nose pliers (for wiring the beads if you're adding any)
• Cutters (for cutting wire if you're adding beads)
• Wire
• Jump rings

Let's start with the bottle caps. Find two matching ones (and if you have to down another bottle to do so, well, so be it!) You'll need a Europunch tool for this part -- don't worry, we have plenty at the store! It's what you use to punch holes through the bottle cap.

Line up your punch tool in the side of the cap, so that the logo will be right side up. Then, simply squeeze the handle together and punch right through that cap!

Then slide a jump ring through the hole and close it up. At this point, you could either slide another jump ring through the first and attach the bottle caps to earwires for a simple, no-frills set of bottle cap earrings, or you can find some complementary beads and stick them on eyepins or headpins (or wire) to augment your earrings.



I decided to add beads, to give my earrings a slightly more finished look. I used some red Chinese crystal rondelles for the top, and little red stars to dangle below -- seemed perfect for these "Lone Star" earrings! Then stick some earwires on and you're good to go!

Here's another pair, featuring Shiner's special Oktoberfest brew, along with some autumn-colored beads (brown Chinese crystals and tan glass pearls). I used bronze wire for a complementary look.

There's no limit to these neat little accessories -- make some for your friends!

Happy beading, and Happy New Year!

-Astra

Halloween Inspiration: Skeleton Earrings!

With Halloween less than two weeks away, here's a little inspiration for you: skeleton earrings! We've got oodles of various skull beads at the store, and for these little guys, I used a pair of white bone skull beads, along with an assortment of other bone beads for the body parts. The rest was just wire and simple loops. Here's a quick breakdown of the supplies:

• 2 bone skull beads
• 8 cylindrical bone beads
• 2 textured bone beads (ribcage)
• 8 flat disc bone beads (on either side of head & ribcage)
• 20G wire
• pair of ear-wires

And that's it! They're sure to be eye-catching adornments for Halloween parties, or just wear 'em to the office if you don't plan to dress up. Of course, dressing up is a lot more FUN! And remember, if you come to the store in costume on Halloween Day (Monday, October 31), we'll give you a 20% discount off your purchase!

Happy Halloween!

-Astra

New Class Schedule!

In case you haven't heard it via e-mail or Facebook yet, our new class schedule for the months of November, December, and January is now online! You can check it out on our website: www.nomadicnotions.com. Class sign-ups begin on Saturday, October 15, so be sure to either drop by the store, or give us a call at 512-454-0001. Our teachers have been hard at work, and have lots of new goodies in store for you!

$10 Earring Class!

Just to make sure we're covering all the bases, I'll post here as well: Nomadic Notions has partnered with Groupon to offer our popular "Let's Make Earrings" class at half the regular price: only $10 for a $20 class!

Here's the specific link for the deal, which will only last 48 hours: http://www.groupon.com/deals/nomadic-notions-austin?c=dnb&p=6

Don't miss out on this chance to start your new beading addiction!

Precious Pinwheel Tutorial

Here's a quick little project if you're looking for something simple. You'll need to know how to make a basic loop, and how to open jump rings -- that's it! You will also need the following materials:

• 1 large base-metal ring (34mm, or 1.5” in diameter -- we sell them at the store)
• 9 6mm bicone beads (preferably Swarovski crystals)
• 2 6mm 18G jump rings
• 9 4mm 18G jump rings
• 2 pairs of bent-nose OR needle-nose pliers (flat on the inside) (Bent-nose are preferable for gripping jump rings)
• 1 pair of cutters
• 1 round-nose plier (cone-shaped arms)
• Ear-wire, chain, bail, etc – depending on whether you're making earrings or a pendant (double the quantities if you're making earrings)

Using these materials, and following the step-by-step instructions in the 4-page handout (available to read/download by clicking here), you can make this:

Have fun!

Weekly Inspiration: Lapis & Copper Pyramid Earrings

I've seen this project in various wire books, and it's pretty simple to do -- the addition of the little semi-precious chips was my own idea. You'll need to know how to make a basic loop with wire to do this project, and it helps if you've used a jig before. You will need:

20 gauge copper wire (we're having a sale of the ColourCraft wire at the store: 30% off!)
Semi-precious chip beads (I used lapis lazuli for these)
22 gauge copper wire (for the chips)
Ear-wires
Round-nose pliers (for making loops)
Needle-nose pliers (for everything else)
Cutters (for cutting wire)
Jig (optional)

You can do the wire loop-de-loos freehand, which is a little more challenging, or with a jig (we sell them for $20 -- 20% off with a class discount!). With the jig, you'll just line up a series of pegs in a row and loop your 20G wire around them. How many is up to you: on this example, the bottom row had 7 loops, and they ended up being about 3.75" long (real shoulder-dusters!).

I then prepared a bunch of little lapis chips, using 22G wire this time (slightly thinner to fit through the holes on the chips). I just made basic loops so it was easy to attach them to the loop-de-loos.

Once you've got your 2 sets of loop-de-loos, complete with dangling lapis chips, you'll just make little figure-8s (again, with the 20G wire) to connect them. Mine got a little bigger toward the bottom of the pyramid, to accommodate the lapis chips (see the side-view, below).

Then just attach ear-wires to the top, and voila! You have exotic, dangly, pyramid-style earrings, fit for an Egyptian queen!

Let's Make Clasps!

Here's a new blog of the week: how to make clasps! That's right, using 20G wire (or thicker) you can make your own shepherd's hook clasp, and save money on store-bought findings! I've included a link to a .PDF at the end which you can print out -- it will show you 2 more clasp-patterns.

First, you want to start with some 20G (or thicker) wire -- cut about 6 inches. It's best to work-harden it first -- you do this by beating on the wire with a rawhide mallet. This will help stiffen the wire so it's less likely to bend out of shape. The rawhide mallet is soft enough, however, that it won't bend the wire out of shape (although it may leave occasional scuff-marks on craft wire, which is copper wire with a color coating -- the softest of wires). Sterling silver and gold-filled wire, however, should be tough enough to withstand any scuffing.


Once your wire is work-hardened, you'll want to grasp the very tip with your round-nose pliers -- so much so that you should not be able to feel the wire if you run your thumb across the arms of the pliers.






Gripping your pliers firmly, make a small loop at the end of the wire by rolling your pliers over, until the tip of the wire touches the stem of the wire. The end result is a small loop -- as small as you can make it, like the image below:



Once you have your teeny-tiny loop, you'll want to use the round-nose pliers to grip the wire below that loop (just barely -- too far below and your clasp won't be very effective), with the loop facing the opposite direction of where you're going to make this second bend.





Gripping firmly, again, roll your pliers over, but not all the way -- you're just putting another curve in your wire, to create a shepherd's hook. When you remove your round-nose pliers, the end result should look something like this:


Cut off the excess wire (as shown in the image above -- remember to always have the "flat" side of your cutters facing your work, to result in a nice, flush, even cut), though you'll want to leave enough room to make another loop.

Then, once again, you're going to grip the bottom end of the clasp, a the very very tip of the wire, just like you did at the beginning. You'll want this loop to face the opposite direction of the hook; in other words, if the hook is facing right, you want this little loop at the bottom to face left.





Gripping firmly with your pliers, again, roll them over, holding tightly to the tip of the wire, until the wires touch. You have just created your final loop, and the end result should look something like the image below:


You can squeeze the opening of the hook together to make the clasp more secure, and then all you have to do is pop it on the end of your piece of jewelry; you can use a large jump ring for the other end, or create a figure-8 (the "eye" for your hook-and-eye clasp) -- directions are included in the .PDF we've linked to. The handout also includes 2 other styles of clasps. Just download and print out the tutorial and you can become a clasp-making wizard!

Click here for the .PDF tutorial (you'll need Adobe Reader to view it). Enjoy!

How to Make Jump Rings

We've been doing a number of chain mail classes lately (with a new one coming up this Wednesday, July 27, called Mermaid's Tail Earrings), so we figured we'd add a quickie tutorial on how to make jump rings.

First, you'll want to select your coiling tool, which could be a knitting needle, screwdriver, pen, etc. You can get an idea of how big your jump rings will be by measuring the diameter of your coiling tool with a caliper. I'm opting for a knitting needle about 6mm in diameter, which will result in jump rings about that size (the inner diameter will be about 6mm, while the outer will be slightly bigger).



Select a decent gauge of wire (20G or thicker) and start by coiling your wire around your tool. Try to keep your coils nice and tight. Keep coiling until you have about an inch or so of coiled wire. When you're done, just slide your coil off of your tool (a metal tool works best – the coil slides off more easily than on wood, where it can stick if you've coiled too tightly).




Next, you'll use a pair of flush-cutters to begin snipping your jump rings. You always want to keep the flat side of the flush-cutters facing your work, so you'll need to keep flipping the flush-cutters over as you cut, and snipping off the very tip of your wire from the previous cut.

Notice how the cutters are flipped in the next image? Each time you cut, you'll want to flip your cutters so the flat side is facing the jump ring. This is to make sure the cut ends of the jump ring are as even as possible.





However, you may want to file the ends of your jump rings, as this helps to make sure they're as flush as possible – ideally, you want the ends to fit snugly together. But you've just made your first batch of jump rings!



You can find a full tutorial of this process by downloading this .PDF -- it also includes the sawing technique for cutting jump rings. Enjoy!