We’re constantly buying strands of gemstone chip beads at craft stores and bead shows. They’re so pretty and often inexpensive! Bringing chip beads into a design not only adds texture and interest, it also adds a touch of natural beauty. Nice to mix in with metal findings and shiny pearls! We’ll show you one way to use gemstone chips: stacked!

Here’s a video we made showing how to put these earrings together. Follow along to make your own Gemstone Chip Earrings.

How To Make Gemstone Chip Earrings

Materials

30 Gemstone chip beads, kyanite
2 silvery-blue pearls
24-gauge wire, silver-plated
2 headpins, silver-plated
2 earring wires, silver-plated

Tools

Chain-nose pliers
Round-nose pliers
Wire cutters

Steps

1. Cut a piece of 24-gauge wire 4” long. Make a wrapped loop at one end of the wire.

To do this, pinch the wire about 1” from one end with the round-nose pliers and bend the wire 90 degrees towards you.

2. Reposition the pliers to the top of the bend and wrap the wire away from you over the top jaw of the pliers.

Reposition the pliers so the bottom jaw is in the partial loop you just made and finish pulling the wire around to complete the loop.

3. To wrap the loop, hold the loop flat in the pliers and wrap the tail around the stem two times.

Trim the end of the tail with the wire cutters so that the flush side of the cutters is against your project. (This will keep that end of wire from being pointy.)

Use the chain-nose pliers to press the end down if you have a little piece still sticking up.

4. Pour some gemstone chip beads into the palm of your hand. Use the other end of the wire to “fish” chip beads onto the wire. It helps to press the end of the wire into the hole and tip the chip bead onto the wire. Do this until you have about 15 small chip beads on the wire.

5. Make a wrapped loop at the other end of the wire. To do this, grasp the wire just above the beads with the round-nose pliers. Make a 90-degree bend, reposition the pliers to the top of the bend and make a partial loop. Reposition the pliers so the bottom jaw is in the partial loop and pull the wire around the jaw to complete the loop. Wrap the loop by holding the loop across with the pliers and wrapping the tail around the stem two times. Trim the wire. Now you have a chip-bead connector with wrapped loops at either end.

6. Slide a silvery-blue pearl onto one of the headpins.

Make a partial wrapped loop in the headpin wire just above the pearl, but don’t wrap the loop yet!

7. Feed the chip-bead connector onto the open headpin loop.

Then wrap that loop.

And trim the wire.

8. Feed the loop at the other end of the connector onto an earring wire. Press the earring wire closed with pliers.

9. Repeat to make a second earring.

These are fun to make with all kinds of gemstone chips! Do you like to use gemstone chips? What have you made with them We’d love to hear from you!
Jennifer & Kitty