We love the color blocking trend so when we came upon an amazing selection of Delica Seed Beads on Etsy, we decided to order some funky colors to play with. For these earrings, we picked a palette of secondary colors, rather than primaries, going with purple, lime, turquoise, and orange. And set each block of color off with a single gold bead. We’ve got the complete how-to for these Color Block Beaded Hoop Earrings below including a video. What do you think of our palette? What colors would you use? Leave us a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!
Here’s a video we made showing how we created the color blocking and added the orange Carnelian briolette. Follow along with us, then use the steps below to make your own.
Video How-To: Color Block Beaded Earrings
How To Make Color Block Beaded Hoop Earrings
Materials
12 Purple Delica seed seads, Size 11/0
12 Gold Delica seed seads, Size 11/0
8 Lime Delica seed seads, Size 11/0
12 Turquoise Delica seed seads, Size 11/0
2 Carnelian briolettes, 5mmx6mm
26-Gauge beading wire, gold
2 Earring hoops, gold, 30mm
2 Earring wires, gold
Tools
Round-nose pliers
Wire cutters
Steps
1. To get started, turn the briolette into a dangle. To do this, cut a 3” piece of the 26-gauge wire. Slide the briolette onto the wire halfway.
2. Gently bend each wire end up over the top of the bead to make a triangle. The wires will crisscross at the top of the briolette.
3. Bend one wire straight up.
4. Grasp the triangle across with the round-nose pliers and pull the other wire end around the neck wire two times.
5. Trim with the wire cutters.
6. Next, make a wrapped loop in the straight wire. To do this, grasp the wire with the round-nose pliers just above the two wraps. Make a 90-degree bend in the wire.
7. Reposition the pliers to the top of the bend. Pull the tail over the top of the pliers to make a partial loop. Reposition the pliers to place the bottom jaw in the partial loop. Pull the tail all the way around making a complete loop.
8. Grasp across the loop with the pliers and pull the tail around two times. Trim the wire.
9. To get started beading the earrings hoops, bend the L-shaped end of the earring wire straight using the chain-nose pliers. This will make it easier to slide on the tiny Delica seed beads.
10. Slide on a gold Delica seed bead. Then add more beads following this pattern: 1 gold + 3 purple + 1 gold + 2 lime + 1 gold + 3 turquoise.
11. Next slide on the briolette dangle you just made.
12. Then slide on more Delica beads in the reverse or mirror pattern: 3 turquoise + 1 gold + 2 lime + 1 gold + 3 purple + 1 gold. The gold seed bead will be the last one.
13. To turn the earring hoop into a closed loop, grasp the straight end with the round-nose pliers out at the end of the wire.
14. Twist or roll the pliers until the end of the wire meets the earring forming a loop.
15. Open the loop on the other end of the earring hoop using the round-nose pliers. Open it like you would open a jump ring or a gate, holding half the loop across with the pliers and pulling the end up toward the ceiling. This way the loop keeps its round shape.
16. Hook the open loop into the other loop. Press the open loop closed.
17. Slide the fish hook earring wire through one of the loops. Then press the fish hook opening closed with the pliers. Repeat to make a second earring.
You could make these earrings in lots of different color combinations. We bought so many colors, we’ll be making more versions for sure! What color combinations would you use? Leave us a comment. We love hearing from you!
Happy Crafting!
Jennifer & Kitty
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