Statement Earrings Tutorial ~ Ancient Treasures

Hi guys!! It's me, the 13th Feeriee...remember me??

I know, I tend to journey pretty often into my La La Land...but, I do bring a lot of good stuff back with me. 

Oh, I've read somewhere that the 13th Fairy never gets invited to the ball ~ nonsense!! She gets invited all the time, she's just too busy making jewelry.

Anyways, I was wasting time  looking for some inspiration on Pinterest the other day, when I saw these earrings

...pretty awesome, right? So I thought it would be cool to use them as inspiration for my next pair:

...I know, they don't look much like my inspiration pair, lol. There's an explanation. While I do love the clean, abstract shapes of the modern, contemporary jewelry designs, I am in love with that rustic, organic form of rough crystals and the unique, imperfect beauty of handmade elements. So, here I am, trying to blend the opposites...aren't they cute??

 A pair of Ancient Treasures made by a twenty first century time traveler that has decided to live the rest of her life in Ancient Rome...I freaking love them!!! They may look complicated but they're really not...Let me show you how I made them, with pictures. I'm gonna try to keep it simple. Click for bigs, unless you have eagle eyes or super vision or...just click the pictures.

* A sheet of copper, or brass, steel, whatever metal you prefer. I like copper because it's soft and easy to work with...This is a recycled sheet from Mr. Piggy, he always brings me presents like this :)

 1. Draw your shape.

 2. Cut it.

 3. There's the cut shape :)

 4. Draw another one the same.

 5. Cut it. Now you have two similar shapes.

 6. Burn your shapes with a butane torch. If you've never used a torch before, you might want to watch this before you start...or search YouTube, you'll find tons of how to use a torch videos.
 7. Hammer and texture your shapes, time to let all your frustrations out! Not too much though, copper is soft...been there. Great therapy, huh? That's why we, the jewelry artists, are such happy people. :-)
 8. Now you have two textured shapes.
 9. Sand any sharp edges.
10.Punch the holes with your punching tool. 

11. Create the base shape with your pliers. I used my curved chain nose pliers. More about pliers here.
12. The fun part: choose your gems/ beads. Mine are: Amber, Rubies, Peridot, Onyx and handmade glass beads. 

* If you punched six holes, like me, cut six pieces of copper wire, make sure they fit the holes, hammer the ends flat so the beads won't slide off.

How the heck did I forget to add these important pictures to my tut?? Grrr...

13. Arrange your beads on the wires.

14. Wrap some copper to prevent the earrings from moving and to maintain the desired length. Here's another picture so you can see better what I'm talking about...ugh, I forgot to do my nails!

15. And you're almost done! I've finished mine with small wooden beads, handmade copper rings and some recycled leather, for a rustic feel ~ but you can use a single bigger bead, maybe some handmade ceramic elements, some chain....the sky is the limit! :)

 Victoire de Castellane, looove her , says that the mark of true high jewelry is to pay as much attention to the back of the piece as to the front ~ learn from the best, right? 

Here is the back of the pair...yes, I'm happy with it! :)

That's it, my first earrings tute, I hope you'll find it useful. If you have any questions don't be shy, just ask. I love questions. :)

I can't wait to see your Ancient Treasures earrings! :)

I'm going to N. Carolina for two weeks, camping, hiking and hunting for gems! See you soon! :)

Stay inspired! xoxo

Laura :)