by Judy Markwell These instructions list the supplies and tools you'll need and give you some techniques to help you make your own Cloisonné Heart earrings. My instructions assume you have read the tutorial from last month. If you need some specific information, feel free to go to last month's Charm Bracelet Tutorial. This is a very simple pair of earrings. Actually, when I started with these beads, I had something much fancier in mind, but "fancy" took away from these wonderful beads, so I changed gears and designed these simple but beautiful drop earrings. To start off, lets go over the list of tools you'll need for this project. The tools I recommend are the following: flat-nose pliers wire cutters very fine needle-nose pliers chain-nosed pliers tool magic You may not want to bother with the tool magic on this small project, if you don't already have any. Refer to December's tutorial if you're interested in what all that "blue stuff" is on the tools in the pictures. You may also want to refer to last month's tutorial for information about cutting wire safely, which side of the wire cutters to use, and other general wire-wrapping information. 2-Cloisonné Heart beads in your choice of color 4-6mm round cloisonné beads in matching color 6 gold-tone head pins (plus a few for practice) about 6" of small gold-tone chain (longer if you like really long dangles) 2 gold-tone ear wires (these break easily when bending, you may want extras on hand) or clip on posts Well, now that we've assembled our tools and chosen our supplies, let's make earrings..... Start by cutting the lengths of chain that you'll need. I made the first length about an inch, the second one about 2/3" and the last one about 1/3" long. But you should make the chains for the first earring longer, so you can play with the length to see what you like, then when you make your second earring, you actually count the number of links you used in your first earring, so they'll match exactly. Put your heart bead on a headpin, then grasp the headpin above the heart bead. Use the width of the pliers as a guide for where to make your 90° angle bend in your headpin. I like to use my pliers as a guide so that the wrapping on all six of the beads will be the same length. Now use your needle-nosed pliers to grasp the wire right at the bend, and wrap the wire around the pliers, making the shape shown here. If this is your first time with wire wrapping it will probably take you two or three times to get this right - don't get discouraged. This is the time to put your chain on the wire. Remember - use chain that is a few links longer than you think you'll be using, you'll play with the exact length later. By the way, it's really hard to open and close this size chain, so try to do your wrapping around the chain, not finish your wrapping and then add the chain. After you've added the chain, hold the ring with your needle-nosed pliers as shown. When you're wrapping the heart shaped bead, make sure you get the wire wrapped all the way down into the V part of the heart. When you get past the top of the bead, put the end of the wire right in the V of the heart as shown here. You'll end up spinning the bead as you wrap, but it enables you to get into the bottom of the V. And you may notice that there is no chain in this picture, that's my mistake. Your chain is supposed to be on the wire at this point. This is how the heart bead dangling from chain should look. See how the wire has been cut closely and tucked in? If you haven't done this before, look at last month's tutorial about making a charm bracelet to see the steps in closer detail. Anyway, when you get this bead looking the way you want, repeat this step for the other beads, making sure you use your longest pieces of chain for the heart beads. The round beads are much easier to wrap, because you don't have to deal with the V of the heart. After you've finished all three of the beads, you'll want to play with the length of the chains to get them evenly spaced. Make sure you get a good look at the length of the chains before you cut off the extra. It doesn't work to hold the chains in your fingers to do this - hang them together from something - a handy thing to use is one of the ear wires, as shown (Don't bother putting them where they go at this point). If you're using clip on earrings and don't have the ear wires, use an extra head pin. Notice that on this pair, the center of each of the round beads is even with the top of the wrapped part of the bead that is the next longer one. When you get the earring chains a length you like, cut off the extra chain. When you make the second earring, count the number of links you used on the first earring to get the two earrings exactly the same length. When you're ready to put the wires onto the ear wires, carefully open them by using your chain-nosed pliers, grasp the part of the ear wire that you're going to move, and gently twist it to the side. DON'T pull it open, or it will break (it may break anyway). And only twist it a tiny amount as shown in this picture. The ear wires really do break easily. Before you close the loops, double check that you have the chains on in the right order (ask me how I know to put THAT instruction in here!). Hold the earring up and look at it. The chains should be hanging with the longest ones in back. Once everything is correct, carefully close the ear wire with your chain nosed pliers. You'll probably only get one chance to bend these, so until you're sure of yourself, you'll want to have extra ear wires on hand. Here's the finished product. Aren't these dressy looking little earrings? I really love them, and I like the idea that you can make them whatever length you like. Just remember that you'll need extra chain if you decide to make them much longer than these. I'd love to hear from you. Just click here to let me know if this tutorial was helpful to you, or what you'd like to see here in the future. Also, I'd love to see anything you made using my tutorials.