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Zen Spiral Hoop Earrings Tutorial

by Rena Klingenberg – © 2003-Present Rena Klingenberg. All Rights Reserved

This easy wire hoop earrings tutorial adds a graceful inner spiral that brings extra style and interest to the design.

These earrings are super light-weight and comfortable to wear.

They’re also quick to make – and if you’re making them to sell, you can whip up several of them in a short period of time.

Supplies:

Two 6″ (15.24 cm) pieces of 18-gauge round soft wire (I used copper).

Wire-cutter.

Round nose pliers.

Flat-nose or chain-nose pliers.

Ring mandrel, pill bottle, dowel, PVC pipe section, or other cylindrical item that’s about 1″ (2.54 cm) in diameter.

Two jump rings.

Two earwires.

OPTIONAL: Nylon or rawhide hammer and jewelry steel block for flattening and hammering-hardening your finished earrings.

How to Make the
Zen Spiral Hoop Earrings:

(1) Cut two 6″ (15.24 cm) pieces of 18-gauge round soft wire:

(2) Wrap each wire around the fat end of your ring mandrel (or pill bottle, etc.). The two wire ends will probably be just short of making two full wraps around the mandrel:

(3) Now your two wires should look like this:

(4) Pick up one of your newly coiled wires, and with the thin tip of your round-nose pliers grasp one end of the wire. Start curving it into the beginning of a smooth spiral inside the hoop:

(5) Move your pliers along the wire slightly, and use a slightly fatter part of your round-nose tips to keep curving your wire into an open spiral.

(For more help with this part, you can also watch my 3-minute video on How to Make an Open Wire Spiral.)

(6) Keep moving your pliers along the wire and using fatter and fatter parts of your round-nose tips to continue the open spiral, until your wire looks like this:

(7) Now use the fattest part of your round-nose pliers to grasp the other end of your wire. Start curling the wire end into a loop:

(8) Keep curling the wire around until you have a double loop around one jaw of your pliers:

(9) Repeat Steps 4 through 8 on your other wire. Now your wires should look like this:

(10) OPTIONAL: Use your jewelry steel block and nylon / rawhide hammer to flatten and hammer-harden your newly shaped earrings:

(11) Attach a jump ring to the double loop at the top of each earring. Then attach an earwire to each jump ring:

Enjoy your lovely Zen Spiral earrings!

Ideas for Variations:

• Use a tumbler instead of the hammer and jewelry steel block to harden the Zen spiral hoops.
• Oxidize your hoops instead of leaving them shiny.
• Color your hoops with a patina.
• Add one or more bead dangles to the hoops.