Earrings #23-24, Opening Bezel Cups

Two more pairs of earrings join the procession today. Lots of earrings are being added to the Month of Earrings challenge on Flicker, now that the April 1 deadline is fast approaching, so go visit for some inspiration!


First, an old pair of textured circles got the standard cabochon on a wire treatment, this time with onyx.


Second, I made another pair of hoops. I wanted some larger hoops, but decided it would work fine to make sort of half hoops. I formed them around a mandrel just like the past hoops, but then bent an end up to change the shape. The wires aren't rounded like before, but shaped closer to regular earwires. They snap into holes at the bottom to keep the hoops in place.


Zoe asked how I got the moonstones to fit into the bezel cups, since they were a bit tight. Luckily, when I looked around for something round to try to open the bezel walls a bit, the end of my larger wire wrap mandrel just happened to be 6 mm, which was what I needed. So I carefully inserted the end into the bezel (trickiest to start), then rocked and wiggled it slightly until the cup was large enough.