Creating Wooden Jewelry. Sarah King

      1 Make sketches until you are happy with the shape then, using a cutting mat, cut out the shape in cardstock with a scalpel. Hold this template up to your ear to check that you are happy with the design.

      2 Draw around your cardstock template onto the ⅜ in (10 mm)-thick piece of wood. twice.

      3 Saw around the shapes using a piercing saw, being sure to keep it vertical.

      4 With a rough file, smooth the outside edges on both pieces.

      5 On each shape, draw a pencil line to mark the middle of your edge.

      6 Draw a pencil line to mark your highest areas on each shape.

      7 Wearing goggles and mask, drill a ¹/₃₂-in (0.8-mm)-diameter hole approximately ³/₁₆ in (5 mm) deep in each piece where the ear wire will go. It is easier to do this now rather than once you have shaped the wood into a point. Make sure that you keep the drill held straight to the wood so the hole is vertical.

      8 Using a large ball burr fitted on a hand-held micromotor, do some basic shaping.

      9 Refine your shaping with the rough wax or wood file. Check how the file works on a scrap piece of wood first.

      10 As you begin to get toward the end of the shaping, hold the pieces in your hand, as the wood can dent if held against a hard surface.

      11 Using wet-and-dry paper wrapped around a file and handheld, sand over the surface.

      12 To make the ear wires, cut the silver wire into two 1½-in (40-mm) lengths, set one cut length of wire on solder bricks, and, using the solder torch and paste, solder a ³/₃₂-in (2.5-mm) silver bead onto the end of the wire. Repeat with the second length.

      13 Clean the ear wires in an acid bath, using brass tongs to insert and remove them (for safety instructions see page).

      14 Rub the wires with a silver cloth.

      15 Using the parallel pliers, bend each ear wire directly above the bead and then around a round tool—approximately ¼ in (7 mm) round—to form the hooks.

      16 Check the length of the wires in the hole in the wood part of the earring to ensure that the wire is hidden. Shorten if necessary to hide any excess wire, so that the bead sits directly on the top of the wood and any wire inside the wood below the bead is hidden. Glue in place.

      17 Snip off the hook end of the car wires to go through the ear as necessary, using the end cutting pliers.

      18 Smooth the cut end of the silver hook wires using a fine file and a rubber polishing burr.

      19 Polish the ear wires with a micromotor.

      20 Paint the wood pieces with wax varnish mixed with just a small amount of white acrylic paint (to counteract yellowing). Test the color on a scrap first before painting the earring. Hang to dry on a length of cord, or in an earring holder, so that the wood remains untouched while it is drying.

      making ear wires

      • Ear wires are easy to make—your custom-made earrings deserve a handmade fitting rather than an off-the-shelf manufactured one

      • Match your earring finding shape to your project. In the image above, a selection of variations is shown Follow the steps 12–19 in this project to prepare your ear wires, bending them to your chosen shape.