We're All Ears Chandelier Earrings Challenge

I have to admit that I completely forgot about the Earrings Everyday We're All Ears Challenge for February until I started spotting the reveals in my feed. Oops! I remember seeing the initial post about the chandelier inspiration. And, I was totally inspired by the chandeliers. I just let it slip my mind. 

I also have to admit that I didn't take the Hudson Valley style quiz until after I completed my design. Oh well. I ended up with Chic Vintage & Industrial as my style type. That sounds about right.

As for making chandelier-inspired earrings; I've long made "chandelier earrings". And, I definitely associate chandeliers with jewelry as I do collect and sometimes even incorporate their crystals into my designs. But, I wanted to go even more literal than that. I wanted to make earrings that LOOK like chandeliers.

Initially, I wanted to make them a little more 3D with four of the arms coming off it. I worked and fiddled and banged and wire-wrapped, but just could not get the result I was after. So, I went with a more flat design but with the same hook idea. 

I started with the thickest gauge copper wire I had on hand (16g), formed the little side loops, created the larger curve, hammered the long pieces flat (so they would fit back to back without much slipping), and wrapped them together with 24g copper wire. Then, I trimmed the tops and curved them in toward each other for a decorative element. 

After that, it was a matter of picking out what bead crystals I wanted to hang from my chandelier. These small briolettes were perfect. (You should have seen the little dance I did across the craft room after finding them.) After that, I aged the copper forms and some additional 24g wire with Novican Black to take away the super shine of the hardware store copper wire. The extra wire was used to wrap the crystals onto the chandelier. 

The pictures don't really do the earrings justice. They look more like chandeliers in person. I'm absolutely smitten with these! Thank you so much, Erin for the challenge. Your chandelier inspiration totally had me motivated to get these done.

Oh, and as for the results of the style quiz...I think these absolutely meet my Chic Vintage & Industrial style!

Hop on over to Earrings Everyday and see how the other designers interpreted this challenge. They're all so unique and different and absolutely beautiful!