These earrings look super complicated and fancy but actually whip up super fast.
Back when I had my jewelry business,I would easily crank out about 15 pairs of these elegant freshwater pearl earrings in an hour during my busy season. (But don’t be alarmed if it takes you more than four minutes. When I first started making these it would take me about 15 minutes a pair.)
(Which, by the way, is faaaaaaaar less time than it takes to actually put this tutorial together. That actually takes me hours — so you’re welcome!)
For the longest time, these were my bread-and-butter jewelry. I always had a stand full of them at my shows and they were always one of my best sellers, if not the best seller. It still makes me smile when I see someone I know wearing a pair of them.
Supplies needed:
Here is what you will need to make these gorgeous earrings. For your convenience, I have included affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.
PRO TIP: I HIGHLY recommend these flat nose pliers for any of my jewelry tutorials. Keep in mind you will need two pairs of these pliers. Yes, they are pricey, but they are WORTH the investment. They are hands down the best jewelry tool I have ever purchased.
- 2 pairs of flat nose pliers
- Round nose pliers
- Flush cutter
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- I’m a huge fan of the Xuron flush cutter
- 1 pair of ear wires
- You can use an earwire with or without the little balls, depends on your preference
- 6 large open jump rings
- I use 7.0 mm inner diameter sterling silver rings
- 6 smaller open jump rings
- I use 4.5 mm inner diameter sterling silver rings
- 2 small open jump rings
- I use 3.5 mm inner diameter sterling silver rings
- 2 small round freshwater pearls
- I recommend about 5-6mm round pearls
- 2 ball head pins
How to make the earrings:
Make four sets of mobius spirals: 2 sets with the 7.0 jump rings and two sets with the 4.5 jump rings.
If you are unsure how to make a mobius spiral, you can sign up for my free video mini-course, Jewelry Making Basics, where I walk you through this (and how to open & close jump rings the right way.)
String one of the freshwater pearls onto the head pin.
By the way, can have I told you how amazing the airbrush tool on PicMonkey is? For whatever reasons my hands look all gross and dried out when I do my photos for these tutorials, but thanks to the magic of PicMonkey they don’t look half bad.
(But I won’t be closing down my business anytime soon to try my hand as a hand model. Har har har.)
Ok, back to the tutorial. Trim off the ends so that there is about 1 cm of pin sticking out above the pearl.
Bend the pin at about a 90-degree angle.
Wrap the hand pin around one nose of the round-nose pliers to form a head pin.
If you’ve never done this, this is one of the numerous skills you’ll learn in my online course, Jewelry Making Fundamentals.
Take one of the 3.5 mm jump rings and loop it through the large spiral and through the head pin you just made.
Carefully add on the smaller mobius spiral, and gently close up the jump ring holding them together until they make a nice click.
Add on the ear wire and adjust the earrings if need be so that the pearl is in the front. Repeat with the other parts and tada — your own elegant freshwater pearl earrings!
Absolutely gorgeous and seriously you are just so talented. Great tutorial, but I am seriously so not good at stuff like this, but wish I was as I would totally try if I could 🙂
Thank you, Janine!
Omg how fabulous are these earrings!?!?! Pearls are my absolute favorite to wear!
Thanks, CourtneyLynne. I adore pearls as well 🙂
Well now we can all be amazing gift givers, thanks to you!
They seem like a timeless look – and I love them personally.
Thank you! I’d like to think they are timeless also 🙂
Wow! These are so pretty! I’m so not skilled enough to make these!
Thanks, Stefanie! I think they look more complicated than they are 😉
15 in an hour? Impressive! I pinned this post so others can find it and make their own earrings…I will fully admit that I am more the buying-jewelry type than the making-jewelry type!
Thank you, Dana! I also do enjoy buying jewelry 😉
WOW! You make it seem effortless, but I know I would make it a marathon. I do have a few mini jewelry makers who I’m sure would love to give this a try. Pinned this for them 🙂
XOXO
http://www.mrsaokaworkinprogress.com
I bet your daughters would have a blast making them!
Ahh I love making jewelry, but have never made freshwater pearl earrings before! Thanks for the tutorial! Bookmarking for future reference!
Hope you enjoy making then, Jennifer!
Ah, darn! These have been on my wishlist for my hubby for a while. Thank you for the tutorial though… maybe I’ll get ambitious and try to make my own pair. <3
Aw, sorry about that! I hope you can make them at least 🙂
Looking forward to trying to make these! What gauge jump rings do you typically use?
Hi, Louise! I typically use 18-guage jump rings. Didn’t realize I had not put that in, will adjust the tutorial. Thanks 🙂
Awesome! Thank you for the quick response!!
Hi- love these earrings but when I tried to make them using your exact jump ring sizes I could not get a pearl to fit inside the 7mm jump rings. I tried making the smallest loop with the head pin (the loop above the pearl) but no matter how small I made it the pearl would not fall inside the three 7mm rings. Any advise??
Oh no, no frustrating! What size pearl are you using? I usually use about a 4-5mm pearl, which should fit inside or on one side of the spiral. Alternatively, you could try using a slightly bigger ring to make the spiral.
What a great design and tutorial – thank you so much! =) What gauge wire do you use for the head pin? I’m still so new to this all and there are so many materials and sizes out there it can make one’s head spin – another reason I’m so thankful for your information here to start out! =)
Thanks, Lana, I’m glad you like it 🙂 I generally use about a 24 gauge headpin. The holes in the pearls are so tiny!
Just beautiful!! I am a jeweler designer that is always seeking new ideas. This one is a keeper. Thank you for sharing your God given talent.
Thank you so much, Terry!
I don’t see how you made the spiral. There is no info telling how to do it.
Hi, Teresa. There’s a link in the tutorial to this tutorial, which shows you how to make the spiral. Hope that helpe!
I was wondering about the sizes you have quoted for the jump rings. I want to order some but see you say your 7mm, 4.5 and 3.5 are all inside diameter, but on the pages to buy the jump rings they are all quoting the outside diameter. I just wanted to make sure you mean inside diameter, right?
Hi Marilyn, that’s a great question! The company that I purchase my rings from gives dimensions by inner diameter, but I see that other sites give outer diameter. In this case, the equivalent is 9mm OD, 6.5mm OD, and 5.5mm OD. Hope that helps!