Indian kids would have had vastly different childhoods depending on where they lived, the language they spoke or how their parents were. But one thing that would be common would be love for Parle sweets and snacks; Particularly Poppins.
Poppins is a roll of hard-boiled rounded sweet-tangy very colorful sugar candies, with unique fruit flavours. As a kid it would be so thrilling to open a roll to find out which color would be on top and if all the friends/siblings would get their favourite colors. At about Rs.2 a roll, it was something every kid could enjoy enjoy. Not to mention adult who quietly ate from the roll that was stashed by their kids and then scrubbed their tongues clean so as to not get caught.:) Oh what fun!! If you have never seen one, scroll down to the end of this post for a picture.
Recently I had made colorful hoop earrings and worn them to college one day and a colleague who saw them, immediately pointed out excitedly to a group of students saying –“Look she’s wearing poppins” and grinned playfully. Soon people gathered around me trying to look at the colors and basically play with my earrings and I was reminded of a giggling group of kids looking at a roll of poppins for the first time in their lives. And that’s how, my beautiful Ladies, these earrings got their name – Poppins hoop earrings. Here is a DIY tutorial; do check it out.
DIY Colorful Poppins Hoop earrings
Materials
– 20g Artistic silver wire
– 24g Artistic silver wire
– 8mm Fire opal beads – 4
– Acrylic/glass crystal faceted rondrels – Green – 4, Pink – 4, Golden yellow – 2
– Tools – Mandrel (ring mandrel or marker), round nose and chain nose pliers, wire cutter, Nylon hammer and block (optional)
Method
1. Make your own wire Hoops or buy a ready made pair. Check below on how to make your own hoop earrings.
2. Cut 2 lengths of 12″ of 24g artistic wire. Since I am more of a wing it type of a person, I dont exactly remember how much wire I used. Do take more wire if you want additional wraps between the beads.
3. Add a golden crystal in the center of one length of wire and wrap once on both sides to the hoop frame. Now let us finish one half of the frame before moving on to the other side.
4. On any one side add a Fire opal wrap once to the frame. By wrap once I mean “one full wrap + another half wrap” i.e. wrap once till it comes back to the starting point, take the wire over the frame, add the next bead and wrap.
5. Repeat step 4 with one pink and one green crystal.
6. Finish with 2-3 wraps as desired. Cut and tuck the wire end.
7. Repeat Steps 4-6 on the other side to finish one earring. Repeat steps 3-6 to complete the pair
How to Make wire Hoops
1. Cut 2 lengths of 4″ of 20g artistic wire (it can be more or less depending on the hoop size that you want) and straighten them
2. On one end made a loop with round nose pliers on each of the wires. Hammer lightly to strengthen the wire
3.Wrap the wire around a cylindrical object like a ring mandrel and insert the remaining wire into the loop. For cylindrical object that dont have markings, make a marking with a marker to make sure that both the hoops are of the same size.
4. Hammer once again all around the hoop to work harden the piece preferably while on the mandrel. I dont recommend hammering the portion where the wire with turn through the loop.
5. Turn the remaining wire at a 45 -60 degree angle so that it acts as a catch while wearing the hoops. Flush cut and file the ends. Your Wire hoops are now ready to be worn.
If you wish you can wear the hoops as is without adding any beads to them or you can wire wrap the entire frame if you want something more ornate. I wanted a pair that would capture the fun of Poppins and hence I have kept it light and open. So pop in a poppin(s) and take in all that tangy goodness and flaunt these newly made hoop earrings.
Via: Parle Products |
Disclosure: These gorgeous fire opals were sent to me for a review from Craftyful
I hope you found it interesting
Cheers
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