Every month, Sarajo Wentling hosts the Honey do list challenge where her husband Eric gives her an inspiration picture to work with. For October he has picked the Hops Astronomical Clock in Zatec in the Czech republic which is replete with imagery. Three things caught my eye in the picture. The Striking gold colour was the first; the Skeleton and the Gemini sign on the clock were the other two. So I decided to put them together and create twin skeletons with a gold accent. Thus was born the idea of my Skull and chain tassel earrings.
Skeleton and tassel earring..huh?
Okay, I know what you are thinking. Skeletons have legs, duh! But that is just the western context. However, If you like me have grown up taking a one eye closed, one eye open peek at Vittalachariyar movies like Jaganmohini and C grade Indian ghost movies a your friend’s houses when their parents are not at home you would know that some ghosts do not have legs. Even skeletons don’t. That is what makes them scary. Booh!!
Skull and chain tassel earrings – Tutorial
Materials
Brass Micro Pave Cubic Zirconia Beads, Skull, Real Gold Plated, 11×9.5x9mm – 2
Unwelded Iron Curb Chains, 3x2x0.6mm, Black
Copper flower bead cap/tassel cap – 2
Black artisan wire – 20g
Tools – round/stepped nose pliers, wire cutters, scale or measuring tape
Method
Decide how thick you want your tassel to be. Fuller, thicker tassel like this one means that the earrings would be heavy. To make them lightweight simply reduce the number of chains used. The Black chain and the skulls can be bought at Cobeads.
- Cut a 7 cm length of black wire and using your step nose pliers, make a loop at one end, leaving a tail long enough to make 3-4 wraps.
- Cut the black chain into 20 pieces measuring 15 cm. Divide them into two sets – one for each earring of the pair
- String the center of the chain pieces into the wire (loop). One the 10 pieces are in, wrap it shut.
- Add a copper flower bead cap and a skull bead and loop
5. Cut the bottom edge of the tassel. I chose to add my chain and then cut the bottom edge for I wanted a more fuller (uneven) tassel. If you want all of them to line up like a blunt cut, measure and cut the exact length before. Also, like I mentioned before my tassel is heavy, if you want it lightweight use lesser lengths of chain.
6. At this point add earhooks to complete the earrings. I made my hooks using Artistic wire. It is a good idea to always give a little bend at the end (as shown in the second hook) so that the earring stays put in your ear without a stopper.
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