Thinking at 90 Degrees

I bet you have seen earring findings like this a million times. Or some variation there of.

Oh yeah, you think - I could do a bunch of dangles, maybe different lengths, maybe the longest in the middle or at the back.

But has it occurred to use them like the sample below? Not dangling beads from them but wiring between them?

(The one shown to the left has a lot more loops, closer together. Looks like the 5 loop version is out of stock. But you know, with a pair of flush cutters, you can cut out every other loop!)





You don't have to just hang things from loops, you can use them as a support to wire on beads!
Like this!


Secure your wire to a loop, add a bead, and ...

wire into the next loop, etc.


To add a bead in the centre, feed the wire back through the beads to the centre, add the bead and twist the wire,
Or perhaps try adding some more beads like this?

The point being - the findings - the ear wires and pendant bails and headpins and clasps and stuff are a starting point for your own creativity. Don't fall into the trap of thinking - oh, I can't use this like that, that's not what it is meant for. Heck, some of the best uses for tools I've ever seen have been uses that have nothing to do with their original purpose and were thought of by someone who had no idea what the tool was supposed to do in the first place!

Other thoughts outside the box:

• need a short piece of wire and nothing is handy? Cut the end off a headpin or eyepin
• looking for a decorative bail or ring to hang a pendant, how about the ring end of a toggle clasp.
• out of earwires? Bend your own from wire.
• Got wire? You can make just about everything, from jumprings to hook and eye clasps
• Need a needle for threading small hole beads? Make your own! (Instructions here).

Remember - there is NO BEAD POLICE to come and take you away for doing it wrong!

And Necessity is the Mother of Invention. And Creativity!