Shamballa style hoop earrings

In my Millefiori Shamballa Bracelet post, I mentioned that I wanted to make earrings like this. Since then, I've noticed that there aren't really a lot of tutorials like this at all... I haven't seen any at least (so I'm sorry if there are!). So I've decided to make this tutorial.

You can buy earrings like this on the internet. But it's so much nicer to make them :) (Plus it can be cheaper and you don't have to wait as long!) The only problem is, they're VERY heavy... But I suppose that would also be the case if you bought sterling silver genuine Shamballa beaded earrings off the internet.

Anyway, all you need to make these awesome earrings is memory wire (preferably bracelet sized), round nose pliers, wire cutters, Shamballa cord, jump rings and beads. I used left over cord from Shamballa bracelets.

You can enlarge the pictures if they're too small (which they probably will be!)

First you need the 'base' for the hoop earrings. Cut one hoop off of the memory wire and use your pliers to curl one of the ends of the wire inwards, so it makes a hoop shape like on the picture above.

Now for the fun/hard/artistic part - the square knots :)

Click to enlarge!

If you can't read what my writing says, basically what you have to do is thread your cord underneath the wire, bring the right side over the wire and under the cord on the other side. After that, you need to bring the thread on the other side under the wire and over the thread on the side we started with. It should make a sort of upside down pretzel shape, like in my picture. If you don't get it the first time, don't worry and DON'T give up. Once you learn how, it'll be super easy XD

Pull on each side of the thread until it makes this tight knot :)

Now we have to go in the opposite direction. Don't worry, it's loads easier than it sounds :)

Click to enlarge

I think you'll probably be able to understand it from this picture. It's the same, only in the opposite way. So rather than going over the cord, you go under the cord etc. 

Now you have to repeat these knots in the order I taught you them. Keep going until you think it's ready for the beads to go on :) (If your knots are twisting around like mine are, see the tips below. It's nothing to worry  about, it just makes the earrings look a little different)

You can either put all the beads on at once, or one at a time. 

As you can hopefully see in the pictures, I add each bead then tie a square knot. I don't pull too tightly, just enough so it looks like the bead is in a pink cage. If you want, you can add a bead, then make several knots, then add another etc. It would look good :) but I don't have enough cord...

When you come to the point where you don't want to add any more beads, tie several more square knots and cut off the excess cord. I find it's better to leave a tiny bit of cord at the end so you can glue it down and it won't come undone.

I hope you can see what I mean in this picture :)

OK, now we need to make it so we can attach a fish hook :)

use your pliers to curl the other end in to a hoop shape. Now open a jump ring and thread it through both 'hoops'. Close it, and it should look like the picture at the end.

Now all you have to do is add another jump ring and an earring hook.

And now finally... You're done :D Well, after you make one for your other ear, of course lol!

Tips

I'm not exactly sure why the knots tend to twist around when I make them... It seems to look nice to me, but I think most people would make it so it doesn't twist around. As I said, I don't exactly know why it does that, I'll definitely make a post about it if I find out :D

Remember, you can use whatever colours you want :) Try out different colours to find out what combinations  look the best. You can use as much cord as you want, too. You don't have to make it exactly how I made mine...

'Millefiori' Shamballa bracelets

I don't know if anybody's come up with this idea, but I've basically come up with another scrap clay idea :)

I love shamballa bracelets, they're really easy to make, the only problem is that they take a long time to make.

I used a thicker cord than usual because the craft shop only had this cord. But it looks really good, and it's so smooth :D


Another thing is, as I was making the square knots, I noticed they were twisting around. I think this was because the cord was too thick. But it looks really cool, I think XD It makes it look more unique!









The beads

I made the beads out of scrap polymer clay. I put slices from canes I'd already made on them and rolled the beads until they were completely flat. I used quite thick wire to put holes through them. Also, if you make these, remember to make two smaller beads for the end of the cord. Make sure you make them out of the same scrap clay so it all fits together :).

I baked them on gas mark 1 for 15 minutes. It might be better if you bake them on gas mark 1/2 because if you're not careful, the clay will darken. (Lol, why don't they just say what gas mark you need to bake it at on the packet?) I glazed them with Studio by Sculpey glaze this time (You probably won't be able to find it anywhere in the shops because they don't make it any more... Even though it's the BEST glaze ever!)

The pattern

The pattern is very simple once you get used to it, all you need to know is how to make a square knot. I used this website for the pattern at first: http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/the-bead-doctor-tutorial-shamballa-bracelet/ It's a very simple tutorial on how to make the bracelets. When I was first starting out, all on the other websites I found seemed pretty complicated... But this was the one that finally taught me how :D

Another idea I had was to use memory wire to make hoop earrings that have this technique in them. Shamballa bracelet earrings! But it seems some people have already had that idea:

http://rumorsaccessories.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1&products_id=171

Note: I'm only making this post for people to use as inspiration... If you want to make something like this just do it :) Same goes for all of the ideas I put on here, unless I say otherwise.

Idea for Scrap Polymer Clay...

I have a LOT of scrap clay at the moment. I'm not sure why, I try not to waste too much clay because all together, clay can become quite expensive, but recently, I had a pretty cool idea (well I thought it was cool) about what I could do with it. Sorry about the low quality picture, by the way, I don't have a very good camera.

I like the Shamballa style bracelets I see everywhere lately :) But I thought it might be better to make my own, since most of the ones in the shops are made in different countries and I thought it would be fun to make, especially since I have no coordination (lol).

I'd like to make a proper tutorial at some point :) (but first I need a decent camera!) But basically, for the beads, I took a lot of scrap clay and rolled it all together. I cut ten equal parts and rolled each of them in to the shape of the bead. After that I used my thicker wire to push a hole through them, because everything else I tried just made the whole bead go a different shape (I guess that's just part of it being 'Soft' clay!). I also made two smaller beads, for the ends of the cord. I baked the beads all together, after that. I cooked them for about 15 minutes, since they are only very small.

I painted them all using acrylic paints. These paints also have a slight shine, so I didn't have to glaze them (I don't know if this is the case for all brands, but I use Studio by Sculpey - which is bakeable, but it stinks and the fumes really get me!).

I used the thinnest P'leather cord my local craft store sells to make it in to a bracelet. For the knotted part, I found some great tutorials on the internet :) I found this video on Youtube, which is very well made. It doesn't show you how to make a square knot, but it has a link to another video that shows you how. I also found this website, which is quite informational :).

For people who make charms with polymer clay, I also have an idea. If you find your white charms often get dirty and you have to paint them, try making them with scrap clay instead and paint them white. I thought it might be a good thing to try :D.