I recently made a pair of these feathery, dangly earrings as a gift for a graduating student to wear to her prom. I can just see these, with a cute little off the shoulder dress in coordinated colors, swinging and flipping and flying as she dances. Totally glamorous, totally together.

And, these are actually made of scraps of leftover wire and crystals. But if you don't have scraps, you can buy them for the project too!

Skill Level: Intrepid Beginner.

Techniques: Basic stringing, crimping.

• Supplies

• 6 pieces of Softflex™ beading cable, medium, gold-plated
• approx. 100 Swarovski™ 4mm crystals, a mix of rounds and bicones, in a mix of coordinated colors. (These tend to be my leftovers from other projects.) For this project, I have used a mix of:
  • Tanzanite,
  • Violet, and
  • Crystal
  • Crystal AB
• 2 x 6mm Swarovski Round crystals in one of the colors of the color pathway chosen.
• Approx. 100 2x2mm tube crimps, sterling
• 1 pair of gold filled earring wires

Tools

• wire cutters (I use the wire cutters to cut the beading cable)
• chain nose pliers
• crimp pliers (optional)

Let's Begin!

To make the first earring:

Take 3 strands of Softflex, each about 18 inches long, give or take. When I am making necklaces, I tend to cut the cable long, in case I change my mind about how long I am making it, or I make a booboo and have to shorten it. Consequently, I have a lot of lengthy ends left-over. I roll them up and store them in a plastic bag for future use.

Take one strand and fold it in half, and loop it through the loop on the earring wire.

These earrings are quite long - if you don't need quite so much drama in your life, then you will want to adjust the instructions. In that case, take 3 strands of Softflex twice the length of the desired, finished length, plus 1-2 inches. It is easier to cut wire off then to add it on. So if you want earrings to just reach your jawline, then make your pieces of Softflex™ about 8 inches before folding.

To make the loops as small and as neat as possible, without having them accidentally pull out through the crimp bead (necessitating starting over), slide a handy piece of wire through the loops, and use it to prevent the loops from escaping. Snug the crimp bead up to the top as much as possible.

I use the other earring wire of the pair as a handy piece of wire.

Now, separate out one wire from the rest and add a 4mm bead.

Add a crimp bead about where you want the crystal bead to sit, and crush the crimp bead with your chain nose pliers. No need to use the crimp pliers, and leaving the crimp flat adds an additional reflective surface that adds sparkle to the finished product.

Because these crimps are not holding a lot of weight, just one or two beads, they do not need to be "crimped" and will not "fold" well around a single wire, so simply flattening them well with pliers works just fine.

Continue to add beads, 1 or 2 crystals, alternating with crimp beads at random intervals of about 1 - 2 inches. Flatten the crimp beads.

When you get close to the bottom, about 3 inches left, add a single crystal, a crimp, and another crystal.

Double the wire back through the crimp.

This makes a loop at the end, as the end of the wire without this tends to be scratchy and unpleasant to wear.

Now you have one earring finished.

Make other earring the same way — do not worry about matching too much. They will work out to be reasonably similar, and they don't need to be identical.

And there you have it! A very long, very sexy pair of glamorous earrings for a dramatic night out!

Notice how the crimp beads add to the sparkle by reflecting light in their own right.

This pair of earrings was made in the warm sunny Swarovski colors: Hyacinth, Red Topaz, Indian Red, Jonquil.

True Story: I make these about 8 inches long - which is very long and hang down very far - someone called them shoulder dusters, but trust me - that's not what they are dusting.

Why are these earrings like a small portable vacuum cleaner? Well, the vacuum cleaner is a "dust buster." ;-)