O-Ring, Crystal, and Wire Earrings

When was the last time you shopped in a hardware store for your jewelry components? (It's been a couple of months for me, personally.)

This week's featured project from the editors of Step by Step Wire Jewelry uses three sizes of purple rubber rings. Have you ever used these in your designs? Rubber o-rings come in different sizes and colors. They are also very inexpensive--the packages I've seen cost a couple of dollars for hundreds of o-rings. The ones in the featured product are latex-free rubber, but the material may vary. You can find them at hardware stores (usually in industrial black), as well as bead suppliers. Check chain maille specialty places, since these rings give a unique twist to traditional chain maille.

Need more inspiration?

• The Sleepless Beader featured an o-ring as the center of a brick-stitch pendant. (Photo at right.)
• Amy Pfaffman combined o-rings and pearls in a number of designs.
• Sara Reading created a masculine chain maille bracelet using o-rings. (Photo is second to last on the page.)
• NoDuplicates used o-rings as spacers in a bright necklace design.

"The first thing I do when I am working with wire is polish it; I learned this early in my wire work training from Lynne Merchant. This ensures that the finished piece is polished and you don't have to get into lots of little spaces to polish it. The last thing I do with my wire work is wash it to take off any remaining polish. I use dishwashing liquid to cut any wax or oils used in the polish, scrub gently with a toothbrush, rinse in very hot water, and lay out to dry on a piece of paper towel. (Be sure the other materials you have used in your work will tolerate washing)."--Melanie Schow

Michelle Mach is the editor of Beading Daily. Can anyone guess what I might have bought on my last hardware/jewelry shopping trip?