Making Tradition French Hook Earwire Tutorial

French Hook Ear Wires

These were the first ear wires I learned how to make in school. They are really easy to make and you can make so many variations that can go with any earring. 

I started out with 20 gauge half hard wire, round pliers, metal snips, and few different shaped objects to bend my ear wires around.

I Started of by cutting a piece of wire about 6 inches long. To make a pair I suggest cutting two wires that are the same length and manipulating both wires at the same time for each step. 

The length will depend on how long you want the ear wire to be and what you are wrapping it around. After a bit of experimentation you will find the perfect length for your wire. After you find a good length it helps to write it down somewhere so you remember for next time. Right now is also a good time to file the end the wire that you are starting out with flat. It just looks cleaner in the end.

With the round pliers make a small loop in one end of the wire. Try to make it connect to the wire as tightly as possible. This is where you will attach it to the earring so it needs to be high and secure.

Reposition the pliers so that one end is in the eye you just made and the other is touching the wire that extends from it . Bend the wire so the eye is centered coming out of the wire like the picture below.

Now you can bend the wire above the eye to prepare to make the loop. This length you go up before the bend will vary depending on how long you want the final ear wire to be. You can start right above the eye if you want a short ear wire or go longer than this example as well. You can also skip this step and go directly to bending the wire further down the wire for a long sleek ear wire like the longer ones pictured in the beginning of this post. 

Here I chose a highlighter to bend the wire around. I like the round look and the bigger hook that it gives me in the end.The goal is to form the wire snuggly around your object so the wire take its shape. I usually hold the wire at the eye or the base of the bend and using a bit of tension from the other hand pull the wire over the object. If it's an angled object I might also use my fingers and press down firmly on any corners to create crisp edges.

Here is what it looks like directly after you bend the wire.

To make it easier to insert into the ear, I take my round pliers and bend the wire out from the loop a slight angle. You don't want to make the bend to tight or it will make it uncomfortable went  you try to thread it through your ear around the bend. You also want to make sure that there is enough room between the end of the wire and the eye end of the wire for people to thread their ear through. If its to close the can't get it on without bending the wire and deforming the loop.

Next I sniped off the remaining wire about 1/4 -1/2 of an inch away from the final bend.  There is no specific length for this, but you want it to be at least as long as the thickness of an average earlobe. Here is what the final ear wire will look like.

The  final step is to file and sand down the end of the wire. Its best to file the wire down flat first and then sand the edges with a fine sand paper (at least 600 grit) to create a smooth slightly rounded end. This is one of the most important steps for making any ear wire. This is the part of the wire that people will feel the most. If it is rough and irritating they might not like wearing the earring no matter how beautiful it might be.

Here are some more examples of the different shapes that can be achieved using basic objects around the house. In school we had different sized dowels that we would use specifically for this purpose, but I like to get creative and use things I have around the house. I encourage you to do the same. Once you have experimented a bit with different objects you will find that you like how some turn out better than others.

Hopefully this was helpful to anybody wanting to make some earners. I would love to see what shapes you create and the beautiful jewelry that you hang from them. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions as well.

Thank you everybody!