Curved Tube Bead Earrings

o color the copper beads you need a small flame because once the copper warms up it colors very quickly. I use a small butane torch and I warm the beads and lightly brush the flame over the beads. Each time I brush the bead with the flame I remove the heat and just watch the colors develop. The bead will first just darken a little and then start to get bright burnt orange and then a vibrant magenta. I stopped at the magenta. If you keep heating you will also get vivid blues and a beautiful gold. It is fun to experiment with this technique on a scrap piece of copper and this will give you an idea of how quickly the colors change.

Once I have the color I want I stop heating the bead and place it on a thin piece of titanium and melt on a couple of small pieces of wax. The disappointing news when coloring copper is that not all of the amazing vibrant colors can be preserved. The pinks generally fade once the surface is covered with wax or other sealant. You cover the surface of the copper to stop it from oxidizing and turning brown but as you change the reflection of the surface some of the pink gets lost and some of the piercing blues also fade. You can just leave the copper to oxidize but the minute you handle the bead the oil from your fingers covers the bead and you also lose some of the pink. The up side is that the orange color is also fabulous and can be protected. I have the best results in keeping the largest range of colors by melting Carnauba wax directly onto the bead. Once the wax is melted you can reheat the bead and see what colors you get. If you go too far and no longer like the colors you have to just lightly sand the surface back to plain copper and start again. If your bead has a textured surface you'll need to be careful to not sand away the texture. I use the titanium sheet just to the hold the wax so I don't have hot wax running everywhere because once it is liquid is runs freely and is very hot. The wax will smoke so this is best done outside or in a very well ventilated area. I wear a mask when I do this. You can use any wax or sealer to protect your torch colored beads, experiment to see what works for you.

To make the earrings place the round bead on the headpin and then thread the tube bead onto the headpin. You will need to just keep pushing the headpin into the bead and it will bend to the right shape.

Once you have the tube bead pushed fully down onto the round bead make a 90° bend in the wire just above the tube. With round nose pliers make a loop right at the bend in the wire, center the loop over the tube and trim the end right where the wires cross.

To make the ear wires cut the 4" wire in half. Make a small loop at one end of the wire. Wrap the wire around a dowel or mandrel to form the body of the ear wire. Make 2 the same. Attach your ear wires to the loops on the headpins.