Tutorial Tuesday: Samunnat Bead Hoops
Tutorial Tuesday is a blog series where I share a do-it-yourself jewelry tutorial on Soft Flex Company’s blog.
I bought a few Samunnat polymer clay beads beads while in Tucson this year. I love the bold, geometric patterns. Have you heard of these beads? Not only are they beautiful they have a beautiful story. Samunnat is a non-profit organization which assists Nepalese women who are affected by domestic violence. Each bead is a gift, and a story of one woman’s life and made by a woman’s hands in Nepal.
With this design, I wanted to create an earring that celebrates the bright, colorful culture of Nepal. This is project is easy, fast and great for a beginning beaders. Only skill required is crimping. For crimping help, please visit Soft Flex Company’s webpage, All about Crimps.
Cut Soft Flex Beading Wire into two 8″ lengths, one for each earring. Place a bead stopper on one end of one of the wire lengths. String crimp tube, alternate seed bead and silver bead until you have 6 seed beads strung, string Samunnat Bead, alternate seed bead and silver bead until you have 6 seed beads strung, string crimp tube.
Carefully remove the bead stopper and loop each wire end around and down through the crimp tube on the opposite side to create the circle shape. Adjust wires until you are happy with circle size and shape. Reattach the bead stopper to the two wires to hold the shape.
Using your crimping pliers, crimp one side of the earring as close to the seed bead as possible. You may use the regular crimping plier or Universal Magical Crimper to secure the crimp. I choose to use the Universal Magical Crimper as it makes a small 2mm bead out of the tube. For regular crimping instructions, click here. For magical crimper instructions, click here.
Repeat crimping on the opposite side. Trim off excess wire as close to the crimp as possible. Attach your ear wire to the beading wire. Repeat steps for the second earring.