Lock Back Earrings Jewelry Making Project Pg 04 Made with WigJig Beads, Jewelry Tools, Wire and Supplies

Step 9: Grasp the wire segment that formerly went between pegs 1 and 2 with your chain nose pliers and bend up so that the wire aligns with the bend in the wire made at peg 4R. (Grasp as close to where peg 2 was as possible.) When completed the wire and beads should appear as shown at right.

Step 10: Now grasp the same wire segment with your round nose pliers (between the loop for peg 1 and the bend at peg 2) about 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the bend at peg 2. Bend the loop that went over peg 1 over the round nose pliers toward the bend at peg 2. We need a 1/2 loop here that we will use as the catch for the locking back.

Lock Back Earrings Jewelry Making project step 9 made with WigJig Jewelry Tools, beads and jewelry supplies.
Step 9

Step 11: Cut the excess wire off both ends. Cut off the loop that went over peg 1 to leave a 1/2 loop as catch and cut the wire tail about 3/16" from the bend at peg 4. The earrings shown at right and below are the left earring. The right earring will be a mirror image.

Topaz Crystal Lock Back Earrings Jewelry Making project made with WigJig Jewelry Tools, beads and jewelry supplies.

Step 12: Harden the rounded part of these ear rings by hammering it with a chasing hammer on an anvil. Be certain to only hammer the rounded part of the wire and not the beads.

Step 13: Remove the burs and any imperfections in both ends of the wire with a cup bur or nail file.

Step 14: Repeat the above for the left earrings and you are done with this jewelry making project.

Sapphire Crystal Lock Back Earrings Jewelry Making project made with WigJig Jewelry Tools, beads and jewelry supplies.

This WigJig jewelry making project is provided as part of WigJig University - College of Jewelry Making Designs. We try to provide interesting jewelry projects using beads, jewelry wire and other jewelry supplies. We hope that these pictures will provide you enough information for you to complete this project. Some of the skills and jewelry making techniques have not been discussed here. For beginners, we suggest that you visit our Beginners Start Here pages. These pages discuss the skills necessary for making jewelry in the detail that beginners need. We also suggest that beginners to jewelry making might need to visit the WigJig University College of Jewelry Making Techniques for additional information about some of the skills and techniques shown.

Most, but not all of the jewelry supplies shown here can be purchased in our WigJig store. We try to have a complete selection of jewelry supplies in our store including chain, wire, glass beads, findings, watches, tools, etc.