A couple weeks ago, I decided to sit down and learn how to do chaimaille. My friend Darlene is a chainmaille artist with an Etsy shop, and I’ve had the privilege of watching her work on some chainmaille projects in person. Watching her work is what sparked my interest in trying chainmaille for myself. It’s a fascinating art that can be challenging, but the results are beautiful. Today, I want to share some basic tips with you and show you how to make a very easy set of earrings. Even beginners can make these in just a few minutes!

Chainmaille 101

How to properly open a jump ring

The first and biggest lesson to learn if you’re new to chainmaille (or jump rings) is that you’re not trying to break out of prison. You want to bend the ring as little as possible and in the directions shown above. If you open your ring horizontally, or perpendicular to the way shown, you’re weakening the metal of your ring. The more metal is bent, the weaker it gets. Keep that in mind on any chainmaille project. You can also check out more chainmaille tips and tricks here.

Easy Chainmaille Earrings

Supplies

2 earwires
6 large jump rings
8 small jump rings
two chainmaille pliers, available here

Directions

Begin by opening all six of your large rings. Grab one large, open ring and place two small rings and an ear wire onto it, as shown. Close the large ring.

Attach another large, open ring to the two small rings.

Holding your project as shown, pinching the first two small rings, add two more small rings to the open ring and close it.

Hook a final large ring onto the last two small rings and close it. One earring down! Repeat the whole process for your second earring.

I want to give a shout out to Chicago’s Blue Buddha Boutique, who provided the supplies and its founder, Rebecca Mojica, who shared her design for this project with us. Tune in Wednesday for more chainmaille goodness!