The Saga of the Bajoran Earrings, pt. 2

Making this type of earring with an ear cuff blank would be super-easier than doing a wire-wrap ear cuff, although less beautiful. This afternoon, I need to head out and get some more bead wire so I will see if they have any ear cuff blanks at the craft store. From my online research, I've seen ear cuff blanks at $6-10 each, which kind of expensive. So I really want to be able to make the wire wrap cuffs. I did some searching for tutorials. 

Wire wraps are not my greatest skill; however I've been wanting to improve. For Christmas this past year I asked my mom to get me these metal "needle" files of various shapes and diameters that are good to work with wire wraps. You can do the actual wrap on the end of the needle. And then you can file down the tiny edges with the filing part.. I had previously been using the end of a pair of chain nose pliers, and filing with a cheap emory board which is kind of a pain.

So here's a picture of my first wire wrap cuff, done using this tutorial. Either this author's first language was not English, or they didn't proofread before they saved the tutorial, because there are certain key words missing. Like prepositions. Words that describe objection relations --with, around, under, through --very important to include! Anyway, I sort of guessed what was going on and I attribute the shoddiness of this work to the fact that it was my first attempt, not their spotty directions.

The little part that's shaped like a U is the part that bends around the back of the ear. Here's another shot so you can see the U-part better.

Finally --okay,  my font and alignment have changed after I added the second photo, WTF blogger? Anyway, there it is. You can see it's not entirely symmetrical. Oops. Finally, here is a shot that shows the cuff actually on my ear. Unlike the proper Bajoran earrings, which are supposed to be worn on the right, mine will be worn on the left. I have an asymmetrical haircut. It's kind of like a pixie on the left and a chin-length bob on the right. So if I'm going to be showing off fancy earrings, the naked ear is a better choice :) 

Whoa, font and alignment have reverted back to the original. Yeah! Am I gonna bother to fix the middle one? No. Cos I'm impatient, that's why. As you can see, the cuff is pretty far down on my lobe. The bottom scroll is where I would be attaching the jump ring / chain to connect the earring that goes to the actual pierced part of my ear. IMO, that cuff should be up way further. What happened was that I got the proportions wrong. The scrolls are too wide and the U is too short to properly wrap around the back of my ear. And I have tiny lobes. 

If you want to imagine something semi-humorous, remember that I have no peripheral vision. Imagine me trying to get this stupid shot of the cuff on my ear w/o being able to see where the camera is in relation to my head. It took about seven tries. Stina, if you are reading this, this moment of disability humor is for you. 

Annnnyway, back to the beading board. 

Urgh. Except this is about the moment where my fibro says... you need a break. Don't you feel sleepy? You could just clooooose your eyes for a few minutes.

[Btw, I persist including all these details about the vision and the fibro because I want you to know what my life is genuinely like. That's part of the mission of this blog, I have determined. So if you're sick of reading fibro fibro fibro every other post... too bad.]

So I may go upstairs and try to do another wire cuff, or I may have a nap and go to the craft store instead. The sad thing is, that cuff only took me about 5-10 minutes. Then about fifteen to take pix and blog it, and I'm tired already. Fuck.