The other day I was waiting on my wife and daughter while they were trying on clothes at Kohls. I decided to look at the jewelry for some ideas. This design was among the earrings however, they were made from gold wire and oyster pearls.

Gold and pearls? Don’t have em’. Paper clips and a busted automatic transmission? That I have. These check balls were inside the transmission.

There are plenty more parts left. I think I’ll make a desk lamp with the gears.

Step 1: Shape the Paper Clip

Extend a paper clip leaving the outside smaller bend intact.

Use cone nose pliers to roll a loop at the bend. Make sure when you wrap the loop you use the longer of the two free ends.

That way after the loop is complete the free ends will be the same length.

Bend the free ends towards the center so that it opens the loop as shown in the picture. Next bend the loops back, working the loop apart.

Adjust the loop as necessary so they are parallel to each other.

Step 2: Fit the Ball

Place the ball on a flat surface. I also used a paper clip to help keep the ball from rolling away.

Hold the free ends of the wire form with pliers and force the ball into the form.

Adjust the wires so the fit nicely around the ball.

Step 3: Attache the Backings

The backings I’m using came from the craft store.

Using cone nose pliers, form loops into the free ends. Adjust the wire so that the looped ends overlap each other.

Fit the backing into the loops.

Step 4: Make Adjustments

Because the wire started out bent, you may have to play around with getting the earrings to match each other.

Don’t worry too much about that though.

Unless your wearing both earrings on one ear at the same time, no one will notice a slight difference.