How to Make a Loop at the Top of a Headpin for Earrings – Step by Step Tutorial

I am excited for the posts I have lined up for the next couple weeks – some fun Halloween designs!  As I was preparing the next tutorial (you’ll see what it is in this post!) I realized that it was a bit long as it spent a lot of detail on a particular part of it – how to create the loop at the top of a headpin.  I learned how from this tutorial, which is great, definitely check it out!  I also wanted to include my own tutorial on this blog so I can continue referring to it in future posts.

The first few times I did this it wasn’t as easy as it looked.  So if your first ones don’t turn out picture perfect, keep trying.  You’ll soon get the hang of it!  You can see one of my first attempts in this tutorial here for the paper disc and stone earrings.

So here it goes!

The three tools you’ll be needing are:

chain nose pliers (to bend and hold the headpin)

round nose pliers (to wrap the headpin around to make a nice circle)

wire cutter (to cut the excess headpin length off)

For this pair of earrings (yes, those are witch hats, aren’t they cute??  Stay tuned for the tutorial coming in a few days!) I have the two hats, two headpins, two small jump rings (3mm inner diameter I believe) and two ear wires.  Start by inserting the headpin through your quilled piece.  This works great for paper discs, semi circle earrings (like these jhumka earrings) and other fun designs.  Your center hole needs to be small enough that the headpin won’t go right through.  If it is not small enough you could also use an eyepin which has a bigger end and will stay in for sure.

Your next step is to bend the headpin.  For most designs you will actually want to bend it exactly at the top of your piece (as I did with these paper disc and stone earrings).  And you could definitely do that here.  But I thought it’d be fun to have the witch hats hanging down a bit, so I bent it about 1cm away from the top of the witch hat.  I used chain nose pliers to do this.  Then switch to round nose pliers.  Hold the round nose pliers just at the bend.  Use your fingers or the chain nose pliers to wrap the extra length of wire around the the round nose pliers.

Here you see the wire has been wrapped around.  It doesn’t look too pretty at the moment, but that is okay.  The important curve is there.  Use your wire cutter to cut the excess wire where the curve meets the base.  If you cut it at the right place you will have a little space between the start and the end of the curve, but that is okay, you’ll be adjusting that.

You can see here where I cut the wire.  I actually could have cut it a tiny bit shorter and it still would have worked.  It is now a lopsided top loop, so time to adjust!  Grab the chain nose pliers again and hold the entire top loop.  Pull it towards the side that you cut to make it stand up straight.  If you find that there is too much wire length to do this nicely, snip another TINY bit off.  You should end up with a nice even circle as shown in the third photo here.

You’re done!

Now you can attach a small jump ring and your ear wire and you are finished.

I hope this was helpful.  If you have any questions or comments, let me know!  Stick around, there is plenty more to find here on the blog:

Click here to view more free paper quilling tutorials!

Click here to view paper quilling tips and tricks!

Click here to view a list of places to buy quilling supplies around the world!

Click here to view some of my own quilling projects, with tips so you can make your own if you’d like!

*All products and supplies mentioned in this post I purchased and/or made on my own.

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