My recently stumbled earwire tutorial has gotten some really interesting comments. One in particular got me thinking. This person mentioned that they wanted to buy some earrings at a Rennaissance Fair but thought they were expensive – but now, with the aid of my tutorial, they will be able to make their own earrings for less money.

So….in the interest of full disclosure, it only seems fair to explain why that is only partly true.

It is definitely cheaper for me to make my own earrings than to buy them from someone else. I have all the tools, and because I make a lot of earrings, I can buy my materials in bulk.

However, if you’ve never made earrings before, it will cost you more than what you’d pay for a pair of already-made earrings to get started. You need tools: pliers, files (or something else to smooth your wire ends), wire cutters, and ideally a rawhide mallet and steel block. You need 20 or 21 gauge wire (and I’ve never seen an inexpensive source for 1 foot of wire – typically you have to buy much more than that). You need some beads or charms or whatever it is you want to use to embellish your earrings. You probably need some head pins, or the tools to make your own head pins.

I think making jewelry is fun and a great way to express your creativity. So for me, investing in basic tools wasn’t a problem – but if you are just wanting to make a few things to save money….well, you don’t really start saving money until you’ve made enough things to equal the amount of money you invested in your tools.

Of course, if you end up *really* liking jewelry making, there are thousands of dollars worth of other tools you’ll need too….but I’ll tell you about those later. For now, get some good pliers and some practice wire, and see if you enjoy making earwires and wrapping beads onto head pins.