Bonbon Earrings - Elegant Christmas Ornaments for your Ears

It's a tradition in Australia to have bonbons or crackers at the Christmas dinner table. If you're not familiar with them, they look like an oversize foil-wrapped lolly. You and the person sitting next to you each pull one end until it SNAPS (a bit like a capgun) and then the contents come flying out. They're filled with silly jokes, which we all take turns at reading out, paper crowns which we all wear throughout the meal and small plastic trinkets that we wonder what on earth we'll do with! It's good for a laugh and a nice way to start off the meal.

So how does this little story relate to these earrings? Well, this tutorial is for a pair of bonbon earrings - not of the silly variety that we share at our Christmas dinner table, but an elegant pair of bonbon earrings.

Here's what you'll need:

• 2 20x12mm handblown hollow glass beads in your colour choice
• 4 4mm bicones to match
• 4 17mm gold filigree bead caps
• 4 7*9mm gold filigree basket bead cap
• 2 gold ball head pins
• 2 gold earring wires
• round nose pliers, chain nose pliers, flat nose pliers and flush cutters

 Grip the petals of the basket with the chain nose pliers and gently flare them outwards.

Here's a before and after to give you an idea of how much to flare them. Do this for all the basket bead caps.

String a bicone, a flared bead cap, a filigree bead cap and a handblown bead.

Then string another filigree bead cap, the flared bead cap and another bicone.

Bend the head pin as close to the crystal as you can so that there is no play in the bonbon.  Trim the end and turn a simple loop.

It should be really snug.

Open the loop of the earring wire and attach the bonbon.

Now, make a second earring to match and admire your pretty bonbon earrings.

Pin this Project!

'Til next time.....

If you can't get enough of My Tutorials and you want even more inspiration, click here to find my books and printable pdfs