Pearl earrings for a 12mm lobe

Commission brief: simple earrings for bride incorporating family pearls…for a stretched 12mm gauge ear lobe. When I met my lovely lady, Janice, I entered into a new jewellery dimension – jewellery for stretched lobes!

The design had to fit through the 12mm hole and not fall out. They didn’t have to be too light as lobes tolerate heavy weights when being stretched but I wanted Janice to be comfortable on her wedding day, so I designed hollow earrings.

Janice wanted highly polished earrings so making sure I didn’t damage the metal when heating was the highest priority. I soldered tiny hoops to the base for the pearls to be attached to. I created posts to thread through the pearls.

I love how jewellery making is actually engineering.