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Umber Pheasant Feather Earrings Melody MacDuffee
Materials Notions
14 pheasant or other feathers measuring 1" to 1 ⁄4" in slightly
1
Round-nose pliers
graduated lengths Flat-nose pliers
18 smoke 3mm round fire-polished beads Wire cutters
28 topaz round 4mm round fire-polished beads G-S Hypo-Tube Cement
16 metallic brown 4mm button-shaped fire-polished beads
30 copper 4mm daisy spacers
31⁄2" of 22-gauge sterling silver wire Te c h n i q u e s
2’ of 26-gauge sterling silver wire Wire loops, stringing
2 sterling silver 4-6mm soldered jump rings
1 pair of sterling silver ear posts Finished Size
G-S Hypo Tube Cement 21⁄2"
Step 1: Sort the feathers into two sets of seven feathers. The Step 7: Cut the piece of 22-gauge wire in half. Use round-
center feather of each set should be the longest, and the nose pliers to curl one end of each piece up to form a
three feathers on each side of it should symmetrically simple loop. String the head pins on the crossbar with
decrease in size. 3mm smoke beads between them so that the feathers
Step 2: Cut 1" of 26-gauge wire. Make a modified head pin form a V. Form a loop at the other end of the wire, trim-
by using the flat-nose pliers to bend one end of ming off any unnecessary length.
the wire into a U-shape just wide enough to hold Step 8: Cut 2" of 26-gauge wire and wire-
a 4mm bead (the heads of traditional head pins wrap a loop at one end. String 1 brown,
will bend the shafts of the feathers and they won’t 1 spacer, 1 topaz, 1 spacer, and 1 smoke.
hang straight). String 1 topaz. Dab glue on the Attach to a jump ring with another
shaft of a short feather and pass into the bead at wire-wrapped loop. Repeat once using
the end of the head pin (Figure 1). Repeat for the same jump ring. Attach each end to
three more pins and set aside to dry. You may the wire loops of the feathered crossbar,
Figure 1 want to test the strength of the glue bond by tug- using pliers if necessary to close the
ging gently on the feather. loops (Figure 2). Figure 2
Step 3: Make another modified head pin using 1 1⁄4" wire. Step 9: Use a 11⁄4" piece of 26-gauge wire to make another mod-
String 1 topaz, 1 spacer, and 1 brown, and attach a ified head pin. String 1 smoke, 1 spacer, 1 brown, 1 spacer,
feather slightly larger than the one used in Step 2. Repeat and 1 topaz. Form a wrapped loop to attach the head pin
for three more pins and set aside to dry. to the jump ring between the two pins already there.
Step 4: Make another 1 1⁄4" modified head pin. String 1 topaz, Attach the jump ring to the soldered ring on an earring
1 spacer, 1 brown, 1 spacer, and 1 topaz, and attach a post. Repeat to finish the other earring. (
feather slightly larger than the one used in Step 3. Repeat
for three more pins and set aside to dry. Jewelry artist Melody MacDuffee loves finding ways to use nontradi-
Step 5: Using a 11⁄2" modified head pin, string 1 topaz, 1 spacer, tional materials in her pieces. She organizes and teaches classes on
1 brown, 1 spacer, 1 topaz, 1 spacer, and 1 topaz. Repeat a variety of beading techniques in a state-of-the-art bead store in
once and glue the largest feathers into the beads. Mobile, Alabama. She is widely published in both bead and crochet
Step 6: Use round-nose pliers to form wrapped loops at the publications.
top of each of the 14 beaded feather head pins.
www.interweave.com BEADWORK June-July 2004 | ONLINE
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