How it's Made: Moon Phase Earrings

This video shows the process of making the moon phase drop earrings. First, I punch circles out of a sheet of brass. Two of the circles will be full moons in the center and the rest are punched again to create waxing, waning, and crescent moons. 

The metal is cleaned to create an even surface for hammering. The crescents are very sharp, so I file them down to make them less pointy. Then each moon phase is hammered to give it some texture like the surface of the moon. The hammered texture also catches the light nicely and makes them extra sparkly.

I use a centering punch to mark where I will drill two holes to hang them from. After drilling the holes, the piece are attached together with jump rings. I didn't have the right size jump rings, so I had to make some. I use a piece of wire as a mandrel in my drill to coil the jump rings, then put them in a jig that allows me to saw a whole bunch all at once. This amazing tool creates perfect jump rings and saves me so much time because I don't have to saw them all by hand!

Connecting these tiny pieces with even tinier jump rings take some attention to detail and finesse. After each earring is assembled, they take a spin in the magnetic pin finisher to get all nice and shiny. 

Finally, I add a bead at the bottom for a decorative touch, attach the ear wires, and they're finished!