Retro-fitting earwire to thick earring

How would you handle this? I sold a pair of sterling silver earrings
to a customer. She returned them afterward saying the post was too
big to go in her earlobe. It is a .030 SS post: I used a thick one
because the earrings are large and kind of heavy. She still wants
them so I need to fix them. She is a good customer so I want to
please her.

There are pearls bezel set on the front. She asked to have it made
into a dangle earring on an earwire. But I’m not sure how to go about
this. There is no room in the right spot to drill a hole and put in a
jump ring. Because of the pearls I can’t solder a loop on the top
edge. I don’t know how to describe this in words: the earrings are
not flat but kind of boxy in form: thicker from front to back. But it
is also sloped with a curve or beveled so not a surface that lends
itself to sparkie a ring or something onto the top edge. I could
sparkie a rivet onto the back, right near the top edge, and rivet on
some kind of finding (what kind, I don’t know: something with a loop
at top for the earwire and at bottom for the rivet) and then put on
an earwire. But because the earring is thick I’m sure it will tilt
forward because the point of suspension would be too far back. I
thought of bending some kind of offset angle shape into this finding
so the top loop would be more forward and in t he right place to
prevent tilting.

Am I overlooking an easier solution? This issue has come up before
so I’d like to have a better solution for it available in the
future.

I don’t want to make a new pair. I can’t get those kind of pearls
again, plus it was too expensive to make; also this was an older
pair of earrings and I was happy that someone finally bought them.

Thanks in advance,
Lin Lahlum

I could sparkie a rivet onto the back, right near the top edge.. 

Could you sparkie a strip of metal or wire from side to side with a
jump ring on top to attach the earwire? That way you could adjust
the forward to backward balance so they would hang right. Not seeing
them, this is just a guess as to how to ‘fix’ them. jeanette

There are long ear wires (not posts) available for Sparkie. I
sometimes weld them very near the top of an earring’s back, and then
bend them up and forward to make a well-balanced ear hook. You could
do that for a direct hook earring, or form the ear wire top into a
loop, for a linkage attachment to a separate ear wire. I have retro-
fit many earrings with this type of attachment.

M’lou Brubaker
Minnesota, USA

Lyn

She returned them afterward saying the post was too big to go in
her earlobe. It is a .030 SS post: I used a thick one because the
earrings are large and kind of heavy. She still wants them so I
need to fix them. She is a good customer so I want to please her. 

Could you sand them down to become thinner? Perhaps they aren’t all
that too big, maybe a bit of sanding would make them fit? I’ve sanded
posts a bit before - it’s tedious but if it gets the job done then
why not?

K

I would think your best bet would be to find someone with a laser or
PUK welder.

I was asked to fit a safety chain to a silver bracelet that
contained a large piece of amber. The customer had already contacted
some other jewellers and had been told that it was impossible to
attach the required lugs without damaging the amber.

I did it pretty easily with my PUK2, the following links show the
complete bracelet and a closeup of the lugs.


Regards, Gary Wooding

Is there some way to turn the current wire into a loop by which
the earring can be suspended from a new ear wire, and not have to
solder that loop?

Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher

Thanks for the suggestions.

She said the posts were way too thick, so it would take more than a
little sanding. I already suggested filing down the posts, she has
decided that she no longer wants them as posts anyway. I have filed
down posts before and it is tricky to not inadvertently create a
thin spot setting the stage for breaking later. I don’t know anyone
with a laser welder.

Jeanette, that’s a good idea: I’m not quite sure if I am imagining
what you suggest correctly but it’s giving me some ideas for
approaching this.

M’lou, attaching a Sparkie earwire is ideally what I would like to
do. I have the earwires but have never been able to get them to
work. I have not had any luck with any Sparkie findings but earposts
or tie-tac posts. I have all the collets. I have no idea why the
earwire findings won’t attach: in theory it should just be a longer
post. (I could really, really, use these for lots of things if I
could only make them work.)

Maybe you could tell me: do you do anything different with your
earwires, as opposed to a post? For posts I pretty much use the
voltage settings in the manual. For the other findings I’ve tried
moving up and down with voltage, just no luck: they fail to attach.
Thanks!

Lin

She said the posts were way too thick, so it would take more than
a little sanding. I already suggested filing down the posts 

This may or may not work, depending on your exact earring, most
importantly the center of gravity. Sometimes you can just roll the
old post into a jump ring, and use that to put another finding. It
greatly depends on the center of gravity, though. If it’s too far
down it will hang really wrong.

Maybe you could tell me: do you do anything different with your
earwires, as opposed to a post? For posts I pretty much use the
voltage settings in the manual. For the other findings I've tried
moving up and down with voltage, just no luck: they fail to attach. 

Well, my favorite trick on Sparkie welding is to simply use titanium
posts. Wow, do they stick! They are not prone to the over-melting
that sterling posts will do, with all that splashy mess that doesn’t
end up being a good weld anyway. I have had very good response from
customers about these, after I tell them that they are both stronger
and more hypoallergenic than sterling.

If you must use sterling posts or wires, look for a weld that just
barely shows melting all the way around the pad, but without
splashing further than that. Splashing means you were too high in
voltage. You can try adding a bit of soapy water or some saliva to
the surfaces to be welded and also where the piece contacts the
lower holder (I forget what they call it…the fixture?). Make sure
your jewelry piece is actually flat where you are trying to weld. The
tiny nib on the finding MUST be the first thing that contacts the
piece. If the edge of the finding’s pad contacts the piece first, you
will have a bad weld.

Be aware that when the light comes on for your particular setting, it
does not turn anything off, it just tells you that now is the time to
weld. If you hesitate, you go past that setting. This can make a
difference.

I weld posts, long earwires, brooch eye and clasp findings, eyes,
clip-ons, tacs, and small entire brooch backs. I rather dislike the
brooch clasps, because they have an upright opening instead of a
sideways one, and so they are harder for the customer to find and
close.

HTH,
M’lou Brubaker
Minnesota, USA
http://www.craftswomen.com/M’louBrubaker