Grace, why not make your own? My ears are not pierced, and I make my
own findings [for dangly earrings] as follows:
--take a three-inch piece of 18-gauge wire (I use brass, sterling,
or gold-filled; I find 20-gauge to be too flimsy for what I like).
--coil the ends inward toward each other, until the whole unit fits
into a space 1 3/8 inches wide.
--put a round post about the diameter of a chopstick upright in your
bench vise, and use it to form the "circular"(what will be the
lower) part of your finding. Rotate the two coils until they are 90
degrees from where they started, and pinch them together. "(They
should now be parallel to each other, on the same side of the post.)
--This is the basic unit, almost ready to go. I sometimes hammer the
bottom of the loop gently, both for looks and to stiffen it
slightly. Ditto, with the coils (before I form the "loop"). I also,
with a pair of flat-jaw pliers, draw each coil back a little, so they
are centered over the uncoiled part of the wire -- this is an
esthetic preference of mine.
--Attach to the earring with jump ring(s) -- I sometimes also attach
the finding directly by putting one end of the wire through a hole in
the earring, before coiling the second end.
--The aperture between the two coils needs to be set for each
individual
-- one does NOT stretch open and then squeeze closed the finding each
time it is worn.
--To use, gently stretch out the ear-lobe and slide the aperture onto
the lobe at the bottom "corner" (where the lobe and jaw meet). Center
the finding on the lobe. Test the fit by tugging on the earring
gently -- if it slides right off, the aperture needs to be narrowed.
These findings are very comfortable. I do not lose any more earrings
than I did with those painful pinch and/or screw backs. Their major
limitation is that really heavy earrings tend to slide off your lobe
too easily.
Peace,
Judy Bjorkman
