Studs

Soldering the post to the front

I had a request recently from one of my friends who has bought my jewelry in the past. She owns a pair of long, dangling copper earrings and asked me if I could make some copper studs so she can wear matching metal in her 2nd piercing.

I love getting requests because they always provide so much inspiration and it seems like copper studs really are difficult to find so, of course, I instantly started thinking about how I could make them.

Starting materials

She was very clear that they had to be small, just copper (no stones or anything) and simple so I started with some small squares cut from a copper sheet. I decided on 24 gauge wire for the post, soldered the 2 together and filed the edges smooth. Finally I tumbled them for almost a whole day to make sure the post was strong enough to keep its shape.

After some extensive online searching I discovered that copper butterfly backs are not readily available so I ordered some clear plastic backs instead, deciding that plastic was probably better than using a different colour metal.

Then I gave the earrings to my friend and asked her to test them for me. After a few weeks she reported that they were still intact and holding up fine so I set about making a 2nd pair to list for sale. By this time I had acquired my disc cutter and I realised that small circles instead of squares could be even better. I also switched up to using 22 gauge wire for the posts to make it sturdier.

This is the finished result, available for sale from my website.

I'm really happy with the way they turned out and I have had an order for a pair already! I do treat the back of the disc with a protective coating to help prevent that green discoloration you can get from wearing copper next to the skin because no one wants green ears!

What do you think? Have you been searching for copper studs, just like my friend? Do you like to have all your jewelry in the same metal or are you happy mixing and matching?