Screwback Earrings

[pearlysmile]

Does anyone have ear shots of their screwback earrings? I want to purchase a pair for my mom, but she has ridiculously small ears. I'm afraid that her ear lobes are so small that the metal "U" that goes under the lobe to the back will hang too far below her ear lobe.

[claudenancy]

I am not sure that this will help. The picture is somewhat fuzzy because I was experimenting with taking pictures of my jewelry while I was wearing it--had to white out the background image of my contorted pose (with camera!) in the mirror!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1329731...01061/sizes/l/

I have been experimenting with making screwbacks with interchangable drops because I can no longer wear pierced earrings for medical reasons.

THe design is likely to make a difference too--even small drops will obscure the "U" or at least draw attention away from it.

Good luck.

[pearlysmile]

You know what Claudenancy? You=Brilliant (and very pretty too)!!!!! It never occurred to me to add drops to cover up the "U." I started thinking about it, and I wonder if it would be possible to drill another hole at the bottom of the pearl stud and somehow attach another pearl (via a permanent mystery clasp or something similar). The result would look like this: http://www.americanpearl.com/jpe0607dp.html. I think Pearl Paradise used to sell something similar for pierced ears, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

[pearlysmile]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm ... if it's not permanently attached, I could get my mom several different mystery clasp pearls that could be interchangeable. She could have white and gold, white and black, white and white, etc. Endless combinations.

[claudenancy]

Hi Pearlysmile: You have some good ideas here. So farI have started with a screwback earring that has a ring underneath a gold bead. I then wired additional beads in rose, yellow, and white gold around the ring so the ring is basically concealed but still can be accessed from underneath. I then used a small ring clasp to attach the drop to the ring--the beads obscure the ring attachment. THis was just a first experiment. I am going to lapidary school next week and will be looking for better ideas about how to accomplish this.

One idea that I had is to purchase basic screwbacks that have a post for a half drilled pearl rather than a gold ball. Then a beautiful basic pearl could be added and additional smaller pearls could be wired over the ring (this would be a matter of trial and error until something worked).
I am also looking for another mechanism to attach the drops--something like a minature enhancer--either modified to be attached instead of the typical ring to the earrings themselves--or to securely clip to the typical ring that is found on screwbacks.

I have some other ideas to try--but they are still in the "mulling it over" stage.

Good luck and let me know if you have any additional thoughts on how this might be done.

Sounds like you have a lucky Mom!

[pearlysmile]

Thanks for your thoughts Claudenancy! Please keep me updated on your progress.