French hook earring replacement tips

Immaculata · July 15, 2020, 5:47pm

I never really wear any other jewelry than simple earstuds these days. I was gifted new ones for my birthday and opened my jewelry box in front of Mr. Imma. He had never seen my old collection of big dangling earrings, I put them in for him and he loved them. So I want to wear them more often.

In the meantime, I have become sensitive to nickle and I never liked those heavy dangling earrings. My idea was to take the French hook part off and attach the dangly bit to something that is apparantly called a ball post: https://www.jewelrysupply.com/Ball-Post-with-Parallel-Ring-18x7mm-Surgical-Stainless-Steel-2-Pcs_p_1385.html or a half ball post: https://www.jewelrysupply.com/Half-Ball-Post-with-Ring-185x9mm-Silver-Plated-Surgical-Stainless-Steel-Post-10-Pcs_p_1393.html I think that this will make them more comfortable to wear.

It looks like I need some sort of ring part to attach the earring part to the dangly bit, right? The kind of ring that has a small opening at the top that you would open and close with pliers. What kind of pliers would you use for that? I’d ask at my local craft shop but they only sell this stuff, they didn’t seem to have an experienced jewelry maker in their team.

AIMR · July 15, 2020, 7:43pm

I also don’t like the French hooks because they seem to get caught in my hair and it feels like they stretch out my ears.

You need jump rings. I use a pair of needle nose pliers to open and close them. You can also use jump ring pliers.

needlenose

Immaculata · July 15, 2020, 9:05pm

Thanks! I’m going back to the craft store tomorrow morning and I’m sure I’ve seen those! They just had so many I had no idea which one to buy.

I have never done any kind of jewelry making before and I secretly kind of hope I’m not going to enjoy this too much, I’m running out of storage space already!

AIMR · July 15, 2020, 9:42pm

I got out of making jewelry…but I kept some basic supplies to use in things like prayer flags and such…actually, I have boxes of earrings that I rarely wear anymore…using them in things, too…if I were working, I would wear them more…but I just mostly wear two pairs of silver earrings all the time (I am also allergic to nickel)…

steiconi · July 23, 2020, 7:45pm

Make sure your posts are stainless steel (or gold, or purish silver) if you have a nickel allergy.

I’m just the opposite; I hate posts and convert everything to french hooks. And happily don’t have a nickel allergy.

Immaculata · August 22, 2020, 1:45pm

I forgot to post the results!

They are still very heavy but at least I can wear them now. I really don’t know how I could wear those big dangling earrings every day.