Jewelry makers use the “head” on a headpin to “stop” precious stones, crystals or beads from falling off the end of a piece of wire. Jewelry headpins come in a huge variety of sizes (1/2 inch to 4 inches) and metals (sterling silver, silver plated, silver color, brass, gold) but they usually comprise a flattened end, loop, or ball at one end of a short piece of wire. They are usually sold in bulk packages of 100 at jewelry supply companies and stores, and at the silver plated and silver colored ones are reasonable at under $3.00. More ornate pins in sterling silver can be $3.00 EACH.
The thing is a lot of times you want just ONE or TWO headpins, perhaps for a pair of earrings. And maybe your local jewerly supply store is far away, or you can’t wait for supplies to arrive by mail. In this case, you can get away with making your own quick homemade headpins.
The type of headpin I’m going to talk about making a substitute for is the flattened end or ball end type of headpin (obviously the one on the left in Figure 1.) Necessity is the mother of invention, and the reason we actually started making our own headpins was that we didn’t even realize that people actually bought them! This pretty simple to do if you’ve got only a few to make, though making more than say a dozen will quickly get old. The bottom line is that because they are so cheap, if you can easily buy your headpins and you have need for 100 of that particular size and style, don’t bother making your own!
