Taa Daaah!  I finally figured out how I was going to make hoop earrings and keep the hoop!  They're 18 and 16 gauge sterling silver wire, deadsoft.  That means that they are easily bendable.  Good for me but you'll need to make sure you don't smash 'em around or they'll bend. 

Far left ~ African wooden beads, 18g round sterling silver wire, two free-moving sterling silver plated paddle pins with jasper barrel beads hanging on either side of the wooden beads and gold glass seed beads and surgical steel ear wires.  Very light weight for their size which is 3 cm in diameter (yes, I'm going to take you kicking and screaming into metric)

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What I really like about these is the movement of the dangles, creates interest in a subtle and creative way and not simply through a lot of sparkle.  Not saying I don't like sparkle, check out all of the crystal and glass on some of my bracelets, but its nice to be more sophisticated now and again.

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Middle ~ Here we have the sparkle with one 6mm Swarovski crystal (did I spell that right?  I know I can't pronounce it) and two Bali silver spacer beads.  These beads are able to slide on the 18g square sterling silver wire formed into a tear drop shape hoop.  The hoop is 3.5mm wide at its widest part and 4mm long.  I can't really tell you what color the crystal is because depending upon how the light hits it, it looks purple, red or a golden-brassy black.  Again I used surgical steel for the ear wire to promise that its hypoallergenic

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Far right ~ My favorites... so far. 16g round sterling silver wire 4.3cm in diameter with one freely moving sterling silver plated paddle pin holding two 3 mm sterling silver beads on either side of one 6mm adventurine beauty.  Again, very light weight for their size, cool and soft to the touch and elegant to wear.  These will go with any outfit, jeans and a tshirt or an evening gown.  Simply, understated quality.  Hmmm... now how does that suit me?!  I don't know, but I do know I like 'em!