The mandrel is used to give the inside of the beads a hollow core so the beads can move along the chain without damaging the inside cottons. I work directly from the coil of wire, this saves wasting wire when you're not sure how much you will use. Wrap the wire around the mandrel to form a messy coil about 0.4" (1cm) long or about the length you want the bead to be. Wrap over the tail of the wire as you go. The wire should move up and down the mandrel freely but not be loose. Come back coiling another row over the first.

Put the ends of the 3 cottons together and lay the cottons along the coil with the tails extending about 1cm past the wire end. Wrap the wire once around the cottons to hold them in place. Turn the 1cm tail back onto the coil and start to wrap with the long ends over the tail. Trim any stray bits from the tail and continue to wrap one way then the other till you have a bead shape you are happy with.

Pull the wire tight so it doesn't unwind. Trim the wire and cotton ends to about 2" (5cm). Thread one of the cotton ends into the darning needle and push the needle through a small part of the bead making sure to go under not just the wire but also some of the wound threads. Do this twice for each cotton end and then also with the wire. Leave the bead on the mandrel for this step so you don't take the threads or wire through the empty core. Trim the ends only after all of them, including the wire, have been woven into the bead twice. To trim the ends pull them fairly tight then cut, make sure the end disappears back into the bead.

Attach a piece of scrap wire to the end of one piece of chain securing it with a couple of twists. Use the doubled over round end of the wire to thread the chain through the beads, 3 per earring.

To make the ear wire using a 5cm piece of 20g wire and round nose pliers make a small loop in one end of the wire, keep going with this loop till it is about 1 and ¼ rotations. Use your larger mandrel to make the ear wire curve and then shape the tail how you like.

Gently hammer the curve of each ear wire on a bench block to work harden.