Wire Wrapped Moonstone Pendant

This was my first attempt to make a wire wrapped piece of jewelry. My inspiration comes from Oxana on OxanaCrafts. My pendant definitely not perfect, but it’s fun to do and if you don’t look too close – it came out pretty good! I found a large moonstone bead from an old necklace that worked rather nicely. If you can find square wire for the wire frame, it tends to be less ‘slippery’ than round wire, when forming the frame. But round wire would work just fine. You can find this craft wire at Hobby Lobby, Joanne’s, or Michaels. My jewelry pliers were cheap pliers I found at Michaels.

Enjoy!!

• 1 Stone about 1" long
• #20 Gaugue Square Wire (Could use round)
• #22 Gauge Half Round Wire (Could use round)
• Jewelry Round Tip Pliers
• Jewelry Side Cutter Pliers
• Jewelry Flat Tip Pliers (not shown in the picture)

Cut three 20” lengths of the #20 Gauge wire. Gather together to find the middle and slightly bend in middle. Lay your stone in the bend like the photo, and bring the top of the wires together and squeeze a bit to wrap around the stone and give the wire a little shape.(Pics 1-3)

Take a piece of #22 wire (maybe 10” or so long) and wrap it around the bottom middle of the wire where the stone will sit. Make it about ¾” wide. Trim off the excess wire with your Side Cutter Pliers when done wrapping, and try and tuck your end to the back so they don’t poke out. You can pinch the ends together, as well, using the Flat Tip Pliers. I also did 2 little wraps on each side to hold the wires together while I worked. They will be removed later, so don’t worry about tucking them in the back and don’t pinch them down tight. This is an optional step. (Pics 4-6)

When done, lay your stone back in the wire frame to be sure everything is visually balancing – it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Put stone aside and take your #22 gauge wire (maybe about 15”) and wrap the wire around all 6 wires that come together at the ‘neck’ bend. Continue wrapping until you have it wrapped about 1/4” long. (Pics 7&8) Don’t trim this wire yet. At this point you can remove the side wires – if you used them – that helped the wires temporarily stay in place.

Now you are going to create the bale – the area that your chain will run through.

You now have 4 #20 wires sticking out from the wire frame you made and 1 #22 excess wire left from wrapping the neck in the last step.(Pic 1)

Separate your 4 #20 gauge wires (from the wire frame), into 2 on each side and 2 at the back. (Pic 2)

Take the back 2 back-most wires and bring them together (push the other wires out of the way for now) and using the excess #22 wire you just wrapped around the neck, continue wrapping these 2 #20 gauge wires until you have wrapped it about 1” long.(Pic 2) Don’t cut off the excess wires yet.

At this point you can remove the side wires – if you used them – that helped the wire frame temporarily stay in place

Now place your stone into the frame. Gently spread the front and center wires along the sides just a little. Turn your stone around and the two back most wires on each side of the stone, take your round nose pliers and sort of bend/twist them in on both sides. The back won’t be seen, but get this as neat as possible. You should start to feel the stone getting anchored into place. Do this until you feel the stone is fairly secure.

Take your Round Tip Pliers and gently bend the 1” section your just wrapped, back to form the bale. My stone had a hole drilled in it, so I used that to help anchor my bale. I poked one of the wires that stuck out of the end of the bale, section into the hole, trimming off the excess that stuck out of the hole. Or just bend it and poke the wire through the gap above your stone in the frame.

Trim off the excess and sort of tuck the trimmed wires up into the wire you wrapped around the ‘neck’ of the wire frame. All of this takes a little finagling, as each one will be different depending on your stone or the wire you are using. Just bend the bale and secure the best you can.

Again, try and tuck the end into the wrapped section or in an area where you won’t get poked when wearing it. It helps to ‘pinch’ the wire in place when you find a good tucking location.

Now you will have 4 wires to work with. Bend the back-most wire on the left out of your way, and take the remaining 3 and gather them together, smoothing them next to each other, so when you bend them, you can see each wire in the swirl. Start bending the group with your fingers, and sort of hold them down with your thumb when you cross over the stone. Bend the wires in a loop while securing the wires in place with your thumb, and rotate them once around to create the loop, and then cross them over to the side of the stone, then bend them to the side and to the back.Since I had a hole in the stone, I made sure my loop covered the hole so you didn’t see it.(Pics 1&2)

Turn your stone around and with your round nosed pliers, grab a wire and tuck under a back wire, and maybe grab the end and loop it around a wire that is anchoring the back. Do this with the remaining wires, trimming them off once anchored. Again, this won’t be perfect and every pendant will be different depending on your stone and wire. Just tuck, twist, and trim until stone feels tight and secure! (Pic 3)

You are done! Add a nice chain and enjoy your new wire wrapped pendant necklace!