Creating The Setting For Our Wire Wrapped Pendant Part 2

Wire Wrapped Pendant Setting

I'm sorry that it is taking me so long to put all these things together for you but Blogger is only letting me add so many pictures and then it stops working. Any way . . . to carry on from  the last post.

Once I have moved the 2 side wraps into position I will fix them by giving them both a good squeeze with my flat nose pliers. Turning it over I give them another squeeze. That should keep them in place for me.

Offering the wrap up to the stone shows that it is roughly the right shape. The middle wraps are in the right place and I can tweak it if the central wrap has gone off centre.

I will start to form the setting from the back. I like to do the back first as it allows me to sit the stone in it for fitting. Gripping the bottom of the square wires with my flat nose pliers and holding the middle wrap I turn it inwards. I hold the middle because it helps me form a gentle arc with the bend.

As it is the back it isn't so important as when we form the front but it should be looking something like this.

I will now do the same to the other side exactly as the first turning the wire inwards. With every bend there is the chance that it will deform the frame so you have to keep offering it up to the stone and checking. It only takes seconds but it could mean a lot to your wrap.

Having formed the bottom I will move the upper 2 wraps into position near the top of the stone. Once I'm happy with where they are I will fix them in position as earlier with a squeeze either side with the flat nose pliers.

Just as I formed the bottom turns I will do the same with the top using my flat nose pliers. I will still grip the middle wrap between my thumb and finger to create a gentle curve.

And this is how it looks.

Moving to the other side I do the same bending inwards. If you are just starting out it's probably better to bend in less than you think you need as you can always tweak it a bit further.

Because I am using a cabochon it will be flat (ish) on the back and curved on the front. By placing my flat nose pliers into the bend I can ease the wires up allowing for the curvature of the stone. I need to for this for each bend.

The stone should now sit nicely in the setting so that it can be checked for alignment. Holding the top wires together like this I can see that the bottom isn't a tight fit. This can often be sorted by opening the setting and closing it again on the stone. If the gap is still too much a few gentle taps with a plastic headed hammer will fit it tight to the stone.

Sorry the image is a bit blurry but it does make it look like I'm hitting it with the hammer!

After a few taps the stone will be fitting much better. The sides aren't quite so important as they will be pulled in tight when closing the setting but if necessary I will turn it onto it's side for a few taps as well.

Removing the stone I need to form the front of the setting in the same way as the back. I probably won't bend them in quite so much as the back of the setting as that will seat the stone and I only need to hold it down. In bending the wires up to allow for the curvature of the stone I will need to pull them up further than the back. You have to be carfeul using tools this way as it is easy to leave marks on the wires if you use force. Gently lifting them will give you a better finish.

We are creating a cage to hold our stone in place and this is what it looks like once all the wires have been bent for the curvature of the stone.

Inserting the stone back in the setting it may need a little adjustment with the plastic hammer to get it to fit tightly. This is the last chance to make any adjustments to the setting or the placement of the stone as the next step will fix it all in place before making the bail. Taking a minute just to check it all over will save any mistakes later.

In the next post we will start work on the bail and adding some flourishes to make the wrap interesting and (hopefully) beautiful.

Creating The Setting For Our Wire Wrapped Pendant Part 1

Wire Wrapped Pendant Setting

This is the stage we were at in the last post. We have our cabochon and our wire bundle ready to go.

We have 6 guide wires in red and the 5 wraps in gold. Now we have to bend it to the shape of the stone.

I'm very lucky to have found this Oval Mandrel in a bead shop. It has become one of my favourite tools as it quickly and easily lets me shape my bundles. I have round and ring mandrels for round shapes but any household objects that are around the same size work just as well.

Placing the centre point of the bundle against the mandrel I bend the wires down and around to form the shape. I usually pick a size bigger than the stone and do any tweaking by hand.

In this pic I have made the mistake of placing the outside of the bundle against the mandrel instead of the inside. Once I had discovered my mistake the wires are soft enough to allow me to offer it up against the mandrel and bend it around the right way.

I could just have easily used a household object such as this to create the rough shape. A quick check through toiletries and bottles will reveal many suitable shapes and sizes that can be used.

This is a headache roll on that happens to be exactly 25mm and I use it so often that I have marked where I put my wraps for this size.

Whilst creating the setting we need to constantly offer up our bundle to the stone to check it. At this stage it's a good rough fit for the stone and that's all we need it to be for now as we will correct it as we go along.

This is what our bundle looks like away from the stone. The middle is slightly off centre so grabbing both sides I can give it a few tugs until it is in the right place again. Losing the centre wrap to one side or another is going to happen every time an adjustment is made so this is something you will need to keep an eye on.

The guide wires have done their job on the bottom of the wrap holding the wires together while they were bent and can now be undone and removed.

For now the remaining 4 guide wires in red need to stay in place at the top of the oval and towards the end of the wires. They still have a job to do keeping our four square wires in place.

The centre wrap is going astray again so it needs correcting.

I want the 2 side wraps in the middle on this wrap so by hand I move them to where I want them. I have to admit to not measuring much and doing things by eye alone but I like my pieces to look hand made and not produced in bulk so a little bit off is fine. If you are more comfortable measuring carefully please do. This is just my way of working.


(By this point I have noticed my mistake and the cut half round wires are back on the inside where they belong)

Starting The Wrap With Half Round Wires

Wrapping With Half Round Wires

If I am ready to start creating the setting for the stone I will cut off a length of around 12" of half round wire and making it roughly straight.  I learned early on that it is better to have more wire than you need than run out. You needn't worry about wasting wire as with my method hardly any wire is lost. As they arrive in the package they are often twisted and I need to run my nylon jawed pliers along them to get them straight.

Holding the half round wire with the flat side towards me I will grip the end of the wire with my round nose pliers. I then twist the wire inward towards me and slightly to the left.

This will create a small hook that we can then place on our square wires near to the middle line I marked earlier.

It's important that our wraps appear neat. It shows an attention to detail and a certain proficiency on our part. DON'T grab the end of the wire and pull it up. Precision in our bends is a must. To achieve this I place my thumb behind the wire and press the half round wire upwards.

Placing my index finger in front of the wire I push back and down. If you push the wire down and slightly to the left it will hit the wire next to it and slide off making a tight fit.

Repeat these steps until there are 4 complete turns. Snip off the half round wire just below the top and slide them onto the centre mark.

If the wires are a little apart it's easy to correct them with flat nose pliers.

This is how it looks on the reverse.

This wrap now needs to be fixed in it's place. This is done by giving it a firm squeeze with the flat nose pliers, turning it over and giving it another squeeze. This is usually enough to fix it in position. The guide wires on either side need to be moved closer for when we start to make our bends as they will support the wires and keep them together.

In the next step we will add another 4 wraps of half round wire so we can begin our bending to create the cabochon's setting.

Wire Wrapping: Making My Wire Bundles For Wire Wrapping

Wire Wrapping: Making My Wire Bundles For Wire Wrapping: My Work Area Making Wire Wrapping Bundles This is where we finished off last time. This is a pic of my work area. I do all my wrapping...

Making My Wire Bundles For Wire Wrapping

My Work Area

Making Wire Wrapping Bundles

This is where we finished off last time. This is a pic of my work area. I do all my wrapping with a lap desk so I'm sat comfortably with all my tools and materials in easy reach.

I have the cabochon, the 4 square wires we cut, 1mm half round wire and my tools. I have laid out a bead mat, ruler, polishing cloths, a reel of red 0.4mm wire, my tool caddy containing - 2 flat nose pliers, wire cutters, round nose pliers, nylon jawed pliers, chain nose pliers, plastic hammer, wire straightener and a fine black permanent marker.

Making bundles of wire beforehand is a great time saver. I usually have a number of different length bundles ready to go in different finishes. You will probably want to measure your wires each time until you get the hang of it and then like me, keep your favourite sizes 'in stock'. I keep mine tidy in plastic tubes.




As I said in an earlier post, I don't like using tape unless I have to so I wrap my bundles with 0.4mm wire of an opposing colour. Tape leaves a sticky residue on wires and can't be used in this way to make up bundles that may not be used for weeks. That is one of the reasons I wrap with wire but it also helps in straightening the wires too. When we come to bending the bundle to create the setting for the gemstone they will also support and guide the bend.

Taking my four wires in my left hand I will hold them in shape and place the wrapping wire a bit proud of the top edge so I can tuck it in afterwards.
















I now wrap the wire around five times.

Cut the wire and tidy up with flat nose pliers giving it a firm squeeze. Don't use too much pressure or you may mark your square wires. We don't want to 'fix' the guide wires at this stage as we will be moving them around in the next stages.

Continue to make more wraps until you have a total of six around your square wires. You may find that the wires have a tendency to twist but that can be easily fixed using two flat nose pliers to make them straight again.

Using your ruler, measure and mark the middle with your permanent marker. You will find that it isn't really permanent and can be easily removed if necessary with a cloth and acetate free nail polish remover. This is the stage I will finish at if I am making bundles for future use and put them away. Not knowing how I will use a bundle I can't put the half round wire on as I may use it in several different ways depnding on the type of wrap I want to do, or even use different colour wire for added interest.

Basic Wire Wrapping Tools

My Wire Wrapping Tools.

I'd like to share with you the basic set of tools that I use all the time. When you first start out with wire wrapping you need very few tools. Our tools tend to be mostly pliers and cutters and for your first set of tools you will need wire cutters, round nosed pliers and chain nose pliers. As you go along you will add other tools to your kit and I have more tools that I have picked up to enable me to do things better or quicker  and I'll introduce you to them as I use them in the wrapping tutorials.

My basic tool set consists of the following -

Bail making pliers.
2 pairs of flat nose pliers.
Plastic jawed pliers.
A ruler.
A permanent marker.
Wire cutters.
Chain nose pliers.
Round nose pliers.
Wire straighteners.

Buying cheap sets of tools is a false economy. I appreciate that if you are just trying out the hobby you will want to keep your costs to a minimum until you know you are going to continue with it. I have gone through about four sets of tools so far and now buy the individual items as I am in a better position to understand what I need now that I have some experience wrapping.

I was given some very sound advice when I was starting out and that was to buy the best quality tools I could afford and then use them as little as possible. Very good advice indeed. I use my hands for as much as I can and use tools when I have to. In the beginning I had a 'death grip' on my tools that left all sorts of unattractive marks on the wires. You will need to develop a gentle touch with your tools for the best results.

How To Measure Gemstones For Wire Wrapping

MEASURING GEMSTONES FOR WIRE WRAPPING

There are quite a few different ways to measure your gemstones for wire wrapping. This is the method I first learned and is a simple formula to work out how long your wires need to be. This works really well for me. Don't get too hung up on accuracy at this stage. A little out either way won't hurt - you just have to learn to work with what you've got. I will show you how to do a very simple wrap something like the one on the left here.

For this example I have chosen a piece of Rose Quartz measuring roughly 30 X 25mm. It's a nice familiar shape to work with. The process for measuring uneven and asymetric stones is no harder and uses the same steps.

The first way that I'm going to show you uses masking tape. I have since moved away from any kind of tape as I don't like the sticky residue that it leaves on my wires. Tear a piece of masking tape that is longer than the gemstone is round. You can always rip off any extra. Start at the top middle and wrap the tape around the stone until you come back to the top again.

Fold the tape back so that the two edges meet and cut off the excess.

Wind the tape around the stone again to make sure you have cut it properly and it fits right.

Lay the tape out flat on your work surface and measure it. In this case it measures roughly 92mm so lets round it up to 90mm. Like I said earlier total accuracy is not needed for this type of wrap. Just about is good enough. I am so used to the size of gems that I like to work with that I now have wire bundles made up in 240mm, 260mm and 280mm. When I want to start work I pick out a bundle that is about right for the size of stone and work with it.

If you are just starting out the use of this formula will tell you how long to cut your wires.

Take the total length of the tape (90mm) and times it by 2 which will make it 180mm. Add 50mm to the total making it 230mm to allow yourself plenty of spare wire to bend around your bail to make it interesting and attractive. You may find you need more or less than I use but this is a good starting point for you until you get used to the type of wraps you are going to attempt.

The method I most use nowadays does away with the tape altogether. It is MUCH faster than fiddling around with tape.

I take a piece of spare wire and bend it roughly around the stone and twist the wire together.

This leaves me with a nice outline the size of the stone. I cut the wire near the twist, give it a pull to with my fingers to straighten it and measure it the same as I did the tape.



You now know you have to cut your wires 230mm for this stone. Simple isn't it?

In the next post I will show you how I bundle wires for a border wrap and the tools I find most useful.