gemstone wire wrapping

I love the way rough stones look in jewelry. Probably because of my fantasy novel problem, where people run around with amulets and whatnot. They make me feel magic.

What's not so magic is how difficult it is to find necklaces like this, and how expensive they are when you do find them. So, I made my own.

You can find a pretty good selection of reasonably priced crystal pendants on etsy, but I actually got these at Dollywood. Super random.

This isn't really a tutorial, per se, but it's how I wire wrapped the stones to make pendants out of them. It's an intuitive process and really easy to get the hang of.

What you need:

gemstones (I like to get the "points", they're easier to wrap.)

24 gauge jewelry wire (here)

cord (here)

jewelry pliers (here)

jewelry wire cutters (here)

Basically, all you need to do is wrap the jewelry wire around the crystal and follow the natural shape of it so that it will be held securely. Don't forget to make a loop at the top for the cord!

I wrapped these two different ways:

This one is simple - the stone was thicker at the top, so I wrapped around the thinner part right below the thicker, bringing it up to make the loop. You'll want to loop the wire in on itself, almost like you're tying a knot. That's why having the right gauge is so important; you want it thick enough to bend and stay, but not so thick that you can't maneuver it.

This one was more arrowhead-shaped, so I wrapped it horizontally as well as across, leaving some extra at the top for the loop.

Wire wrapping is pretty much trial and error - you just have to take into account what you want the pendant to look like, whether that will work with its natural shape, and make sure that the way you wrap it is secure.