Wire Wrapping a Stone – Spiral Cage

How to wire wrap a stone using the simple spiral cage technique. If you have a pretty gemstone or piece of sea glass without a hole, but want to turn it into a necklace, this is the easiest way to do it!

Quite a few people have asked me recently how to use stones without any drill holes in their jewellery making. Most ways involve wire and this spiral cage is the most straight-forward. All you need is some wire and your pliers!

You will need:

-0.8mm wire

-round nose pliers

-chain nose pliers

-gemstones

-necklace to put your new pendant on!

How to:

1.To work out approximately how much wire you will need, measure your stone at its longest length, then multiply by 10. So this piece of rose quartz is about 2.5cm/1 inch so means I need a 25cm/10 inch length of wire. If you have a stone that is much smaller, say only 1cm long, you may want to use 0.6mm wire. Like wise, if your stone is bigger you can go up to 1mm if needed.

2.We are going to make a shape that looks a bit like a snail shell; a tight coil in the middle, opening out wider as it goes around. To  start, make a loop at one end of the wire by gripping right at the tip with your round nose pliers and rolling the wire away from you until you have a loop.

3.Take your chain nose pliers and hold the loop you have just made flat in the jaws. Push the end of the wire neatly around the outside of the loop, moving a little at a time until you have gone round twice.

4.Now we are going to make the spiral open out a bit by gripping both the loop and a bit of the wire before pushing the wire around. Go slowly, trying to do to much in one go will make angles rather than a nice curve. Keep going until you are halfway along the length of your wire. At this point you want your spiral to be as wide as your gemstone, so it will fit.

5.We are going to repeat steps 2 – 5 with the opposite end of the wire, rolling your initial loop in the other direction, so you end up with something that looks like a curly letter S.

6.Bring the two spirals towards each other slightly, then using chain nose pliers pull the tight coil in the middle of one spiral up so it opens out like a beehive. Repeat with the other side.

7.Slide your gemstone in the spiral and bring the two halves together, caging the stone inside. No stone will be as round as the cage, so use your fingers to manipulate the wire to fit the stone and arrange the coils evenly.

8.Make a loop at one end of the cage by using your chain nose pliers to lift up one of the inner-most coils

9.Your pendant is now ready to hang from a necklace!

This is just one method you can use to wire wrap a stone. I plan making more tutorials for different techniques. So if there is one you are interested in, feel free to comment below or message me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook! Want even more modern craft, creative inspiration and lovely ready-made jewellery? Sign up to my monthly ‘Making, Creating and Little Adventures’ email! Happy Making!