How to make a spiral bead cage pendant

Bead cages are awesome because you can put whatever you want inside – it doesn’t have to be a bead.

You don’t have to use crystals or gemstones…you can use a small pebble that you have…or a piece of sea glass….a marble…WHATEVER YOU WANT.

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LEVEL: BEGINNER

Materials & Tools

• 1 – 14” piece of wire – 18 Gauge Round Wire
• Stone or bead
• Jump Ring
• Needle Nose Pliers
• Round Nose Pliers
• Wire Cutters

Step 1

Pick out your stone. In this tutorial I am using a small chunk of Amethyst that I picked up at a local crystal shop. You can use whatever you want.

Step 2

Using a pair of round nose pliers, make a loop at the end of the wire.

Step 3

Keep making a spiral.

Step 4

This is what it should look like.

Step 5

With your fingers, keep making a spiral. You can also use a pair of nylon jaw pliers if you have those.

Step 6

Keep going with the spiral until the width of the spiral is wider than the stone you are using.

Step 7

I’m going to stop here because this spiral is wide enough for my Amethyst point.

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Step 8

Repeat on other end of wire.

Step 9

Use fingers to keep making the spiral.

Step 10

Once you’re done both sides, it should have an “S” shape as shown below.

Step 11

Using a pair of round nose pliers, gently “push” spiral out.

Step 12

Do this on both sides.

Step 13

Using a pair of needle nose pliers, bend the first loop up at the top of the pendant. This is how you will suspend the pendant from a chain or cord.

Step 14

Insert your stone into the bottom half.

Step 15

Gently flip the top half over the bottom half.

Step 16

That’s it – you’re done. Use a jump ring and hand from cord or chain.

In my case, I used bare copper wire so I gave the pendant an “antique” look by using liver of sulfur as a patina. Blog post coming soon on this technique.

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If you’re a newbie, check out Wire-Wrapping for Beginners for lots of resources.

If you’d like to see my work and follow my wire journey, you can find me here:

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P.S. – Keep your wire-wrapping projects organized with my Wire-Wrapping Planner