Woven Cage Pendant

Tutorial: Woven Cage Pendant Created by Donna Spadafore www.gailavira.com gailavira.blogspot.com Please do not distribute, lend or copy. Do not mass produce. Please always give credit to the designer. Copyrights 2009 Donna Spadafore

This lesson teaches you to make a woven cage to show off your beautiful focal beads. There are many ways to alter the final look of the cage. Take 10% off your next purchase from http://tutorial.gailavira.com if http://tutorial.gailavira.com if you use the coupon code RC10.

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24” of 22g Round Wire (dead soft or half hard) 13’ 28g Round Wire (dead soft) 1 5” headpin 20g or 22g (headpins this long are difficult to find. If you do not have a torch to make your own ball headpin you can find a free tutorial for knotted headpins on my web-site: http://tutorial.gailavira.com http:// tutorial.gailavira.com)) 1 10mm focal bead 9 4mm spacer bead 1 accent bead (size depends on your personal taste) 8 2mm beads

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Copyright 2009 Donna Spadafore

Wire cutters Round Nose Pliers Bail making pliers or mandrel that is the desired size for the bail Needle file or wire rounder

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Step 1: Cut the 22g wire into 8 3” pieces.

Step 2: Cut a 4’ piece of 28g wire. Wrap one end around one of the 22g wires 4-5 times. Try to make this wrap about 3/8-1/2” away from the end.

Step 3: Put another piece of 22g wire next to the first one. Bring the 28g wire over the top of the 2 nd piece of 22g wire, then wrap it around the wire, bringing it back up between the two 22 g wires. The way this is being joined is also the way the entire piece will be woven.

Step 4: Continue adding the rest of the 22g wires as in step 3. After all the wires have been added, be sure to line up the tips of the wires, to get them as even as possible. This will be more difficult to do after the next couple of steps, so it is best to keep everything even at this stage.


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Step 5: Take your piece of scrap 16g wire and wrap the bundle of 22g wires around it. The 16g wire isn’t necessary, but will make it much easier to hold onto the bundle as you continue to weave. It will also help them stay in a circle instead of being flattened as you work.

Step 6: Close the circle by wrapping the 28g wire around the first 22g wire the same way you added all the other wires. You have just completed your first round of weaving.

Step 7: Below the first woven round, bend all the wires outward at approximately a 90º angle. Try to space them evenly around the center.


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Step 8: Begin weaving again. The weave is done in the same manner that the wires were joined.

Step 9: Keep weaving until you have a web-like circle that is 12-13mm in diameter.

Step 10: Bend all the wires downward at the edge of the weave at another 90º angle.

In this picture I have taken the 16g wire out of the center to make it easier to see the position of the other wires. However, as you can see through the rest of the tutorial, it is still being used to help hold the pendant as it is being woven.


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Step 11: Add a 4mm bead to the 28g wire and wrap it around the next wire as if you were continuing a normal weave.

Step 12: Continue adding 4mm beads as in the previous step until you have a full circle of beads.

Step 13: Weave two more rows underneath the row of beads.


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Step 14: Turn the pendant over and push the wires inward toward the center. The angle that the wires take at this point is completely up to you and how you want your finished pendant to look. It will be easier to continue weaving if you curve the ends of the wire outward so that none of the wires actually cross each other at any point.

Step 15: Continue weaving, allowing the 22g wires to come together to give the top of the cage a tapered look. You can weave as far down as you like, just be sure that you still have wire to keep going.

Step 16: Once you reach the point that you would like to be the bottom of the first woven section, add another row of smaller beads (for thi s pendant I am using 2mm beads) the same way the first row of beads was added. (Optional)


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Step 17: Bend the wires outward just beneath the last row. Do not worry about the angle at this point. The wires will be shaped around the bead after it is added.

Step 18: Wrap the 28g wire around the 22g wire that is closest to where the weave ended several times to anchor it. Do not cut off the tail yet.

Step 19: If you have not already done so, cut the beginning tail off of the 28g wire at the t op of the pendant and press it close to the 22g wire.

Cut the top wires to approximately ¼” away from the top of the pendant. File them smooth.


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Step 20: Using your round nose pliers, curl one of the top wires outward till it touches the top of the weave.

Step 21: Repeat step 20 with the remaining top wires. Set this piece aside for now.

Step 22: Place your beads onto the headpin. For this pendant I have used four beads. Bead 1: This one is only there because the accent bead I am using has a rather large hole. This bead is to keep the accent bead from slipping over the end of the headpin. If the accent bead you are using doesn’t have a large hole, then this bead is optional. Bead 2: Accent Bead Bead 3: This bead is being used to keep a sufficient amount of space between the focal bead and the accent bead. Without it, the bottom section of the woven cage will cover too much of the accent bead. Bead 4: Focal.


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Step 23: Take the 16g wire out of the center of the cage and insert the top of the headpin into the center of the cage, coming up through the bottom of the cage.

Step 24: Cut a piece of 28g wire and coil it onto the part of the headpin that is coming out of the top of the cage. You will need a coil that is about 2” long. Push the coil all the way into the cage. You should still have about 1½” of coil over the top of the cage.

Step 25: Holding the headpin so that the beads are pressed up against the last woven row of the cage, bend the coiled headpin at a 90º angle 5mm above the top of the curls at the top of the cage.


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Step 26: Using your bail making pliers, or a mandrel that is the size you want the bail to be, make a loop out of the coiled wire, just above the bend from the previous step.

Step 27: Wrap the coiled wire around the “stem” just below the loop until it touches the coils at the top of the pendant.

Step 28: Cut the wire, through the coil, and press the end against the stem. Try to tuck it up under the curls, if possible.

Step 29: Using the tail wire from the weaving (step 18) continue wrapping around the 22g wire. Hold the wire against the bead occasionally to see where you are. This coil should end about 3/16” away from the bottom of the focal bead. If you need to, you can add another piece of wire if the tail wire from the weaving isn’t long enough.

Copyright 2009 Donna Spadafore 10

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Step 30: Coil 6 of the other wires so that the coils all end the same distance away from the bottom of the focal bead as the first wire (step 29). This should leave you with 7 coiled wires.

Step 31: Cut another 3’ piece of 28g wire. Coil it around the remaining 22g wire so that the end is even with the other coils. Do NOT cut this wire.

Step 32: Bend the 22g wires outward approximately ¼” below the bottoms of the coils.


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Step 33: Press the coiled wires against the bead to shape them. Try to keep them evenly spaced.

Step 34: Begin weaving again, as before, keeping the wires evenly spaced as you go. Weave until you cover the spacer bead.

Step 35: Wrap the 28g wire around one of the 22g wires several times to secure it.


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Step 36: Cut all the 22g wires about 6mm (¼”) below the weave.

Step 37: Curl all the bottom wires upward to match the curls at the top of the pendant.

© 2009 Donna Spadafore, Gailavira Jewelry This tutorial is intended for use by one person only. Please do not share this tutorial with anyone else. Distribution of this tutorial is not allowed without express written consent from the author. If you wish to use the techniques in this lesson to teach a class you must first contact the author for permission. If you are an individual, independent jewelry artist you may use this lesson to make jewelry for sale. You may not use this lesson to mass produce items for a commercial operation. Derivatives of this tutorial (instructions using designs based on the one in this tutorial, even if they are not exact duplicates) are not allowed without written consent from the author.

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As you can see here, there are many ways to alter this design. The Blue Aventurine Caged Pendant on the l eft was used as the model for this tutorial. The Onyx pendant below it was made without the accent bead on the bottom. I did not have any bead the correct size for the top of the pendant, so I used several daisy spacer beads in each space. The Rhodonite and rose quartz pendant below also does not use an accent bead. Instead, I have added extra rows of beads to the weave to accent the focal.


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Woven Cage Pendant

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