I'm hoping to take my wire wrapping skills to a new level.
So, I'm practicing with my cab collection.
I'd like to work up to making a cuff style bracelet with several cabs.
This wrap is different from a simpler one (like the cross stone in the last similar one), but the frame is made up of two sets of wires instead of one that wraps all the way around.
To make the frame, I made the wires (I like to use square wire for at least the frame) as straight as possible, and keep them parallel with masking tape. The next step is to find the center of the wire bundle, and make the first join with half round wire, wrapped 3-5 times.
The remaining joins fall at halfway points on the cabochon (or flat bead). You calculate these points by measuring the stone. You just need enough wire space to make the turns necessary to hold the stone in.
Masking tape is your friend. 
It holds the stone nicely in place while you wrap the frame around the cab. At the top of the stone, use pliers to bind the frame and create the neck of the pendant and the bail. I like to leave the stone stuck to my bench so that I can check the placement of my bends to secure it into the frame.
Once you have the frame shaped correctly, you bind the neck wires together tightly. Wrap a piece of 3 or 4 inch wire around the neck, leaving some length to secure the bail wires once the stone is secured. With this tigerseye, I used half round, to match the bottom. If you bend the free wires at the top, it helps them to stay in place while you pull and bend their counterparts in the frame.
Now that the frame is secured and shaped, it's time to bend it to hold the stone.
You start with the front of the frame. With fingernails or a thin plastic edge, lift the top wire slightly and bend it so it's easy to grasp it separately with pliers. Position bent nose pliers at the center of each frame section, grasp the top wire and turn the pliers towards the wrapped join.
Once you like your frame front, take the stone and press it into the frame. Hold the stone firmly in place with your off hand thumb and repeat the last step on the back in the same way. Be very careful not to scratch the stone with your pliers. Sometimes I'll place a piece of masking tape on the stone to protect it from getting scratched or chipped.
The fewer actions you do with tools the better, since metal can scratch and pick up tool marks each time you use them.
Now it's time to use the frame wires to make a bail. I usually use two, but you can use more. Bend the extra wires out of the way. Bring the bail wires straight up and bend them over and back down to the neck of the pendant. At the bottom of the bail-the top of the neck wrap, bend the wires slightly to make them flat against the unwrapped neck wires. Take the extra neck wrapping wire and finish the neck securely with a couple more wraps.
Finally, you can put the finishing touches on the pendant. I like to keep some length of wire to make sure that the frame and bail cannot slip. Bends, squiggles, spirals and swirls make the wire more secure. You can attach beads or charms to these decorations. Or you can just bend the wires over and tuck them under part of the wrap. The most important things to remember- make sure all of your ends are smoothed and not available to catch on anything.
Wrapping the Tigerseye today was slightly more difficult, with the frame in two parts, but wrapped tightly together, they behave very similarly to the one piece frame. I think on the multi cab wrap I'm planning, it's going to be slightly more difficult to keep the wires flat and parrallel or keep the piece from twisting as I add complexity. I'm crossing my fingers.
-Simbelmyne
