Shark tooth wrapped pendant

Tweety, if it had been a real shark tooth, you would have been able to do it the way you saw the picture.
One of these days, I will do a shark tooth and send in a photo.
I collect Megladon teeth. I have one that measures 4" across, 6" deep. I plan on doing a basket weave wrap similiar to the one Ed Sinclair does.
Next time, take a #3 phillips head screw driver. Cut 14" of silver wire. Find the center and go around the screwdriver twice. That is your lace loop.
Twist this wire 8 full times. This will bring the twist down to the middle of the tooth.
With both wires coming one at a time, on each side, cross the one on one side in front of the tooth and go around the twisted wire on top. Take the other wire and go across the tooth, wrapping on the twisted wire in the opposite direction.
Use only one twist on each side. Take one of the wires coming from the top, and to to the next side, next to the wire it came from, under the side of the tooth near the end, and bring it back up to the twisted neck. Do the same with the other side.
This will give you two wires on each side of the tooth, with the wire ends going around the twisted neck, one on each side.
Take one, and turn it around the twisted wire four or five times. Take the other one and go the other way, four or five times. Take each remaining end and make a swirl to cover the intersection of the neck wires. Make one on each side.
It takes 3/8" of wire to make a loop. Measure 1 1/2" and cut off to make the swirls.
Easy way to wrap teeth.
The other way, is to start at the bottom of the tooth. Use the 14" piece of wire, bend it around a ring mandrel around size three, or four. make eight twists, go straight up, bend around a phillips head screw driver and come down. Then wrap the wires around the sides of the tooth like the first technique I showed.
Make the wire that is loose tight by taking chain link pliers, gripping in the center of the exposed wire, and twisting 90*. This I use as my signature on teeth. It is my lightning slash trademark.
I have people coming to me from all over the country for that wrap. Should work well for you also.
Nice first try. If you use the lightning slash technique on the front wires, it will clean right up and probably look better than the one you were trying to duplicate.
From the sides to the neck, grip in the center and twist to the inside. Hold the outside portion of the wire to be twisted with your thumbnail to keep it in place. Make sure the twists look alike. The lower one can go almost 180*.
Try it, you will go hmmmm.
I have saved quite a few of my early pieces that way.

Yeah, that was me with my fake tooth. I'm thinking I'll just
drill that one seeing as how it's for my grandson but not
sure yet. Awww Tweety, I hate to tell you this, but the
crappy wire is not the reason for the tool marks ... it's the
tools, the user and this little thing called impatience. That
darn "patience" word seems to sneak into all aspects of
working with rocks doesn't it.

The tools are most important, making sure they are
completely smooth. Even though mine are called smooth
jawed, I sanded the edges to make sure. And I find the
round ones really make marks easy. I also find that when
I'm getting tired or impatient, I tend to make marks on the
wire. If you get frustrated, lay it down and walk away,
even for a few minutes, it will help.

What kind of wire are you using? Is it dead-soft? Don't
give up and keep practicing, you'll there.

Cher

Yes, my round nose pliers leave marks even though I've sanded them.
They are just cheap pliers but I can't afford the good ones. I try not to
use them too much because of that. It's hard trying to hang on to the
slippery shiny stones isn't it. What was the book that you got this idea
from? Did you buy one on wire wrapping?

Cher

Tweet, I took your pic and cut it apart to try and explain
what I'd do. I'll make references to the Fig #'s, hope I can
do this so it's understandable. Please remember, this is just
a suggestion.



Look at Fig 1 and Fig 2. Your wraps on the sides should look
like the wrap you did in Fig 2.

The first part, Fig 3 is to hold the bottom secure. After you
have the shape of the stone, you should keep the wires
straight and wrap one wire (front or back) around the other
like you have it in Fig 2. Close and tight, wrapping straight
out from the stone.

If you were looking down at the top of the stone, the wire
around it should look like this in Fig 5.


After you've wrapped out far enough (as far as you want it),
bring the wrapped section up against the stone as in Fig 6.
Bring one wire to the front, one to the back and pull them
up together at the top center of the stone.



At the top, use your flat nose pliers to make a slight bend
in 3 of the wires to point them straight up from the top of
the stone. Fold the wires over something to make the bail
and bring them back down to meet. Use your pliers to
straighten them slightly so they meet together snuggly.
Once folded, you'll have 6 wires together which you wrap
with the 4th wire to tie the bail together as shown in Fig 7.


Hope I didn't confuse you completely. If you're not sure of
the last part, I think I can make pics to explain. Sorry it took
so long to put it up for you.

Cher

Cher thanks for that rundown, I think it would have looked so much better your way, but in the picture they had gold square wire which looked cool (but I think square & half round look much nicer on these wraps anyways). They had the twists at the side, but I agree, wraps would have been better - I may take it apart & do that instead - Those slippery stones ARE very hard to hold on to

wow, cool diagrams, Cher....! i'm almost tempted to try....nah.

Tweet, at least you're trying! like this "patience" stuff Cher mentioned, there is a lot of "practice" stuff involved too.

patience + practice = perfect?

maybe.

KD

tweetie not a thing wrong with that wrap. put it on a piece of leather cord and wear it!

kim