Tree of Life on a Shard

Take the 16-gauge wire and shape it to mimic just a little smaller the shape of the agate slab.
Make sure to shape it the the side of the agate slab which is the back of the slab.
To shape the wire start at the bottom of the slab with the middle of the wire and shape one side of the wire then the other.
Have the excess wire meet where the bail is going to be.
Bend the excess wire up away from the slab at a 90 degree angle.

Take one end of the 26-gauge wire and coil it around one of the wires at the 90 degree angle 3 times.
Make sure you are wrapping the wire away from the part of wire which has been shaped.
The wire with the 26-gauge wire is now the 1st base wire, the other wire sticking out at 90 degrees is now the 2nd base wire

Bring the weaving wire (the 26-gauge wire) to the opposite side of the 2nd base wire and wrap it around one full time.
Take the weaving wire back between the base wires to the opposite side of the other base wire and wrap the weaving wire around the base wire one full time.
Repeat
For example if the weaving wire is coming off the bottom side of the first base wire bring it up between the 2 base wires to the top side of the 2nd base wire and then wrap it around the 2nd base wire a full wrap like in the picture.
Note: one full wrap will have the weaving wire going over the top of the 2nd base wire two times.

Repeat this cross over weave once or twice.
Bend the base wires into a gentle V.
Continue this weave up the V.
Once the weave gets about 1/3 of an inch wide bend the base wires parallel to each other.
Continue this weave for about an inch.

Once the weave gets about an inch long bend the base wires back together.
Where the base wires meet back up bend them parallel to each other.
Continue the cross over weave to where the base wires meet back up.
It is helpful to keep the weave in place with a thumb nail or something so it does not try to slide down the wires.
The full wrap on each base wire also helps the weaving wire not to slide down the base wires.

Once the weave gets to where the base wires meet wrap the weaving wire around one of the base wires 3 times.

Next, wrap the weaving wire around both base wires twice.
Then wrap the weaving wire around the one base wire which it was already wrapped around, 3 more times.
Repeat wrapping the weaving wire around both base wires twice and then the first base wire 3 times.
(in this case the 1st base wire is the wire in which the weaving wire was wrapped around 3 times at the end of the cross over weave.)

Continue this weave (three two weave) till it is about ½ as long as the slab is tall.
End this weave with the three wrap around the one wire.
Cut the weaving wire off and smooth the end down with pliers.
Cut the little tail end of wire off from where the weave started also.
Smooth down with pliers.

Bend the bail part (where the weaving began) slightly to the front of the wire shape.
Bend the bail to the back of the pendant frame around the largest step of the bail making pliers.
Make sure to bend the bail til it touches the beginning of the bail.
Put a slight curve in the bottom of the bail so the three two weave is hanging straight down the back side of the pendant frame.

Curve the three two weave into the frame.
The size and shape of the slab will determine how much room there is in the frame to shape the three two weave.
The frame in this tutorial is about ¾ inch wide by 3 ½ inches long so there is not much room to work with.
Bend the ends of the base wires to begin getting a curl in them.

Cut the base wires off about ¾ of an inch from the end of the weave (or longer if they are a good distance from the frame)
Spiral the end of the base wires up so they just touch the inside of the frame.
Play with the position of the wires till it is attractive.

Use a bit of what is left of the 26-gauge wire to secure the ends of the base wire to the frame.
To do this wrap a piece of 26-gauge wire around the frame by where the curl meets it three times, then around both the frame and the curl two to three times then just the frame three times again.
Cut off the wire and smooth with pliers.
Repeat with the other curl.

Cut the 24-gauge wire into 8 pieces that are 3.5x the length of the agate shard. Take one piece of 24-gauge wire and wrap the middle of the wire around the bottom of the pendant frame 4 times.
Twist the end of the wire together for about ¾ of an inch.

Repeat with the other 7 wires.
For a skinnier tree try using only 6 wires and for a fatter fuller tree use more wires.

Use a small amount of tape to hold the slab onto the frame.
Do not wrap the tape all the way around the stone and frame.
Its better to use a few small pieces of tape then a large piece.

Bend the twisted wires at the bottom of the pendant up around the bottom of the stone and twist all the wires together, this forms the trunk of the tree.
Once the trunk is formed it's time to make the branches.
Pull off 2 or more wires and twist them together to form a branch.
Twist the rest of the wires together some more to extend the trunk.
Repeat til the wire runs out and there is a tree shape over the stone.

Untwist the branch wires some and separate them some to form smaller branches.
The twisting of the wire and untwisting puts kinks into the branches for a more organic look on the tree.

Pick one wire and bring it to the back side of the pendant and wrap it around the frame three times.
Pick a wire on the other side of the pendant and repeat.
Pick a couple more wires from around the frame, top and bottom to secure.
The goal of picking a couple wires around the frame is to secure the slab into place.

Check the placement of the branch wires.
If the wires are where you want them cut off the ends off the wire and smooth with pliers.

Take the round-nose pliers and put some bends into the tree, both the branches and the trunk to give it a more organic look.
Also put some bends into the roots of the tree so they are not straight.