The key to keeping the prongs in place and stop them from spinning around on the frame wire is the the retaining wire across the back of the piece. You start by making a frame wire, with bail, that matches the shape of your rock or fossil; leave it a little loose. Leave the stone out of the frame until you’ve finished the prongs. Next, use a smaller gauge wire for the prongs. Ancor it with a couple of wraps around the frame, leaving a short tail for you to hold that you will later trim off. I used hemostats to bend and shape the prong, then put on a couple of anchoring wraps onto the frame wire again. The prong should face upward through the inside edge of the frame wire. Now, the retaining wire needs to cross the back of the frame, where you again put in a couple of ancor loops around the frame, another prong, then some final anchor loops. Stop and trim all wires so that the cut ends will later touch the stone, or end up buried. Make as many prong sets as needed, depending on the weight of the stone. If you try to make all the prongs with a continuous piece of wire, you’ll find that some of the prongs turn out backwards and too loose. After all your prongs are made, drop the stone or fossil into the middle and bend the prongs over with needle nose pliers. They can then be pressed into position for securit with hemostats, forceps, or small flat nosed pliers. Big stones sometimes need a drop of epoxy on the back to keep the retaining wires from slipping. Hope this works for you.

Rhonda