Jewelry Archives - Page 4 of 17

DIY Painted Leather Cuffs That Will Knock Your Socks Off!

February 15, 2016 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post brought to you by leathercordUSA.com. Candie Cooper demoing in the LeatherCordUSA booth at the To Bead True Blue All last week, I worked in the leathercord USA booth showing mixed media techniques to use with leather at the To Bead True Blue Show in Tucson. Holy cow. I painted cuff after cuff and after each one, I fell a little more in love with the process. These are some of my new friends I made as well as Michelle and Que that work at LCUSA. It is lovely visitors like these that make my job fun. If I didn’t say it at the time–thank you from the bottom of my heart for stopping by and watching, asking questions and chatting. YOU are my favorite part of these gigs.We were hoppin’ at the LCUSA booth and people were really digging the new metallic gold and silver gecko printed and stitched leather (it really is magical looking–you get lost looking at it). The tassels were also hot sellers!If you do art shows or craft festivals, you know that displaying work can be a challenge. I overheard compliments on the frames of leather over and over in the booth. It really is a great idea.

Now onto some techniques!

If you love artsy jewelry and building up layer after layer (or making artsy messes in my world), I think you’ll find this post right up your ally because I’m going to show you some new ideas on how to paint and embellish leather.

Do you remember that post that was all about painting leather tassels? That’s one of the first leather surfaces I tried adding Ranger Patina paints on. These are a few tassels I splashed some metallic paints on with a stiff bristle brush.

Here’s a peek at my demo area in the leathercord USA booth–there’s a little bit of everything, no doubt!
Remarkably CLEAN and tidy by my standards though. I don’t trust an artist with a clean work surface 😉 Haha.
This is a detail of one of the cuffs. Believe it or not–these take about 10 minutes to create, start to finish. Tracy at Tierra Cast put the rivets on for me (thanks Tracy). I love these simple little details that add so much!

leathercord USA makes the cuffs in all different sizes and finishes. You can see them here.
Que at leathercord USA filmed me painting one. This is me talking in the video. If you like it or have questions, let me know in the comments.

Have fun! (useful supply list at end)

LeatherCord USA cuffs (wholesale order on site or ArtBeads.com has them)

Stencil1 Stencils

Sakura PenTouch gold pens

Ranger Patina paints

Stayz On Ink pad

Leather hole punch

Tierra Cast rivetables

Filed Under: Jewelry, Leather

Lucky Wire Wrapped DIY Pendant

February 10, 2016 By candiecooper 5 Comments

This post is brought to you by BEADALON–makers of great jewelry findings and tools.
This pendant. I’ve worn it every other day since I made it.
This morning I was watching GMA and they were making dinners that cost $5. (or really close if you play your coupon cards right). It’s just as good, right?

Now I bring you the $5 DIY jewelry edition. You ready?
I’m using a dollar strand of beads, Beadalon’s antique brass chain, a retainer ring from the hardware store (look for it in the washer/bolt section of the store), 20g. antique brass colored Artistic Wire, a couple jump rings and that’s all.
String a row of 20 to 25 beads onto the Artistic Wire. It’s definitely better to have more so you can wrap your heart out.
Artistic Wire for jewelry making and crafts comes in every color under the rainbow. If you’re making this project with tweens, I would work with 22g. vs. the 20g. so it’s extra easy to wrap.
Here’s a closer peek at the retainer ring. This thing is made of steel so you’ll need to rub it with some beeswax or spray it with a lacquer so it doesn’t rust–I learned this from the master of steel wrangling, Brenda Schweder.

Secure your wire with a couple wraps.
Slide a bead next to the retainer ring and make a full wrap.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Each bead is separated with a full wrap of wire to help with spacing.
Anchor the wire the same as when we started with a few wraps. This is the back side of the pendant.
Use jump rings to attach the pendant to the chain.Boom.
Donesies.

A little design tip after wearing this necklace a few thousand times. Leaving it long is awesome, but if it’s too long, you can make an overhand knot so it hangs shorter–like we used to with super long strands of pearls found in grandma’s closet.
I don’t know about you, but we are in the thick of winter and I need all the instant gratification I can get. This necklace fits the bill.

Until next time, stay warm and visit Beadalon.com for the goods!

Filed Under: Bead Love, Jewelry, Tutorials

Whipped Buttercream Frosting Leather Jewelry Idea

January 22, 2016 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post is brought to you by LeatherCordUSA.com.

Leather Cord USA sent a box of goodies recently with all kinds of color palette ideas for the next few months. Sign up for their newsletter to get inspiration like this delivered right to your inbox (the sign-up box is at the bottom of their home page).

January’s pallet is all about butter and mushroom colors. I love both.

Hungry yet? Me too.

Mixing and matching the leathers, I started seeing this color combination everywhere. On bananas, when the sun hits the porch walls just right, and in this jar of crystals I’ve had on my shelf for years.This is my swirl of favorites. Yum. Swirl. This is the moment I saw buttercream frosting. Paging Cinnabon. Come in Cinnabon. Did I mention I’m trying to get off the bread and carbs? That’s another story for another day.

I’m only using the round leather cords from LeatherCord USA in 1 and 1.5mm diameters for these projects. This is the simplicity that I love when it comes to using leather in jewelry making. Pick your favorite colors and go!
The first idea I had was to make some earrings using those funky fold over end findings (get them at Hobby Lobby) and delicate shell bead dangles.Simply cut your leather so one piece is 3 and one is 3.5 inches long, string some beads and set the ends inside the finding. Use chain nose pliers to roll the ends over. Connect to ear wires and add beaded dangles. I’ve ironed out the kinks so I think you can knock these out in 30 minutes.The second idea I want to share uses the super skinny macaroni-sh shaped beads strung onto the leather to make a bracelet (also from Hobby Lobby). I really loved how this instantly gave it a chic feel. Cut the leather at an angle so it nestles nicely in the LeatherCord USA Glue and Go end finding (see foreground).Use Loctite gel to glue it in one end. Check the fit and make adjustments. Glue the second side.

Tip: Leave one or two strands out and use a toothpick to pry open a spot or two so you can put them right where you want them. DIY Leather and gold jewelry making idea using leathercordusa.com leather That’s really all there is to it. Shout out to my vintage picnic basket for making the perfect surface to shoot this on.
This set is going to get me through winter. Sunny days ahead people!

Check out LeatherCordUSA.com for more beautiful leathers and ideas.

Filed Under: Jewelry, Leather, Tutorials

DIY Leather Bracelet

December 18, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I spent eight hours at the hospital waiting for a procedure to be done on one of my family members.Hospital waiting rooms. Quite possibly one of the most nerve-racking places for me on the planet. As a highly sensitive person, I try really hard not to soak up what’s going on around me (or else I might not get out of bed. Ever.). Yesterday’s group wasn’t too bad. But, my mom said, bring something for us to work on…so I did.

Leather cuffs from LeathercordUSA.com to doodle on. It was the perfect waiting room craft.We used Sakura markers–Pen-Touch in gold, black and white. We like the extra fine and fine tip ones.This is my moms that I doodled on top of with the black.

I made the black and gold one (took me about five minutes).

The end verdict was, we want to make more for ourselves and think this would be a great teen craft. I even whipped up a slide show while I was in that waiting room–let me know if you like it!

On an end note, the doc was really happy with the procedure so we are feeling blessed. I hope you like this tutorial!

Filed Under: Jewelry, Leather

Bluebird of Happiness Necklace

December 14, 2015 By candiecooper 3 Comments

Have you ever started making something and you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going, but you just dig in? That’s how this necklace came to be. I made it on the show floor in Tucson two years ago (the first year I worked with JesseJamesBeads.com). I had just read the Happiness Project book by Gretchen Rubins.

Happiness.

I’m no stranger to soul searching, contemplating (ok, over-thinking sometimes) and trying to figure out what really makes me happy. As someone with a diagnosed mild to moderate anxiety disorder (aka worry wort), I think this comes with the territory.
Back to simply digging in on this necklace, I think it’s kind of a metaphor of my happiness: Stop talking and thinking about it and just dig in. Choose to do what makes me happy.

And that’s the cool thing about jewelry—it serves as a reminder. In Gretchen’s book, she talks about having a bluebird of happiness reminder (paper weight, I think). This is mine. I wear it because it makes me happy, as a shield (you will not steal my joy) and when it’s not being worn I hang it up where I can see it.

Tassels from Woman Shops World on Etsy

Large Beads from JesseJamesBeads.com

Filed Under: Bead Love, Beads, Jewelry

DIY Bolo Leather Layering Necklace

November 4, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by LEATHERCORDUSA.com.The leaves are turning fast around here. We’ve had some amazing weather too. 70s and sunny?!

Be jealous, California.

The weather guy said there was 8″ of snow on the ground back in 64′!

I’ve been painting our floors with oil based paint and it’s been a blessing to be able to work outside at our picnic table. Not to mention inspiring! Fresh air is good on so many levels. Why do I forget that so easily? Oh I know, because there are piles of things to do inside. LOLThis is a necklace I’ve had on my mind for a long time. It uses beautiful bolo braided cord from LeatherCordUSA.com. The cord comes in all different finishes from metallic to matte and natural. Another bonus is that you’ll find it in many diameters–from 3.0 to 13.0mm!You know I love layering bits and pieces together and the leather is no different. Bolo cord bundles with two strands of metallic kansa 1.0mm round leather does my heart good.

Looking at this photo, I think the next paint job needs to be on our cellar doors!My dog, Rock likes the round kansa leather cord too! I was working it through the beads and wondered why it wasn’t moving. It was caught up on Rocky’s paw. The funny thing is that he didn’t move. I pulled his paw went up and then down, up and down. This is just another day in Rocker’s world. He does what he can around here. Thanks, good dog.The large holed silver beads are from Tierra Cast. I got the baby tassels in Tucson–I think they are made in Taiwan. They are so sweet on anything! The crystals have been a bit of an obsession the past year or so. I have a little stash of them. Needless to say, mixing and matching all these surfaces makes me happy. I think I’ll wear this necklace today.
I finished the ends with these stunning Glue and Go findings also from LeatherCordUSA.com. They matched the beads perfectly, so it was a no-brainer. These findings were actually a touch too big for the bolo cord so it worked out well to add the extra kansa green cords to fill up the space.

Use this glue to adhere leather and metal together.Follow me on Instagram @candiecooper to see behind the scenes action when making pieces like this!

Happy day!

Filed Under: Jewelry, Leather, Tutorials

Katie Hacker and Artistic Wire Braid and Flat Wire

September 30, 2015 By candiecooper 4 Comments

This post brought to you by the Beadalon crew!Welcome to day 3 of the party where we visit with Miss Kaaaatie Hacker! Good ol' Katie Hacker at the Beadalon tent sale If you’ve been in the DIY jewelry world for any length of time, I’m positive you know Katie. She’s a good egg and one of my favorite people. She also hosts the popular television show, Beads, Baubles, and Jewels on PBS. Katie is the author of many jewelry making books and has been on the Beadalon design team for years. Needless to say, she is a pillar in the DIY jewelry making community and I’m honored to call her a friend.For the tent sale, Katie was showing off Artistic Wire in braid (above) and flat versions (below).Both wires come in multiple metal finishes. The wire is super sturdy so it holds and shapes beautifully. I especially love hammering it. Didn’t I mention yesterday on the blog that I wanted to hammer some metal links? It might be my next favorite technique next to fringe….if fringe were a technique that is.The wire wraps easily and you can use regular round nose pliers to make loops at the end of it. But! Have you seen Beadalon’s large bail making pliers? They have a consistent cylinder tip vs conical. Handy.When you have your piece formed, you can wrap it with more wire and the like. This will make it even more sturdy and add a little texture to the smooth surface.

I love texture.This is the class that Katie taught at the tent sale. She is masterful at designing projects that look like it took hours to make, but you could make in an evening. I love that kind of instant gratification.Did I mention all the classes were $25 at the tent sale?!? And it included all the supplies and then some!Katie and I flew out to Pensylvania together and first stop…Michaels Craft store for some last minute supplies (and a few treats for ourselves).