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DIY Printed Leather Jewelry Idea

September 25, 2015 By candiecooper 2 Comments

This post brought to you by LeatherCord USA.The other day I was walking out to the car and I heard a new, but old familiar sound—leaves crunching under my feet. Persimmons are also dropping all over the yard. They are a really pretty orange color (not so pretty when mashed under your favorite cowboy boots, but….). The crisp mornings just make that coffee taste better and better and I find myself gearing up for pumpkin decorating and trips to the orchard. Are you finding yourself inspired by the colors and feelings that fall brings?Here are some printed stitched leather pieces I brought home from my LeatherCord USA visit. The texture in this stuff. I LOVE IT! It also comes in a beautiful palette of colors. Click the link above to see all of them.I’m using an extra wide magnetic clasp so I can fit a whopping seven cords in it. Play around with the order of your cords so you get it just right.Determine the fit and then cut the cords with wire cutters or a razor blade. Glue the leather in the magnetic clasp finding like usual using the Loctite Gel adhesive. Can you tell I really love this technique?! It’s new to me and I’m ready to take on the world. For reals. What else can we glue leather onto?It’s perfectly beautiful like this, I think. But, just for fun, I wanted to play with some of these large holed beads I found at Michaels.I love the metal finishes with the center beads, but felt like it conflicted with all the leather colors.Instead, I opted to slide the bead/bail pieces on, one or two per leather strand.I then connected a leaf charm and Swarovski dangle to the bail piece with a jump ring. This was nice because it added some movement (and sparkle!).Just a really beautiful addition to your fall wardrobe and easy to create.

*Leather and adhesive from LeatherCordUSA.com

*Beads and charms from Michaels craft store

*Magnetic Clasp from JesseJamesBeads.com

Filed Under: Beads, Jewelry, Leather

DIY Leather Jewelry

August 14, 2015 By candiecooper Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by LeatherCord USA.Let the good times roll for it is THE weekend!

High fives! WE made it!

How about another quickie project featuring LeatherCord USA Leather Strap and Bolo cord?Leather strap is the main part of this project and LeatherCord USA makes it in a ton of colors. That’s one of the reasons I love these guys. For this project I played with the metallic “Kansa” color. It’s a stiffer leather and softens the more you wear it (like all leather).

These are the basic materials. Pretty simple:

Leather Strap in Kansa

4mm Bolo Cord in Kansa

Chunky wood chain (or any large link chain)

Adhesive

Somewhere in my excitement I forgot to put the bolo cord into the shot. I used round cord and the Glue and Go clasp pictured for the pink bracelet variation.This is so easy. I think I’m in love. The first thing you do is cut the chain with heavy duty wire snips to the desired length. Then figure out how long you want the strap, add a couple inches and cut.

Thread the strap through one end of the chain and fold it over one inch.Add a drop or two of glue and use clothespins to hold it together while the glue sets up (like in the previous photo).Wrap a few inches of bolo cord around the connection area to add a little something. You know! Use the same glue and clips to hold it in place while it dries. Trim any excess bolo cord after it dries.Just for fun, you can make a bracelet with pretty much this same technique. I used the round cord to create a spiral knot instead of wrapping it with bolo cord. Here’s a link to a spiral knot tutorial from LeatherCord USA. If you love that clasp–there’s a link to it up in the materials.

Happy weekending y’all!

Filed Under: Jewelry, Leather, Tutorials

Leather Jewelry Making

April 26, 2015 By candiecooper 5 Comments

This post brought to you by Leathercord USA!Tonight finds me with an Eric Church song stuck in my head. I didn’t even like country music until I met my husband and now it’s stuck in my head? The things we do for love.

Know what else I love?

Blank leather cuffs! That’s what I used to make this project for LeatherCord USA–Sari ribbon wrapped cuff bracelets.
Check out all the colors and sizes. You can even pick the snap color. In my eyes, these cuffs are blank canvases. The sky is the limit. I’ve got a list of things I want to try out on them. You can get some of your own HERE.
I fell in love with the red brown color and the distressed tan color cuff bracelets. That’s what I used in the post.
One of my favorite art tools is a nail file. The fine grit makes it perfect for distressing surfaces, like the red brown cuff I have here.
You can embellish it with the sari silk ribbon. Leather and silk go together like peas and carrots. I use hot glue to secure the ribbon to the back of the cuff like this…
Now start wrapping! It’s worth mentioning that if you don’t have sari ribbon, you can cut strips of silk from a shirt or scarf.
Add other colors and patterns of ribbon on the sides,
gluing and trimming as you go.
This is a punch especially used for leather. I got it at Harbor Freight. It was super cheap and went right through the ribbon.
How about that?
For a little bit of flare, I’m adding a concho I picked up in Taos. Did I ever tell you that I went on a road trip with my family across America last summer? Actually I met them along the way in Albaquerque because I was doing Jewelry Television. From there, we went to California and back to Indiana. Basically, I spent 5 days in the car straight with my husband, mom, dad, sister and her kid. Yeah. And we still love each other!

The concho has a screw that goes through the leather to attach it. If you want a permanent bond, you could add epoxy to the screw.

To add a little bit more flare, I added some LeatherCord USA deertan lacing. This stuff comes in a ton of earthy bright colors as well as various widths. That’s why I love it.
You can knot it like this or knot it on the front and glue the ends on the back like I did for the other cuff.
I wore this one today with a blue maxi dress and cowboy boots. Cue Eric Church…
Here’s the link to LeatherCord USA cuffs!