I have had a few leather bracelets pinned on Pinterest for a while now. I don’t like to just be a ‘pinner’ & let them sit on my boards forever, but instead I actually try to check things off my pinned list! Now I can finally check off a couple of my pinned jewelry ideas! In particular, these two pins – bracelet with sterling silver accents & quotable leather bracelet (on etsy for a hefty price!). Here are my versions of the two styles:
I started out with some really great quality flat leather lace, in two different colors (for my two different bracelets), both 5mm wide – Blackberry & Cognac (I love the black edges on both).
So first I’ll start with a {HOW TO} on my “DIY quotable leather bracelet” --->
As I already mentioned, I started with the Cognac flat leather lace (5mm), and I also had some E-600, and sterling silver findings (the metal quote part comes later).
I measured my wrist (how big I wanted the bracelet, also accounting for the findings) & measured the leather accordingly, then cut two pieces at that length.
These end caps are 10mm wide, so the two pieces of 5mm wide leather fit perfectly inside.
I put some E-6000 inside, then squeezed the leather in & let it sit until dry.
**be sure when you put the leather in the end caps that you twist the leather, at least once (or as many times as you want). Then you can wear this bracelet with or without the metal quote, and it still looks awesome.
You could stop there with the bracelet, or you can keep going & add the twisted metal quote! The bracelet I was inspired by used a piece of pure aluminum, which I didn’t have access to. So instead I used what I had available – recycled car metal! Maybe not as shiny & “pure” as the aluminum, but I get points for recycling, right ;) plus, it’s free! I also used a sledge hammer & some metal stamps.
Can I just say that this is a lot harder than it looks to make the twisted quote part of this bracelet. Mine did not turn out nearly as beautiful as the pinned etsy shop listing, and I need A LOT more practice with my letter stamping! Props to whoever it is that makes the original bracelet!!
I cut out a 3/8” wide by about 4” piece (I didn’t know how long I needed it!) of car metal & grinded then sanded down the edges until it was smooth. Then I stamped the lettering. Again, I need A LOT more practice! Oh well!!
I went the easy route to make my lettering stand out – a sharpie and an alcohol wipe. (scribble over the lettering to make it all black inside, then wipe away the excess with an alcohol wipe).
Then I started twisting it. Harder than it looks! Or maybe this car metal just isn’t easy to work with. I don’t know.
I slid it over the end of the bracelet (by the way, you might want to make the twisted metal before you make the bracelet, then you can just slide it over the leather, not the findings!). Once it was on the bracelet, I kept squeezing it with my jewelry pliers until it fit a little more snug. It isn’t nearly as pretty and smooth as my inspiration, but it will do [for me].
And the finish product (see the uneven twisting?! UGH)
Now on to my {HOW TO} for bracelet #2, “DIY leather wrapped bracelet with sterling silver accents” --->
For this bracelet, I used the Blackberry flat leather lace (about 3 meters x 5mm), sterling silver beads (they looked the “silver” part!), bead thread, needle, and findings. Aside from the leather, I got all of these items at Joanns, but I will say that I much prefer the findings that I used on the bracelet above.
This bracelet was time consuming and, to be honest, the beading was a pain! Each section of 10 beads needed a new piece of bead thread, so there was a lot of tying knots & threading needles. Maybe there is an easier way to do this part, but that is what I did.
There were a lot of sections of the beading, because I used the whole 3 ft (about) length for this bracelet. In the end it was worth it! I didn’t measure in between the sections of beading because I wanted it to look more sporadic and random, but they were spaced at about 1.5 – 2.25” apart.
[I used the best findings I could find for this project, but again I’m not super excited about them. I’d definitely recommend square end caps that fit exactly. These do work, just not as awesome as the ones I used above.]
The finished product, [and I’m totally in love with it!]
If you have any comments, tips, or questions, please share. I’m not an expert, but personally I think these turned out pretty awesome (and I didn’t have to spend $45+ for them, like on etsy). I love DIY!!
