Techniques: Making a Leather-Covered Cuff Bracelet

It's easy to make a very handsome and professional looking leather covered cuff bracelet. They are comfy and stylish, and you can wear them plain or embellish them to taste. Make a wide, statement cuff, or a series of mix and match narrower ones. (These are 1.5 inches wide.)

You will need a brass cuff bracelet base, your leather to cover the outside, and a piece of ultrasuede to finish the inside and glue to hold it all together. I used our new FISH LEATHER for these examples!

You will also need, sandpaper or an emery board to rough up the brass cuff for gluing, a cheap paint brush for applying the glue, and some elastic bands or some scrap wire, and some sturdy drinking glasses, and some plastic wrap or plastic bags. Clothes pegs or binder clips come in handy too. (Read through the instructions before starting to see how the glasses are used, and it will give you a better idea of which ones to select from your cupboard.)

For glue - I have used Gorilla Glue - which is a gel cyanoacrylate (a thick version of super glue or "crazy"(tm) glue) and Gem Tac with equal success.

This is going to be a multi-step process. The key with this is to NOT try to glue it all at once and get a big gooey mess - but to glue it in stages, and let one step dry before starting the next.

 First, check that your piece of leather is going to be large enough. You will need some to wrap over the sides. I did not find it necessary to trim this fish leather at all - I used the 1.5 inch bracelet blank. Mark it so that you know where to position it when you start gluing.

Take some sandpaper or an emery board and lightly sand the outside and the inside of the bracelet blank. This will roughen it up and make for better glue adhesion. Wash and dry the blank carefully.

 Apply the glue to the outside ONLY of the bracelet blank, and line up the leather, and position it. Do NOT fold over the edges yet. Secure with elastic bands or wire, and allow to dry completely.

 Next, you are going to fold the leather over the edges and glue it. Cut into the leather at the curved ends so that the leather will lay flat when you fold it over. Apply glue to the inside of the cuff, more or less matching how far over the leather will reach.

 Place a plastic bag or some plastic wrap over a sturdy drinking glass (the straighter the sides, the better, for even pressure), and put the cuff bracelet over this. This will put pressure on the inside and hold the leather in place will the glue is drying. The plastic stops the bracelet from gluing to the glass in the event of leakage.

 Once the glue has dried, check the corners to see if they all glued down nicely. If not, you may have to add a bit more glue, clamp and wait for it to dry again.

 Now, apply glue to the entire inside - and add the ultra suede. Don't worry about shaping the ends yet.

 Again, wedge over a drinking glass and secure with wire and/or elastics - until it dries. (I was living dangerously here - no plastic. But I was also pretty careful with the glue for this stage.)

 Trim the ultrasuede up to the edge of the curve with a pair of sharp scissors.

 The finished bracelet! 

For this embellished version, (see second picture at the top) I glued a piece of WireLuxe woven wire to the outside, and wrapped it over the edges BEFORE gluing on the ultrasuede liner.

Look for all these components and supplies on our website!

Tip: too many beads

It's not often that you will hear me talk about "too many beads." But sadly - occasionally - it is true.

As in the necklace that I made for last week's InspirationFX. 

 In this particular case, I had strung all the beads first - just popping over to my bench every time I had to wait for the computer, and then made the pendant after.

In the instructions, I was careful to point out that you should only put two seedbeads in the centre, so that the pendant hangs balanced. However, that is NOT how I strung it, as I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it at the time that I was stringing the beads.

So when I made the bail, I put the pendant on the necklace and finished wiring the bail - which solved any issue of getting the pendant to the centre of the beads. However, there were these three beads, and two on one side and one on the other.

And I just couldn't stand it!

And I thought to myself - "No one will notice. No one will care. "

But it just bugged me.

So - I could unstring half of it and restring it - ugh - or ... I could just eliminate one of those pesky beads.

I put the bead in question on my bench block, covered it with a paper towel to contain the mess, and whacked it with a hammer. It crunched into pieces, and problem solved. 

And that's how you get rid of the extra bead - break it up and out it comes. Seedbeaders do it all the time - breaking up the beads with a pair of pliers - but in this case - it required a little more force.

End result - no longer bugging me. 

Cheers!

Two Simple Tips for Making Leather Bracelets

Here's a couple of quick tips if you are thinking about making some leather bracelets - because with all this new leather and specialized findings, clasps, beads, etc., they sure are tempting - and sooooo easy.

But leather being, you know, organic, sometimes it doesn't find perfectly into the clasp first time. You can wrestle with it if you like, or try these two quick tips to make fitting the leather into the hole a breeze.

Tip 1: The leather is too thick - make it thinner by filing the end with an emery board. Files down amazingly well, actually. And makes the surface rougher for better glue adhesion too. 

Tip 2: The leather is too wide, or the end got kinda squidged out from trying to force it, and now flares out a bit. Trim a little bit off - using your wire cutters. Scissors may not have the oomph you need to cut the leather cleanly - but a part of nippy wire cutters does the job a treat! 

Leather and Findings here.

Wrist Candy

I am sooo in love with the epoxy clay - it's hard not to just go berserk and cover everything with it, and a thick layer of rhinestones!

This week - this delightful little piece of wrist candy is a bezel bracelet (link to supplies at the end of the post), some Apoxie Clay, some Rivolies, and some metalFX metallic powder.

When I first got into collecting jewelry - collectors used to comment on "upsidedown" stones - stones that had apparently been mounted upsidedown in their mountings - but they still looked awesome. The speculation was that someone was really innovative during the assembly of these pieces, or just really tired!  It became apparent, as the discussions went on, that these stone were designed to be used this way - and have a pointed top - instead of the flattened table that we tend to think of in a stone.

Now, I know that these stones are called "Rivolis" - but a rhinestone by any other name is still as awesome!

This bracelet alternates Jet AB and Crystal AB. I used Black Apoxie Clay  - not that you can tell under the heavy layer of metalFX. Use a small piece of clay - as the stone displaces quite a lot of clay when you push it in.

The process is simple - mix up a batch of clay, then put a piece about the size of  large pea into the bezel and flatten it to cover the entire base of the bezel. Push the rivoli in, and the clay should ooze up around the stone. If there is too much clay, trim off with a paring knife or similar.

After you have done all the stones, dump metalFX on it to cover the exposed clay and press onto the clay. Let harden over night.

Bingo! I defy you not to be dazzled!





Findings - 18 mm Round Bezel Multi Link Bracelet - Silver plated (1) Use the 18 mm bezel bracelets.

Swarovski  Rhinestones - Rivoli Cut  Rhinestone  I used the 14 mm stones - although we do have some vintage 16 mm stones that would probably work too - with less, if any, clay left showing around them.


   Two Part Epoxy Clay - Apoxie Sculpt - Black (Pack)


MetalFX - Metallic/Mica Powder - Moonlight Silver (1 gram) I was trying to get as close as possible to the colour of the silver metal. This colour worked pretty well.

Ring a ding bling

With last week's update, we rolled out two awesome, awesome new ring findings!


and I am totally in love with these - they are so easy to use.

To make your own:

1. Glove up, and mix up a small amount of either the Apoxie clay or the Crystal clay (see end of post for links) - about the size of a lima bean, 
2. and press it into the channel and smooth with your fingers. I used black clay.
3. Then press in your rhinestones - I used stones from our Vintage Rhinestones. 
4. If the surface of the clay is not smooth enough for your liking, dip a cotton swab or tiny paintbrush in water, (yes - plain water!) and smooth out the rough area (maybe a fingerprint or a join in the clay). Don't leave a film of clay-y water on the stones, however, as it will dry and dull them. 
5. Once you have the stones positioned and the clay smooth, dump some of the metalFX onto piece of paper, and dunk the clay into the metalFX. Roll it and dip it until the clay is completely covered (the stones will be covered too - but don't worry about that - it will only stick permanently to the clay) - then smooth the metalFX in with your finger (no glove required.) (I used Moonlight Silver for both.)
6. Leave the ring overnight to harden, and go wash the glitter off before you embarrass yourself by getting it on everything. (The paper sheet allows you to pour the unused metalFX back into the container.) 
7. Next day - when the clay has hardened, you can use soap and water and a soft nail brush to gently scrub the excess metalFX off the top of the stones. And here are the results!

• Find the rings on this page: Bezel Findings, 
• the epoxy clay and metalFX here: Epoxy Clays and metalFX and 
• the vintage rhinestones are here: Swarovski Vintage Rhinestones

Lampwork Stuff that ISN'T Jewelry

Not everyone wears jewelry - beats the heck out of me why not - but there you have it. It's a funny old world.

So, you bought this great lampwork bead, you were going to make it into a pendant for a friend, when she says to you in casual conversation - oh, I never wear any jewelry except for this locket my grandmother made me, and I never take it off. Hmmmm.

Well - we have a bunch of stuff that you can use to make gifts that AREN'T jewelry - using lampwork beads, beads with large holes, and beads that you have made using wire coiling, polymer clay, metal clay, etc. (Just make the holes large when you make them!!)

For instance - how about this butter spreader - or canape knife - not entirely clear what distinguishes the two, actually.


Assembling this is easy. Test fit the bead - to make sure the length is ok. Most of these non-jewelry accessories come with a screw on end, but sometimes the bead you selected is a little longer. In that case, we have glue-in end caps.





If the end of the lampwork bead is not even, you can grind the end off to make it smooth if you have a lapidary grinder - glass is soft enough to grind very easily - just keep it cool with water. This really is an optional step!



Alternately , you can add a rubber ring between the bead and the end to fill any gaps. If you are going to screw the end on and not glue it, I highly recommend a rubber O ring to prevent tightening the screw from chipping the bead.





Mix up some two part epoxy and put a little on the shaft, add the bead(s), and then a little in the end hole, and put on the end cap.


Prop the item upright - so that glue doesn't ooze out the sides. A "Third Hand" is excellent for this - and many other similar operations.



Find the supplies you need here! (Link will open in a new tab or window.)

• Accessory components and O rings
• End caps and large hole spacers
• Glue

Other large hole beads

• Swarovski Elements - Large Hole (Euro Style)
• Metal Beads - Pandora/Euro Style
• Vertical Letters

(Look for beads with a 3 mm hole or better.)

We may have some of the "Third Hand"s in store - we don't ship them. They aren't hard to find - Princess Auto, and anywhere that sells soldering supplies generally has them. They are generally inexpensive - around $15. Sometimes you see them in those big flea markets with other interesting tools and gadgetry. Very useful for holding things at just the right angle while the glue dries.

Benchtube

We've all heard of Youtube, but Benchtube? This is an awesome resource from the Ganoksin project (aka Orchid). Grab some tea, and hunker down to watch a ton of video's on jewelry making, fabrication techniques, studio tours...and tons more besides.  It's on my agenda for later this evening. I promised myself I wouldn't delve too deep until I get some work done :-)

I really can't say enough good things about Orchid. Whether you're a goldsmith, wireworker, metal clay artist...or even just interested in jewelry. There is a huge wealth of information available here.

From Ganoksin.com :

The Ganoksin project provides a variety of quality services for the gem and jewelry community. We work hard to maintain the high standards of our services for the benefit of our visitors. Our services are provided free of charge and to the benefit to all.

Ganoksin is dedicated to serve the information needs of the world's jewelers. It is our mission to educate, improve working conditions and facilitate sharing between goldsmiths globally. Ganoksin continues improving access to information for productivity, safety, skills and education of all jewelers, professionals and hobbyists.

Ganoksin maintains a substantial library of articles, publications, reports, and technical data on gem and jewelry related topics; many of which were authored by some of the most esteemed writers within their respective fields. In addition, this site contains a sizable collection of art and jewelry galleries, for both the casual visitor and the professional.

Ganoksin also provide members blogs and forums for the exchange of information and opinion; with contributors from all over the world speaking from a wide range of technical and aesthetic experiences, covering a full range of topics of interest to the jeweler and the gemologist.

Looks Complex - Is Really Easy - Swa. Top Drills

Have you noticed how beautifully the 6 and 8 mm Swarovski Crystalized Elements - Top Drilled Bicones fit together? String these side by side, alternating sizes, and you have instant drama.




You can alternate colours, or go with a solid colour. Let me tell you - these beads, in a bracelet, all Crystal or Crystal AB! Knocks your eyeballs out.

They pack close - the firey bracelet - which is, admittedly, sized large, has 41 x 6 mm, and 40 x 8 mm.

Beady Graph Paper

Have you thought about designing your own patterns for peyote (gourd) stitch, or brick stitch, or square stitch? Are you thinking that some specialty graph paper might make it easier?

There are a bunch of free graph paper resources online! Check these out!

• Graph paper by Shala Kerrigan - lots of different styles here, including brick, peyote, (2 and 3 drop for both, and triangle weave with bicones. Hmmm - that looks interesting.
• Graph paper in PDF format for Peyote, Brick and Right Angle Weave, seed beads and cylinders from Black Giraffe.
• This inspiring Chevron Design graph and Victorian Lace graph are available on this Needlepoint site. I'm not much of a bead-weavy kind of gal - but these are more like elaborate stringing projects. I could do this!

Just print what you need, as you need it!