Sunday, June 30, 2013

Domed Woven Leather Bangle

Since my last post on how to make a woven leather ring, I've made a few bangles using the same technique. The first one was with memory wire and it looks fabulous but alas, with no stretch in it, it's a very small bangle. So I switched to using 20 gauge wire to create coils the size I wanted - this was much more successful. Here's a couple of other things I learned along the way. Tape your coils in place - it makes it much easier to get the weave started. If you make your coils too large and the diameter of the finished bangle is too large like the orange one in this photo..... then try this trick. Pull the outer wire tighter.... so the outer coil is smaller than the middle coils - it will create a domed effect on the bangle. Do the same thing on the other side of the bangle.  Trim the wire to 2cm (3/4") and then thread the wire back into the weaving. And here's the finished result: you can see the orange bangle is now smaller than the purple...
Thursday, June 27, 2013

Woven Leather Ring

In my last post, I shared with you that I'm officially writing a book and consequently I have been super busy making the projects and playing with all sorts of different ideas and techniques to bring you the very best leather jewellery designs that I can. Not every project will make it into the book, not because it isn't good but maybe because it doesn't fit with the style of the other projects or maybe because it's a bit simple.  This one fits into that category but I wanted to share with you how easy it is to make.   This ring is a very small fit because of the bulk of the lace. For a larger ring, create your coil by wrapping 20 gauge wire around a tube which is approximately 6mm (1/4") larger than the size you want the finished ring to be. You will also need to increase the length of lace you are working with. Here's what you'll need for this project: Ring size memory wire (for a larger ring, see note above) Memory wire shears Realeather ...