Before you go out and spend money on crafting supplies, I recommend looking around the house for items you can use to “practice” making your jewelry. There’s nothing more frustrating than having to throw away good materials you bought, if your project goes bust!
Items you can practice with can include shoe laces, leather straps, ribbons, Halloween or Mardi Gras beads, broken jewelry, costume jewelry, thread, yarn, floss, zippers, buttons, clasps & hooks, split rings, lock washers, safety pins, glue, and much more. Just be creative and don’t turn down anything!
Next thing to do after you’ve gathered your materials, is to Google DIY jewelry so you can have a visual of what the finished project should look like. Don’t worry if yours doesn’t look like the picture and it’s perfectly fine to try your own ideas.
For my little example below, I used a brown (round) leather strap from an old hat, cross-stitch thread (also called embroidery thread), a strand of fake pearls (left over from a previous project), glue (prefer clear glue) and an 8 mm bead or a medium flat button.
(btw, you ALWAYS need scissors!)
Measure your strap by wrapping it around your wrist to make sure it fits. It’s a good idea to have an extra 2-3 inches in the event your clasp doesn’t look good and you want to cut it off and try again…
Fold the strap in half and beginning wrapping about 1/2 inch below the loop, which you will later use as a button hole to fasten your bracelet. As you wrap the colored thread you will also wrap the faux pearls tightly into place.
Note: I decided to wrap thread between each pearl twice and make it look like a “V” design
Check your work every few wraps to make sure it’s not crooked or twisted. You’ll probably be able to manipulate the strand of pearls to straighten them on leather wrap. As you’re coming to the end, measure your wrist with it to see where exactly you’ll need to stop. If necessary mark it with a pencil or stick a pin through it.
When you get to the end double & triple wrap the colored thread and take a needle and hide the thread under the wrapping. I always put a little dab of clear glue to make sure it doesn’t ever unravel.
The closure can be anything that can fit through the end loop. I used an 8 mm bead but you can use a decorative button, a hook or even a lock washer (usually found in a toolbox).
This project took me 3 hours and I consider myself an intermediate crafter. I have fibromyalgia pain especially in my fingers so it shouldn’t take you more than an hour to make one!
Enjoy and Happy Crafting :)
Visit my handmade items at Krafty Chik
039b1bb7f897478113d788368464cc91993e579fdcb4012053
Items you can practice with can include shoe laces, leather straps, ribbons, Halloween or Mardi Gras beads, broken jewelry, costume jewelry, thread, yarn, floss, zippers, buttons, clasps & hooks, split rings, lock washers, safety pins, glue, and much more. Just be creative and don’t turn down anything!
Next thing to do after you’ve gathered your materials, is to Google DIY jewelry so you can have a visual of what the finished project should look like. Don’t worry if yours doesn’t look like the picture and it’s perfectly fine to try your own ideas.
For my little example below, I used a brown (round) leather strap from an old hat, cross-stitch thread (also called embroidery thread), a strand of fake pearls (left over from a previous project), glue (prefer clear glue) and an 8 mm bead or a medium flat button.
(btw, you ALWAYS need scissors!)
Measure your strap by wrapping it around your wrist to make sure it fits. It’s a good idea to have an extra 2-3 inches in the event your clasp doesn’t look good and you want to cut it off and try again…
Fold the strap in half and beginning wrapping about 1/2 inch below the loop, which you will later use as a button hole to fasten your bracelet. As you wrap the colored thread you will also wrap the faux pearls tightly into place.
Note: I decided to wrap thread between each pearl twice and make it look like a “V” design
Check your work every few wraps to make sure it’s not crooked or twisted. You’ll probably be able to manipulate the strand of pearls to straighten them on leather wrap. As you’re coming to the end, measure your wrist with it to see where exactly you’ll need to stop. If necessary mark it with a pencil or stick a pin through it.
When you get to the end double & triple wrap the colored thread and take a needle and hide the thread under the wrapping. I always put a little dab of clear glue to make sure it doesn’t ever unravel.
The closure can be anything that can fit through the end loop. I used an 8 mm bead but you can use a decorative button, a hook or even a lock washer (usually found in a toolbox).
This project took me 3 hours and I consider myself an intermediate crafter. I have fibromyalgia pain especially in my fingers so it shouldn’t take you more than an hour to make one!
Enjoy and Happy Crafting :)
Visit my handmade items at Krafty Chik
039b1bb7f897478113d788368464cc91993e579fdcb4012053