How to Straighten Leather Cords for DIY Jewellery:
In order to be able to use Nappa leather cords for your DIY projects or business, you’ll need to straighten the leather cord beforehand so that it can be used properly. Often, when buying leather from a wholesaler, the leather arrives wound around a spool, which creates curves in the cord. This is not ideal for creating jewellery as it will not give the right finish to your final piece.
Therefore, in this blog we will outline some helpful ways you can resolve this issue, so you can get to making your creations in no time!
For the same reason leather is such a good material to use because of its durability and stiffness, it can also become an obstacle when straightening your cords. For this reason, it will take methods such as heat or friction to manipulate back into its original form.
Method 1: Bending the cord back and forth
This method is best for short lengths of cord.
For this method you want to hold each end of the leather cord with your index fingers and thumbs and bend it back and forth. Work in small sections if it is longer than 15cm. This will loosen the stiff fibres in the leather cord and with little time it should be perfect to use, easy to create into a jewellery piece.
Method 2: Using a Bone Bead
This method is ideal if you need your flat leather cord very straight.
For this method you will need to purchase an additional material called a bone bead. These are made out of natural materials. When purchasing a bone bead you will to select a size that will fit snug on the leather cord, so that it can create enough friction to soften it, whilst being able to slide from one end of the leather cord to the other when pulled across. It works best on a shorter piece of leather, i.e. a piece you would use for a bracelet or necklace.
Method 3: Adding moisture If there are only a few some kinks in the leather
This method is best suited for a piece of leather that has only a few kinks, but just needs a little extra help.
Adding moisture is a great option, as leather immediately softens when it comes into contact with natural oil (such as jojoba or coconut) or a leather conditioner. You should do this step in conjunction with the bone bead method to get a perfect result!
*bare in mind that you should only add a little moisture as fully soaking leather is never advised as it can damage it.
Sun Enterprises is a leading manufacturer of leather goods. We can fulfill all of your needs in the field of leather and all our other product offers.
- We also offer many types of accessories from magnetic locks to silk.(stainless steel magnetic clasps)
- Everything can be found on our website sunenterprises.eu.
- If the website a bit overwhelming for you, we invite you to come and visit our open warehouse in Almere, we will be happy to welcome you.
The Sun Enterprises team
