Tips and tricks for using leather in jewelry

Today we will give you some tips and tricks for using leather to make your own leather jewelry.

How to easily create a leather bracelet

Leather is a very pleasant material to wear. This matter is alive and patinates with time is very tre ; it is also very trendy and particularly appreciated in jewelry. It allows to create original creations that can be very simple or sophisticated. Let’s first look at the basis for the manufacture of leather bracelets.

• The choice of leather: The simplest and most qualitative is calf leather or cowhide, you will find all widths and colors in the shop. The most used as a bracelet base is the plain flat leather cord 10mm. Often, one starts with a black or brown 10mm leather. 
• The size of the bracelet: Leather is often sold in 20 cm sections. Why? Because it is perfect for making bracelets for men and women. The average circumference for a woman wrist is 18 cm, for a man wrist of 22 cm. These are only averages and this can vary a lot from one individual to another. So with 20 cm, you can make both, for women you cut, for men it is more than enough because the clasp is usually between 2 and 3 cm. In general, leather bracelets are worn rather snugly, on the front of the wrist. 
• The necessary equipment : It is quite easy to start making leather bracelets with a minimum of material. The base is to have: a cutting clip, a roll of adhesive tape and a tube of glue cyanoacrylate type superglue (you will find many special glues leather and much more expensive). However, we recommend the basic cyanoacrylate (sold in all DIY stores) because it is the most efficient and less expensive. 

How to refine the leather to create bracelets

Sometimes our leather is too thick to fit into a clasp, and yet this is the one we want for our bracelet. At other times it is the pearl that does not pass because the inner hole is too thin.

To remedy these problems, there is the knife to be trimmed. It is a small tool with a razorlike blade. It is then enough to place it on your leather and carry out the movement equivalent to a vegetable stew.

Be careful, however, not to refine the leather too much otherwise it will be weakened.

You can also use it to pass two leathers through a passing pearl.

How to combine leather colors to make a beautiful bracelet

In addition to the question of aesthetics, it is always useful to know which are the "right" color combinations that ensure you "good taste". According to the chromatic circle, there are three primary colors: cyan, magenta and yellow. Cyan is blue, magenta is fuchsia red and yellow is… well, obviously yellow.

From these three primary colors, it is possible to make all colors provided that these primary colors are mixed and added white or black (which are not colors).

To create your leather jewelry, you can rely on these different association rules:

• To create in monochrome. Very simple, so it’s only one color. 
• To create in cameo. The cameo is an association of colors very close to same tone, such as beige and brown, or two values of a gradient of the same color, for example a dark orange and a tomato red, or a sky blue and a navy blue. 
• To create in contrast and complementary colors The complementary colors contrast on the chromatic circle. An example is red, which is the opposite of green on the circle, and is therefore its complementary color. Similarly, blue and orange are also complementary colors.

And even if the black and the bench are not colors, their association is complementary.

We advise you not to use more than two complementary colors in the same creation, so as not to risk the "clown" aspect. But you can nevertheless associate two complementary colors with the secondary color gradients.

We can also mention the marriage of red leather with khaki, or yellow with purple. As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless.

Feel free to play with the leather colors!

We hope that this article will help you create your own leather jewelry !