…Martha Stewart style. Well, actually by her tutorial and Steven’s awesome leather-making instructions:
I took some leather scraps. Measured them into long rectangles, that were about 1″ longer than my wrist.
Using Fiskars heavy duty scissors, I cut through the leather to create the arm bands.
The thinner leather, about 1/16-1/8″ thick stuff, was easier to work with, mold, and cut.
Just look at that huge pregnant belly sticking out there… :)! Ahem.
I cut lots of bracelets, to create a number of gifts all at once. My sister picked a great craft for me to try, and I liked them as well!
You measure 1″ away from each bracelet end.
And draw 2 parallel lines down the middle.
You carefully cut out those center lengths with some handy leather tools.
You re-check the fit. Looking good so far.
Wet the leather arm band, to make it more pliable before you attempt the Mystery Braid.
This is what mine looked like after trying to follow the directions on Martha Stewart.com. Ha! Nope.
Steven found this Mystery Braid tutorial on YouTube, and we re-watched it about 25x until we had all of our strips braided easily to success. What a fun craft!
Steven was quite curious about the Mystery Braid, so he was eager to jump in there to help me and figure it out. I love that about him!
I waited a short time for my leather straps to be slightly damp to dry before applying Steven’s generous stash of leather dyes. Some dyes I mixed, some I left their natural color of dark brown or espresso.
I even added in some glazing to give a few a goldish sheen.
After the dye dried, I applied Tan-Kote protective leather finish to all sides of each arm band.
My arm band collection was coming along.
I then applied leather-grade snaps with Steven’s snap setting tools, and some screw rivets and punch holes to the triangle shaped arm bands. The last step, is to buff the bands with a some sherpa (lambs wool), to give them some shine.
Not a real clear picture here (sorry I had grabbed the inferior camera for this shot…oops!), but it shows some of the bands completed and laid flat.
And, I was quite happy with how they all turned out. I still have all Steven’s leather crafting tools spread out on our dining room table, as I am getting more ideas of what to create with it: even more armbands to make, a belt, and purse straps to design! What else could you think of to make?
All of Steven’s leather products and tools were originally purchased at the Tandy Outlet store when we lived in Orlando, Florida a few years ago. We have a few Tandy stores about an hour and a half away from us now, but are thankful that Michael’s and Hobby Lobby tends to carry a small selection of leather supplies like cording, rivets, and snap settings.
If you still want to come over and create leather stuff with me, just flag me a note!
