Make Yourself a Leather Necklace Tutorial
Dawn
Sundance inspiration
I was flipping through the Sundance catalog the other day on my ipad and I came across this lovely gem.  Cute isn't it?  I thought so too, and I've been wanting to make myself something in leather for a while.  Then, I saw the price tag and I choked on my chocolate mint coffee.  I showed it to the King so he could laugh too, and he says, "Why don't you just make one?" I have plenty of leftover beads lying about, so I figured, why not.  While I'm at it, I might as well show you all to do the same thing.
This week's fun tutorial is how to make yourself a $720 necklace.  Oops, let's move that decimal point two spots,  $7.20 necklace.

Here's what you need (or a close approximation):
Some leather cord.  (I used 44" worth)
2 larger bore metal beads (your leather needs to be able to pass through them)
Toggle closure
2 lengths of wire about 6" each for wrapping.
Jump Rings (2 large, 5 medium)
Large-ish circle (can be metal, acrylic, wood, whatever you have)
3 Short lengths of chain (I used (2) 1" lengths and (1) 1.5")
Headpins 9 total (I used 6 plain and 3 decorative)
3 different findings (I used a dragonfly, and 2 little green, blue and turquoise ones that say love and joy on them)
Everything you need
3 freshwater pearls
3 round gemstone beads
3 glass beads
3 seed beads (to end the plain head pins, makes them prettier)
5 small metal beads

For tools you need:
Round nose pliers
Straight nose pliers
Wire snips

If you have some broken jewelry, jewelry that you just don't wear anymore, or even some scrapbooking findings you can use them in this.  If you need any of the parts, Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and even Walmart sell the pieces you can use, some even have them in convenient jump ring, head pin, toggle packages for about 3 dollars.

Let's get started. 
Cut your leather to your desired size.  I made mine 44" so I would have enough to wrap twice around my neck and still have plenty to dangle.  
Attach the large circle to the leather using a simple hitch knot, and keeping the ends even.
Slip your large bore bead onto the end of one side of the leather.
Open one of the large jump rings and attach it to the large bore bead, put the toggle on and close it.

Knot the leather back on itself leaving about a 1" tail. I used a simple slip knot.

Take one of the lengths of wire and wire wrap the end of your leather cord.

Repeat on the other side.
On one of the sides, attach one of the cute findings to dangle from the toggle.

Open 3 of the remaining jump rings and attach each of your lengths of chain to a jump ring, check each ring of the chain to make sure it's closed.
Attach the jump rings to the circle and close the jump rings.

Lay out your beads and findings in some approximation of where they will go on the dangling chain to see what it will look like, adjust until it pleases your eye.

Choose a bead to start with and a head pin.
Slide the bead on the headpin and wrap your headpin, attaching it to the chain BEFORE you finishing the wrapping.

Repeat until all your beads are on the headpins and attached to the chain.

Open the 2 remaining jump rings and attach them to the findings.
Attach the findings to the chain and close the jump rings.


Finished version


That's it!
You now have yourself a fabulous new piece of jewelry that's uniquely yours.  Wear it like it cost you $720.
Who pays that for some silver, beads and leather anyway?

P.S.  You can find this tutorial along with a bunch of other great ones over at A Glimpse Inside and Saved By Love Creations
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1 Response
  1. Becky M. Says:
    Jun 11, 2012, 7:19:00 AM

    Yours is totally cuter than theirs.


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