Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Sof-Suede Leather - A Whole New World of Colour Inspiration


Not so long ago I posted a list of ways to work with donut beads and as I promised you some more eye candy using Silver Creek Leather this week, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to combine glass donuts and leather lace.

This bracelet and earrings set uses Silver Creek Leather Sof-Suede lace in Kiwi and Lilac. 

Aren't they the prettiest colours together? Combined with some silver leaf charms, the bracelet and earrings take on a soft and romantic garden feel. 

Working with leather is much easier than you might think. All you need are the right jewellery findings to connect your lengths of cord or lace to the findings which will turn your lace into a piece of jewellery. In this case, I've used ribbon ends and cord ends.

The bracelet is a simple construction of three lengths of Sof-Suede lace which have been threaded with square holed beads. Threading two strands through one bead is the key to making the strands sit nicely. 
Add a few charms on jump rings for interest and a clasp to complete the bracelet.

And the earrings are even easier! You need cord ends (or tubes) the right diameter for the lace to fit inside and some adhesive.

Because these are earrings, they won't be put under the same stress as a bracelet, so you can glue the lace into the cord ends. I've used three varying lengths of lace and threaded two of them with beads before tying them into a knot. For the third lace, I glued on another cord end and hung a leaf charm from it. 
But you could even skip the cord end and knot it just like the other two and then hook the jump ring and charm into the knot.

The three strands are connected to an earring wire by a large triangle jump ring so that they will hang straight. If you place them on a round jump ring, they will splay out a little before gravity takes hold.
As you can see, working with leather lace is really easy. And no longer are you restricted to black and tan; with such a wonderful selection of colours to choose from, your leather jewellery can take on a surprisingly different look to the type of jewellery you'd traditionally associate with leather cording. So next time you think about working with leather cord, why not skip the traditional black and try one of Silver Creek Leathers coloured laces instead.... it will give your jewellery a whole new look!

'Til next time.....








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