Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Thursday, February 16, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

How to Make Recycled Jewelry from a Leather Belt

Posted: 16 Feb 2012 04:18 AM PST

My DH was about to toss out a leather belt because it was broken. But I couldn't bear to see such good leather go to waste so I rescued it for jewelry making! If you've got similar unloved leather belts in your future, consider doing the same!

What you willl need :

Punch - rotary leather punch is best. I don't have one so I was forced to use my metal punch which does different sized holes.
Scissors or other cutting tool
Eyelets - 3/16" as the leather was thick. If you're not using eyelets, then 1/8" or 3/32" holes will work.
Eyelet setting tool
jumprings
chain
clasps
embellishments (optional)

First, start cutting up the leather into rectangles, squares and strips. Mine were 3 x 1.9 cm, 1.9 x 1.9 cm and 0.9 cm wide respectively.

This particular belt was patterned which makes cutting it up easy. If you have a plain belt, use some masking tape to help you cut.

I trimmed the strips into bracelet length and punched holes on either end.

Place the rim end of each eyelet on the right side of the leather.

Turn the strip over and use the eyelet setting tool to hammer and flange out the back part of the eyelet.

You could also trim the leather around the eyelet being careful not to overtrim.

If one edge shows the raw leather and the other side does not, marker pens come in handy!

Open up some jump rings and attach them and a clasp and the basic leather strip bracelet is done! You can also add all kinds of embellishments if you don't want it to be plain.

Two holes on either side of each rectangular piece were also eyelet set.

I joined 5 of these together to form the front of the necklace and used a curb chain for the rest. If you are leaving the corners of the shapes as is and not rounded, make sure you make the necklace long enough so those corners don't jab into the neck. You can also mix in different sizes - say squares and rectangles - or add other elements to suit your style!

The design above has a modern industrial look. Not feminine enough for you? Then it is a question of what you use to embellish the leather. I tried out some thin metal filigrees and riveted them to the leather squares. Then I punched more holes so I could attach these to bails and onto earring hooks.