New step by step for this jacket linked right here.
Category: Stringing Materials
Leather Cord Instead of Chain
A quick search on Pinterest for leather cord jewelry will pull up hundreds of great images and inspiration for leather projects.
Our genuine leather cord is available in many wonderful colors. It is an ideal replacement for chain when designing necklaces and bracelets.
Leather cord can be tied together for fast no-clasp peices. You can also use a number of unique products to finish the edge of the cord to make wearable jewelry quickly too!
We have over a dozen options to share with you.
- Bend your leather cord and wrap with wire to make loops that can go over buttons and other clasps.
2. Use end caps that are attached by flattening the mid section with pliers. Finished jewelry looks high end and the end caps can be linked with jump rings to clasps, charms, tassels and more.
We have a small assortment of these end caps left in stock linked here.
We also sell a revolving version of these that are beautiful and linked here.
3. These end caps “pinch” into place. A little dab of glue keeps it more secure.
They are linked here.
4. Leather crimps are the most common way to finish a cord. We have a wide assortment of sizes so that more than one cord can be crimped too! Linked here.
5. Traditional glue on end caps in small sizing for leather is also very popular. Many people glue several cords into one end. We have end caps for one cord and more here.
6. The coil loop is visible on lots of leather cord designs. While you could make these yourself with wire, sometimes it is nice to have them finished and ready to attach with glue. Linked here.
7. We have some decorative crimps that act in the same way #2 on this list works. These caps have a mid section that you flatten with pliers. This grips and holds the leather cord in place. Their design are meant to be seen and featured.
These crimp ends are also available in sterling silver. Leafs linked here.
8. Glue-on magnetic clasps make your peice instantly wearable. The ends are finished and the clasp is easy to open and close. Our entire collection is linked here but you will need the caps you can glue-on.
9. The plug-in clasp tube is also a great option for finishing a cord. The link is here.
10. A knot is also acceptable for finished leather cord jewelry. No tools, no components!
11. A bead plus a knot is even better for a finish.
12. Of course, knotting more than one cord creates a fridge effective. Also, take a moment to google “sliding knot” for one of the most common additions to leather cord jewelry. There is a video explaining the knot right here.
13. Leather cord plus a bead also creates a button style clasp. Easy and no tools required.
Nymo at John Bead
Instant Statement Necklace
Instant Statement Necklace by Carmi Cimicata for John Bead. This necklace is easy to create if you enjoy simple twisting techniques and hand stitching.
Polyester Pipe was one of the newest stringing materials to be introduced by John Bead as part of their Tropical Punch collection. There are many color options to choose from. For this project I used Aqua/Royal Blue and Navy/Burgundy.
The fabulous crystal filled bezels you see featured are created with Instant Glam components. The Blue Crystal Rock applique paired beautifully with the blues in the polyester Pipe.
In order to get my necklace shaped, I used masking tape to help me keep both polyester pipe strands side by side.
Strategic hand stitching on the back side of my piece ensured that the curves would stay in place.
I even added a tiny bit of glue to my thread knot for extra security.
The Instant Glam bezels already have three soldered links on the back. I used a needle and thread to join the bezels components to the polyester pipe using those links.
I was almost done. I could not decide if a third bezel was needed.
After showing my work in progress to our Creative Director; Fernando Dasilva it was pointed out that perhaps another loop was needed. So I added these three loops by simply gluing end caps to some of my leftover polyester pipe pieces and attached them with a jumpring.
I think the bezels are now balanced and the asymmetrical look I was envisioning has been achieved.
Leather and Lucite Summer Sensation Necklace
This is the “Leather and Lucite Summer Sensation Necklace” designed by Carmi Cimicata for John Bead Corp for the current issue of Perles Et Cetera magazine.
This magazine is published in French, so this is the English translation.
Soft leathers in a range of colors make it possible to create wearable jewelry with virtually no leather crafting skills. All you require is a desire to think creatively about a product normally shaped into purses or shoes. Leather is also normally associated with colder weather. Combining it with Lucite, which is perfect for hot summer days was a great challenge.
Leather is much thicker than fabric, requires no extra hemming and can be easily cut with many dies originally designed to cut paper. My maple leaf shape could have been hand cut with scissors but I already had a paper cutting die that made this job take only a minute or two.
I stacked my leaves in an interesting pattern and lightly glued them together. I now had my new leather pendant. A little extra trimming gave me my new abstract shape.
I used a regular ribbon clamp to make my new leather pendant easy to add to my polyester pipe necklace.
The Lucite Hibiscus Bead Cap flowers are from the Dazzle-it Tropical Punch collection. I used a head pin to add my bead to the cap and created a loop so I could attach three of these to the pendant bail sliders with a jump ring.
These special bails allow you to add components to braided cords featuring kumihimo and macramé techniques. They slide beautifully onto thick cords.
I glued a strip of leather onto my polyester pipe cord to keep the bail positioned at this height. It was like creating a little stopper.
Finally, a glue-in magnetic end cap finished my polyester pipe cord ends brilliantly. My necklace is lightweight and the perfect accessory for summer outings. With so many soft leather colors to choose from I can mix and match shapes for virtually any clothing ensemble.
Components Used
Metal Complex Soft Leathers
Ribbon Clamp
Tropical Punch Polyester Pipe Turquoise/Peach 5mm
Pendant bail sliders
Magnetic glue-in end cap
Tropical Punch Lucite Hibiscus Bead Cap and Lucite Beads
Jump rings in various sizes
Tools
Quick Grip Glue
Metal Complex leather scissors
Pliers
AccuCut Maple Leaf die and die cutting system
Tropical Punch Polyester Pipe
One of the fantastic new products we are introducing with Tropical Punch is Polyester Pipe. It is a colorful, flexible and versatile hollow-plastic pipe covered with polyester thread.
The pipe can be transformed into necklaces, bracelets, sunglass holders, lanyards and hoops.
This material offers unique functionality and is a great product to be incorporated into many multimedia applications.
Used alone or as an additional to other stringing materials it brings colour and texture into designs.
We have twelve fabulous colour options!
Tropical Punch Polyester Pipe
One of the fantastic new products we are introducing with Tropical Punch is Polyester Pipe. It is a colorful, flexible and versatile hollow-plastic pipe covered with polyester thread.
The pipe can be transformed into necklaces, bracelets, sunglass holders, lanyards and hoops.
This material offers unique functionality and is a great product to be incorporated into many multimedia applications.
Used alone or as an additional to other stringing materials it brings colour and texture into designs.
We have twelve fabulous colour options!
Tropical Punch is shipping now!
Imitation Sinew
Metal Complex has two new colours in the sinew collection.
