Leather Jewelry: 30 Contemporary Projects

132 Pages·2010·102.72 MB·English

by  Nathalie Mornu

JEWELRY
e r e w e r
30 CONTEMPORARY PROJECTS
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Nathalie Mornu II
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lARK BCDKS
A Division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
New York / London
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Art Director
Kristi Pfeffer Mornu, Nathalie.
Leather jewelry: 30 contemporary projects / Nathalie Mornu. -- 1s t ed.
p.cm.
Photography Director
Includes index.
Dana Irwin
ISBN 978-1-60059-529-5 (pb-trade pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Leatherwork. 2. Jewelry making. I. Title.
Photography
TT290.M62 2010
Lynne Harty, principal
739.27--dc22
Steve Mann, pages 8-32
2009030532
Stewart O'Shields, pages 9-12
10987654321
Illustrations
First Edition
Olivier Rollin
Published by Lark Books, A Division of
Editorial Assistant Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Kathleen McCafferty 387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
Text © 2010, Lark Books, a Division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Cover Design
Photography © 2010, Lark Books, A Division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.,
Chris Bryant
unless otherwise specified
Illustrations © 2010, Lark Books, A Division of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.,
unless otherwise specified
Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing,
c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6
Distributed in the United Kingdom by GMC Distribution Services,
Castle Place, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex, England BN7 1X U
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty Ltd.,
P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756 Australia
The written instructions, photographs, designs, patterns, and projects in this volume are intended for
the personal use of the reader and may be reproduced for that purpose only. Any other use, especial
ly commercial use, is forbidden under law without written permission of the copyright holder.
Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due
to differing conditions, tools, and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any inju
ries, losses, and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.
If you have questions or comments about this book, please contact:
Lark Books
67 Broadway, Asheville, NC 28801
828-253-0467
Manufactured in China
All rights reserved
ISBN 13: 978-1-60059-529-5
For information about custom editions, special sales, or premium and corporate
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Introduction 6
The Skinny on Skins 8
Materials 10 Necklaces
Exotic Skins 11 REGINA 136
COCO 139
Tools 20
LASSOO 142
Leather Techniques 24
BIG ZIP I 46
Non-Leather Techniques 31
DISCOBOA I 48
CIRQUE I 51
RONDELLE I 54
FOG I 56
GOSSIP I 59
LUNA 162
Earrings
TASSEL I 64
POM 167
SPRIG I 70
GRAFFITI I 72
SCRUNCH 174
KNOTS I 76
CACTUS FRUIT I 78
Rings
DOT, DOT, DOT I 82
FLUF I 84
ROLLO I 86
CONFETTI I 88
Bracelets and Cuffs
ARABESQUE I 92
LINK 195
POLKA 198
CHANNELS I 101
AUBERGINE I 104
117 Gallery
CITY I 106
123 Templates
129 About the Designers
Hair Accessories
131 About the Author
GLEAM 1108
LEAFLET I 112 132 Acknowledgments
PERLA I 114 132 Index
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I When you think of leather jewelry, do images
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of hippies wearing wristlets tooled with floral
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wearing black armbands strapped on with
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buckles? Punkers bristling with spiked cuffs?
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Or crafts you made at camp? That's old school.
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Contemporary leather jewelry looks nothing like
that. Instead, it ranges from stylish to playful,
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from stark to frilly; it's colorful and multifaceted, cardboard; after ali, leather's used to make
11111111111111111 it can even be sculptural. In a word, it's modern. shoes-it must be tough, right? You might figure
Flip through these pages and you'll see the it's almost impossible to hack through, difficult
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II II scope of today's leather jewelry. Lassoo, on to shape, hard to assemble. Nope, nyet, nuh-uhn.
page 42, is an elegant braided loop to wear long Once you get started, you'll discover it's a
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and slinky, or wrapped twice (or even thrice) versatile material that cuts like butter and is so
II around the neck. The hot-pink Scrunch hoops on easy to work with.
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page 74 pair bold scale and interesting texture. In fact, you already perfected the skills
111111111111111111 Searching for a cool, urban accessory that's you need for fashioning leather into jewelry
tough yet pretty? Check out the fur-covered City in preschool. If you can use scissors, pound
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cuff on page 106. For a more feminine look, turn with a hammer, button a shirt, and knot your
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to Gleam, on page 108. In sparkling metal tones, shoelaces, you can make any of the pieces in this
I II this rose-shaped barrette can also be clipped book. Though you'll need a bit more precision
to a hat or fastened at the neckline as a brooch. than you had at the age of five, the techniques
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And if you want to get noticed, wear a Rollo ring for making the projects in this book essentially
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(page 86) ... or a handful! involve little beyond some cutting, a few strikes
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If you've never made anything from leather, of a mallet, assembling simple mechanisms, and
you may think it's like trying to manipulate threading elements together.
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Since working with an unfamiliar material
can feel slightly daunting, the first part of
the book covers all the information you'll
need about techniques, tools, and materials,
including exotic skins. It also describes a few
jewelry-making techniques, in case you've never Not only is leather simple to work with, it's
handled jeweler's pliers. Thirty fun projects with also pleasing to the senses: it feels good to the
step-by-step instructions follow, organized by touch, it smells great and it comes in an array of
category: neck laces, earrings, rings, bracelets gorgeous colors and fantastic finishes. So pick a
and cuffs, and hair accessories. There's also a project to make, gather up a few tools and some
gallery of work by professional jewelers, so you luscious leather, and get ready to adorn yourself
can see exciting pieces from around the globe. with some fabulous trinkets.
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Almost any kind of leather has the potential heavier weights. Although its surface is a blank
to become a fantastic piece of jewelry, but a canvas very receptive to transformations such as
given piece may not be appropriate for making tooling, carving, branding, molding, and dyeing,
a specific item. For example, you can't expect I decided not to focus on it for this book.
to turn a stiff piece of leather that's 6 milli Instead, most of the jewelry in this book
meters (% inch) thick into Regina (page 36); this is made from garment- or upholstery-grade
design demands a thin, supple material such leather. This type of leather is processed with
as lambskin or sueded pigskin. Consider the chemical compounds and could never be
characteristics you want in your finished bangle, mistaken for vegetable-tanned leather. The
necklace, or earrings, and then choose the project designers chose it either for its color
leather accordingly. If possible, before you buy or for the way it drapes. It's more flexible and
leather, handle it to see how it behaves and to comes in a wide range of surface types, from
gauge whether it will act the way you need it to. smooth to embossed; in hues from natural tones
Very few of the projects in this book started to electric shades found infrequently in nature;
out as vegetable-tanned leather. Think and in all kinds of finishes, such as metallic and
cowboy belts and holsters-they're made from crackle. It acts much like fabric and, depending
vegetable-tanned leather. This material comes in on its thickness, stitches up pretty easily.
a plain flesh color and can be rigid, especially in
Vegetable-tanned
leather
Because leather is such
a thin material, and its
thickness can vary by subtle
amounts, it's more accurate
to describe the thickness in
millimeters than in inches.
In case you're more familiar
with the standard system, in
this section, metric measure
ments are roughly converted.
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Common Leathers
When you think of leather, you may assume
cowhide or pigskin, but leather comes from
many different sources. Leathers derived from
smaller animals are called skins; the ones
that come from larger animals are hides. The One of the great qualities of cowhide, which
thinnest, softest, most pliable leathers come from has a smooth grain side and a sueded side, is
smaller animals and include goatskin, lambskin, that it's usually dyed all the way through. You
calfskin, and deerskin. Women's gloves, for can use either side, so you get two textures from
example, tend to be made from these skins. a single purchase.
Full grain is the natural surface of the leather; it isn't the grain, is called top grain. The underlayer (or under
altered in any way, meaning that scars, scratches, and layers, if there's enough for more than one) is known
wrinkles show. To hide these imperfections, leather as a split or a sueded split, because it has a sueded
can be buffed, much as wood is sanded. When project texture on both sides. When a project in this book calls
instructions in this book refer to the grain, that means for suede, it means a sueded split. Because it doesn't
the smooth side of the leather-the right side, the one contain any fibers to hold it together, suede has less
meant to show, the side with a special finish. structural strength. In cows, unsplit hides average
Suede is technically the flesh side of leather a thickness of 4.8 millimeters (3/16 inch). Upholstery
opposite the grain; it has a velvety appearance. But leathers range from 0.9 to 1.6 millimeters (1132 to 1/ 16
because there's also a leather commonly called suede inch) in thickness.
(shown at right), to avoid confusion, this book refers to With stamping or embossing, a pattern is applied
the back side of leather as the wrong side. under heat and pressure to make a cowhide or other
The thickness of hides varies; to get them a leather resemble something different, usually a more
consistent thickness, they're fed grain-side up through exotic skin.
a splitting machine. The topmost layer, which retains
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ZVl Manufacturers create all kinds of fancy * Glazes that give a soft, hazy shine
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leathers for footwear, handbags, and various * Milling to give special textures
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upscale products. With its high-gloss * Stamped or embossed designs, such as
appearance, for example, patent leather is Western motifs or faked ostrich or crocodile,
yummy stuff. Other surface treatments include: applied under heat and pressure
* Distressing or crackle finishes * Complex punched patterns
* Pearlized finishes * Printing and tie-dyeing
* Metallic finishes * The permanent application of fabrics to the
* Foils applied to imitate exotic skins such as upper surface of the leather
lizard * Varnishes
* Laser cutting, both to "engrave" linear
designs and to create lacy cutwork
These top finishes are applied to the grain
sides of all types of leathers, from cowhide
to lambskin. It's rare to come across scraps
of especially fancy leathers that make you
swoon, but you may see manufactured items
you're willing to buy and cut up just for their
amazing leather.