Sunday 2 June 2013

Endless Leather designs -- part 1




Remember when I showed this pic above as a little tease (or just as a way of saying I haven't totally dropped on the planet, just not blogging much)? Well, finally I'm going to do some show and tell! But first the background:

Some time ago, I was made aware of the shop Endless Leather. After having looked around the shop, I was hooked: I love leather and their range was really inspiring, covering everything from basic leather cords to all sorts of flat braids and unique leather cords such as salmon fish leather. Who can resist that?

The next week I got these gorgeous salmon leather cords and a cool stingray print leather cord plus so stainless steel findings to play with. Due to many things the reveal got delayed several times, but today I'm finally ready to show you the result.

Because I'm redoing a design and searching for the perfect components, I've split the reveal into two posts, the other one to be posted on a not yet defined future date. Perhaps in a few days, perhaps in a week or two depending on the workload next week.





First design is the cat wrap bracelet I made with violet salmon leather cord, stainless steel end caps and d:o clasp. To add a little fun detail while still keeping the design simple and sleek, I slid a cat button unto the clasp's loop before attaching it to the end cap. An easy way to make a quick and simple design a bit more personal.



There's actually a "secret" to this clasp: it was created as a necklace/bracelet. Originally I planned on making it a triple bracelet, which would be a good size for it to be able to be used as a necklace too, but it felt a tad too chunky on my dainty wrist so instead it's just a doubled bracelet. In order to be convertible it need a little something I haven't made yet as I don't have the right purple beads. Yes, it's one of my favourite colour in the leather cord and, yes, I don't have the purple beads to match it! So that'll have to wait until part 2.





The second piece is a necklace made from turquoise 6 mm stingray print leather, stainless steel end caps and d:o clasp with a beaded bezel focal. The focal is attached to the end cap loops using jump rings. It would be possible to stitch the end caps directly onto the bezel, but I chose not to as by using jump rings, it is easy to remove the focal e.g. for repairs or to substitute it with something else. Like a chunky, irregularly facetted focal bead as was my original idea before settling for this beaded component instead.




The focal is made of a crackled mosaic stone with the usual white ceramic back, which I covered with a coin in order to add weight (to counterbalance the clasp) and a more attractive finish to the flipside. Of all the coins in my small collection, only two had the right size and of those two, this one had the most suitable design. I put the change from a Copenhagen visit in the supply box just because of the designs on a couple of the coins. And now it came into use.




The last piece of the day doesn't have a clasp, hence the oddly cropped photo. This is more of a fun thing I whipped together last night. I love the brown salmon cord as it looks like bark (though much, much softer!), very earthy and so totally my thing. Of cause nothing works better with bark than flowers and leaves. In this case a small bouquet of paper roses on wire. I simply wrapped the wires onto the cord for a quick, whimsical piece of jewellery celebrating the summer season.




More to come: a metal free necklace, a necklace made from the cat button bracelet -- and who knows what else as I do have more leather cord left. So stay tuned for part 2!

4 comments:

  1. Love the look of this leather. I just read a post on another blog about the salmon leather. I'd love to try it. Will have to check their link. My sister would love that cat bracelet. She loves cats. Will be watching for the other post.

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  2. I love how you made three completely different designs with the cords. The cat button is pretty and shows that not much is needed to make the simple and elegant bracelet complete. My favourite is the turquoise necklace. It looks so luxurious and is elegant enough for a dressed up event. The roses and the leather make an interesting combination of materials. Milka

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  3. The turquoise necklace is lovely for elegant garden parties and even for beach parties with a long flowing dress and elegant sandals. I think it is very versatile and looks expensive. The stingray pattern looks so nice with the tiny seed beads. Those cords make me want to touch them. For me, the tactile experience is an important part of jewellery. Anna

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  4. Hi..
    Amazing and well done!
    That looks awesome...

    ReplyDelete

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