When making jewelry I have the tendency to gravitate towards bracelets. Bracelets are quick to make, use minimal amount of materials and can be done in one sitting with the proper planning. Also bracelets can add just a touch of sparkle or class to a minimal outfit.
My boyfriend is the hardest person to buy gifts for. He has a hobby ( that is steadily turning into a business ) of dabbling in photography and so most of the things on his wishlist are expensive lens and other expensive photography equipment. So instead of bankrupting myself with his gifts, he gets handmade bracelets.
The trouble with his bracelets are that obviously he’s a man. Most men want something masculine yet stylish. Making bracelets for him give me a little challenge each time to get out of my comfort zone.
Between December, January, and February we celebrate his birthday, Christmas, our anniversary, and Valentine’s Day so I have to make sure I plan ahead.
For his birthday and Christmas I bought him a giftcard towards his new iPad and made him a pair of cotton pajama pants ( which he wears nearly everyday ). For our anniversary and Valentine’s Day I made two bracelets; one with leftover sardonyx beads and pewter skull beads and another with just leather with my kumihimo disc.
The skull bracelet was a simple wrap bracelet with a button closure.
The button was a strange one from my stash that had an interesting texture. I had to re-do a week later with silk thread it since the KO thread I originally used wasn’t strong enough for the size of the beads.
The leather bracelet was an interesting “adventure” since I had never used leather for Kumihimo before. I used the directions that came with my disc as a guide and cut four strands of 1mm black leather and threaded it through a large hole bead. I like using those beads as clasps sometimes. I did everything as usual measuring as I went along making sure to leave enough for a loop. I tied and secured the loop with a little glue and let it dry overnight before trimming the leftover pieces (those have ended in my scraps collections for other projects.) I wanted it to be kind of snug since leather stretches over time.
I think it turned out nicely 🙂 Its a simple masculine piece. Using only leather for kumihimo has also opened my eyes to using different color combinations and leather sizes to make all kinds of different versions. Plus the bracelet works up so quickly it would be easy to make many in one sitting!
Definitely something that I’m thinking about adding to my shop 🙂
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Until next time!
~Jasmine
Oh So Luvvleigh! 