Archive for July, 2011

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The easiest braided leather cuff bracelet ever

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

The magic braided cuff bracelet.

Hi bloglandia! I came across this great Magic Braided Leather tutorial today and immediately had to try it with our pre-made leather cuff bracelets. In less than 5 minutes I had a finished braided bracelet! Here’s how you can make your own:

Plain bracelet: the "before" shot.

Supplies:

  1. Leather cuff bracelet (mine is 0.5″ wide, dark brown)
  2. Sharp hobby knife

How to:

  1. Cut two slits in the bracelet blank, so that there are three strips or “strands.” (My strands are woefully uneven…I thought holding a ruler down next to the blade would help me cut a straight line, but the opposite occurred. I had much better luck just free handing.)
  2. Braid the three strands together. The bottom will get all twisted and tangly. Just ignore that until you’ve braided halfway.
  3. Then, holding your braid securely, untangle the bottom section by feeding the bottom bracelet end up through the tangle: “reverse braiding” if you will. It only takes 2 or three “reverse” maneuvers to make the bracelet straighten out.
  4. Then…just continue braiding. Untwist the bottom as needed and like magic the whole piece is one continuous braid!

Ta da! The "magic" braid.

As it gets worn, the leather braid will flatten out and get smoother, but I’m pretty happy with it as it is! ~ Cindy

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Posted in Designing Jewelry, Fun, Jewelry Tools, Projects, Rings & Things Products, Tutorials | 2 Comments »

SuperClear Resin for jewelry is super exciting!

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

SuperClear Resin, molded with shiny Alumilite powder and seed bead mixes. I think I'll turn these into bobby pins.

I have a love/hate relationship with epoxy resin. I love it when it works, and hate, hate, HATE it when it doesn’t.  Through trial and more errors than I like to remember, I get good results almost always with EasyCast Resin. However, it isn’t exactly easy – the epoxy must be the right temperature. Air bubbles form and must be dealt with…then a few hours later more air bubbles might form. I’ve heard tragic stories of resin staying tacky forever rather than hardening like it should. All in all, working with resin is kind of stressful – especially if you’ve gone through a lot of effort or expense to craft special resin bezels.

Super clear bottle cap pendant on a hand-knotted hemp cord - with no bubbles!

That’s why our design team is truly super excited about new SuperClear Resin by Resin Obsession. Cindy at Resin Obsession is just that – obsessed with resin.  She specifically formulated SuperClear Resin to be easy to use for jewelry making:

SuperClear Resin forms very few bubbles.

*To dissipate bubbles in any jewelry resin, either blow through a straw  (gently!)  or wave a match (not too close or the resin might discolor) over the surface. The carbon dioxide is what pops the bubbles.

SuperClear Resin cures quickly: 6-8 hours at room temp or in just one hour at 150 degrees F!

*EasyCast takes 24 hours to fully cure. I always check mine a couple of hours after I’ve poured to make sure air bubbles haven’t multiplied behind my back. With SuperClear, there were hardly any bubbles from the beginning, and no new ones formed later.

SuperClear Resin mixes in a 2:1 ratio. Just fold the 2 components together for 2 minutes, let it "rest" for 5 minutes and then pour.

SuperClear Resin is super clear.

*I love accurate advertising.

SuperClear Resin is a good value.

*It is slightly more expensive than EasyCast, but less expensive than other clear jewelry resins. When you consider the time you’ll save, SuperClear Resin’s price looks even better. 

SuperClear resin can be tinted with dyes too!

And finally, the best news of all for our international customers…

SuperClear Resin can be shipped internationally!  

*Yay!!!! 

One last thing: SuperClear Resin is compatible with all of our opaque and translucent resin dyes, metallic Alumilite powders, resin molds and related resin products.

~Cindy

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Posted in Fun, New products, Rings & Things Products, Shipping, Tutorials | No Comments »

How to finish a multi-strand necklace with bullet ends

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

"Spring" assortment of Hemptique cord with Maori-style fishhook pendant.

Hello, bloglandia! As promised, here are the instructions for finishing a multiple-strand piece of jewelry (like the braided hemp necklace I made with the Kumihimo disk) using glue-on bullet ends.

Bullet ends are much less bulky than knots on multistrand designs.

A bullet end is a jewelry finding that hides cord ends and makes a clean transition to a clasp. Bullet ends are also called end caps, barrel caps, and a variety of other creative names. Just make sure the caps you are using have loops on the ends and that they are wide enough to accommodate your cording. (I used these.)

  1. Tie an overhand knot at the end of your piece.
  2. Take a piece of thread and wrap it tightly around the end several times (this is also called “whipping”). Tie a double knot to secure and trim the thread ends.
  3. Cut the braid between the thread and the knotted end.
  4. Fill the bullet end about half way with glue and insert the cord. Make sure that it goes in as far as it can, and that the thread whipping is covered by the bullet end. Clean up any oozing glue immediately.
  5. Use jump rings to attach a clasp.

Make sure to let the glue cure fully before wearing. (For E-6000, this means 24 hours. ) The glue will be dry long before then, but to be safe, let it cure all the way.

E-6000 is one of my favorite glues because it holds up nearly as well as a 2-part epoxy, but you don’t have to measure and mix. Whatever glue you use, just make sure that is is compatible with both metal and fibers. Although instant gratification is tempting, super glue (cyanoacrylate glue) is a bad choice for this project because it can’t fill the gaps between the cord and the metal very well.

That is all there is to it! This technique works equally well with leather, ribbon, rattail and other types of cord.  ~ Cindy

 

 

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Posted in Designing Jewelry, Featured Findings, Projects, Rings & Things Products, Tutorials | 4 Comments »

Make hemp friendship bracelets and more with a Kumihimo braiding disk

Friday, July 15th, 2011

Colorful hemp bracelets are fun for kids of all ages to make ... by "all ages" I mean 8 to oh, 80.

I’ve been intrigued by Kumihimo braiding disks for awhile now. Kumihimo (a Japanese form of braid making)  is an easy way to make intricate multiple strand braids. Braiding bracelets is the perfect summer-time activity, as anyone who has been to summer camp can attest.

I used the "Spring" Hemptique assortment and round Kumihimo disk. Any type of thread or cord could be used. There is also a square disk available to make flat braids.

Most Kumihimo braids use 8 or 16  warps (each warp could be made up of multiple strands). I decided to try the 8-warp braid first. Since I was using 4 colors of hemp, I divided each color into two equal lengths and knotted them all together at one end (just a basic overhand knot). A basic rule of thumb is to have 3″ of each cord for each 1″ of braid length. If you are mixing different types of cord I would suggest estimating a bit higher.

Feed the knotted end through the center of the disk to get started.

Place one cord (or "warp") next to each of the four dots on the board.

And start braiding! Bottom left cord goes to top left. Then top right cord goes to bottom right.

Now, the instructions told me to rotate the board 90 degrees so that I was always working from top to bottom, but I found it much easier to hold the board in one position and just apply the pattern. As long as you don’t cross the warps (ex. taking a left strand from the bottom and placing it on the upper right) it is really hard to mess this up. You’ll probably do it slightly differently than I did. What is really important is to keep your cords bundled into “no-tangle bobbins” – NOT all loose and tangly like in the photo above.

Keep the cord bundled up tightly to save yourself a headache.

The braid travels around the disk as you work, but you don’t need to pay attention to the numbers. And that’s all there is to it! For a project that requires no tools and no counting, the results are impressive! For a traditional friendship bracelet like the ones Jaci made, simply knot the ends together, preferably on your BFF’s wrist, so that it must be worn until it disintegrates.

Just tie a knot and trim the ends when you've braided a long enough piece.

I got on a roll, so I kept going and made my braid into a necklace. In the next blog I will show you how to finish braids like these, or any type of cord, really, with glue-on bullet ends. Have a great weekend! ~ Cindy

 

 

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