Mystery Braid Bracelets!

[Grey Drakkon]

Playing around with adding elements to the mystery braids. Just finished this one where I wove a strand of jewelry wire strung with beads through a 5 strand Horween mystery braid. Had to use crimp beads to tidy up the ends and that sucker is going NOWHERE.

[Reegesc]

That looks really cool Grey and makes me want to start working with beads again. Your bonus bracelet was similarly cool.

I've not tried a braided bracelet, but I've been experimenting with beads and leather off and on for years, usually with less than wonderful results. The problem was always "bead lay" and a way to attach them so that they moved with the leather. What I mean by "bead lay" (my own term) and what you no doubt are intimately familiar with is the beads protruding outward, a lot, from the leather and are strung through the middle. Rounds and bicones roll around and the string bunches up if using beading wire. I tried regular metal wire and that does keep the bead design where you want it, but you give up flexiblity of the leather (belts, dog collars) and hiding beading wire when terminating a strand was always a challenge. Coming up with cool bead designs is no problem and they look terrific against leather. Just have not cracked the code.

Years ago I ran across some gals who were making beaded leather harness for horses (I guess that's what they are called) the part that goes over the head. They were really cool looking. What they did was create a channel for the beads such that they were flush with surface and, presumably, that "corralled" the beads to stay in place. Thought that was pretty clever, which is right about the time I quite messing with it.

Flat beads, of course, is the answer, but I haven't been impressed, at all, with what's available but that's been a while (sliders are an exception), plus I have THOUSANDS of $$$$ in jewelry beads.

As it turns out I'm working on a flops design using beads for the straps (when I say working I mean thinking about it -- same same). We'll see.

[JLSleather]

I thought these were outlawed back in '87! Guess I'll have a die made to punch 'em out.. flood cutesy with 'em. Whatcha think... good way to use up scraps? Otta be worth .. what ... $2.50 each? $3.50?

[Grey Drakkon]

That looks really cool Grey and makes me want to start working with beads again. Your bonus bracelet was similarly cool.

I've not tried a braided bracelet, but I've been experimenting with beads and leather off and on for years, usually with less than wonderful results. The problem was always "bead lay" and a way to attach them so that they moved with the leather. What I mean by "bead lay" (my own term) and what you no doubt are intimately familiar with is the beads protruding outward, a lot, from the leather and are strung through the middle. Rounds and bicones roll around and the string bunches up if using beading wire. I tried regular metal wire and that does keep the bead design where you want it, but you give up flexiblity of the leather (belts, dog collars) and hiding beading wire when terminating a strand was always a challenge. Coming up with cool bead designs is no problem and they look terrific against leather. Just have not cracked the code.

Years ago I ran across some gals who were making beaded leather harness for horses (I guess that's what they are called) the part that goes over the head. They were really cool looking. What they did was create a channel for the beads such that they were flush with surface and, presumably, that "corralled" the beads to stay in place. Thought that was pretty clever, which is right about the time I quite messing with it.

Flat beads, of course, is the answer, but I haven't been impressed, at all, with what's available but that's been a while (sliders are an exception), plus I have THOUSANDS of $$$$ in jewelry beads.

As it turns out I'm working on a flops design using beads for the straps (when I say working I mean thinking about it -- same same). We'll see.

I thought these were outlawed back in '87! Guess I'll have a die made to punch 'em out.. flood cutesy with 'em. Whatcha think... good way to use up scraps? Otta be worth .. what ... $2.50 each? $3.50?

Bead lay is definitely an issue, and was the reason why the braided bracelets work so well. On the one with just seed beads that I sent you, I used a strand of waxed thread and while maybe years down the road it might break, I don't think that is too big an issue. On the one I posted above, I used jewelry wire which is a lot stiffer than waxed thread, but still has enough flex that it pretty much blended in with the feel of the thick leather. I concealed the ends by putting a crimp bead next to one of the flat beads, looping the seed beaded strand around a loop and pulling the thread through the crimp bead and into the flat bead. Once crimped it's going nowhere, and I just use a nailclipper to snip the wire close to the bead which gets concealed by the seed beads. I'll take a pic of that tomorrow since that explanation was probably as clear as mud.

The word you're probably looking for is "brow band", that's the strap that goes over the forehead just in front of the ears and is on a bridle. Although I suppose a halter could be made the same way, but that would be a lot of beading! I was thinking of making some Arabian style beaded halters for my friend's Pintabians, but I think those are mostly wire and beads instead of leather and beads.

JLS, Aw man, you're going to flood my market! I'm in Iowa too ya know!

[JLSleather]

Really? Where's yer shop? Where's yer home? There's a few of us from around here now.

Far as "the market" - I'm not gonna actually MAKE them things.. I'll leave that to folks more - uh - sensitive. I'm just talking about cutting them out and selling the BLANKS, and somebody ELSE can braid the things!

[J W Craftsman]

Are you dying and putting finish on prior to cutting your slits? What is the optimal weight leather, I used 2oz but it seemed too "floppy" like it didn't want to hold the braid.

[J W Craftsman]

Are you dying and putting finish on prior to cutting your slits? What is the optimal weight leather, I used 2oz but it seemed too "floppy" like it didn't want to hold the braid.

[Grey Drakkon]

Are you dying and putting finish on prior to cutting your slits? What is the optimal weight leather, I used 2oz but it seemed too "floppy" like it didn't want to hold the braid.

How I'm doing these is:

1.Tape the back of the leather, which is somewhere around 3 oz for the most part. The "floppy" bit of it has more to do with the consistency of the leather rather than the thickness of it in this case, because some of my 2oz stuff is fairly stiff while some of the thicker is from the belly and softer.

2.Cut the straps and slots with a blade/rotary cutter. Like NstarLeather says though, it's time consuming and leaves a lot of room for screwups.

3. Airbrush the dye onto the leather, then hand paint acrylic heat setting paint onto the edges (I'm using Lumiere Acrylics). This leather is so thin it would be more aggravating than anything to try and burnish it, but I don't like frizzy edges so using a super sharp blade combined with the paint cleans them up pretty well, plus I can use any color that I want. In theory you should be able to keep the tape on the back, but I end up making a huge mess every time I do that so it's around this point I pull the tape off.

4. Hit it up with the hairdryer to "set" the acrylic, then spray a coat of diluted resolene on it.

5. Add snaps.

For the brown Horween, skip steps 3 and 4.