Set up to Demo the Leather Wrap Bracelet..

Lacis Macrame Board with a Bead Mat Covering

Here is the set up I used to demo the leather wrap bracelet at Stitches this weekend. The Lacis macrame board has several slits at the end of board. They are perfect to hold the ends of the leather in place. I used T-pins to hold the loop in place and empty bead tubes to raise the leather off the bead mat for easy access.

Close up showing how the pins are placed

Hey I am getting close... only a few more beads to add!

Close up... Demo showing the Confetti & Capri color combo

> Wrap Leather Bracelet Kits with Tila Beads

New Colorways for the Kumihimo Ribbon Kits

Violet & Olivine

New colors of ribbon just arrived. It is fun to create new bead mixes with Magatamas to match each colorway... and to see the cords braided. These ribbons are hand dyed rayon ribbon with gold metallic accents. the colors are laid out in a rainbow fashion allowing the color shift to happen gradually but noticeably.

African Violet has some great colors from grape to orchid with touches of grey.


Autumn Leaves reminds me of Liquid Amber trees in the fall.


Midnight is rich and deep.


Raspberry Swirl is delectable yet classical.


Violet & Olivine was a best seller at Stitches West  followed closely by Coffee & Demin. See previous blog entry.

> New Kumihimo Ribbon & Bead Kits

> See Earlier Entry about Braiding with Ribbon & Beads

African Violet

Autumn Leaves

Midnight

Raspberry Swirl

At Stitches West, a customer proudly showed me her previous evening progress on her kit. Bravo!

Leather Wrap Bracelets with Miyuki Tila Beads

I first heard of leather wrap bracelets or bead ladder bracelets a few years ago when customers asked my advice for the best cord to use for these bracelets. Ultimately I had to test the cords myself and play around with the concept. As a rule, I do not check how others approach a specific project, I prefer to work out my own technique. Adding beads with a wrap leather construction is a traditional Egyptian design, but its latest rendition has a few modern twists... So I started making some test bracelets with leather cord, beads I had around, such 6mm gemstones beads, fresh water pearls, Miyuki Size 6 Seed beads and a variety of cords from C-Lon Fine Weight Bead Tex 135, C-Lon Micro Cord and C-Lon Bead Thread Size D. I took them to my shows as I always like to test my customers responses and kept selling them without getting a chance to take any pictures. My friends and family all wanted them too, so I kept making more bracelets... It gave me a chance to refine my techniques.

Confetti & Light Purple

Along the way I decided to try some with Miyuki Tila beads. First I made my own mixes, with some iridescent, some flat and some metallic Tila beads, then matched the mixes with Greek leather and C-Lon Bead Thread Size D. The Miyuki Tila beads have nice smooth holes, but they are small. The C-Lon Bead thread Size D fits well through the bead holes especially with the use of English embroidery beading needles. I prefer these needles over the standard English beading needles as they are shorter and they have a blunt end, less likely to split the thread and damage it. A light application of beeswax over the thread is also helpful.

For the button closure, I adopted a bead rondelle instead of the more traditional metal button: Black Horn, Golden Horn, Frosted Quartz and Frosted Black Quartz mostly, with a size 6 Miyuki seed bead as final decoration.

Tila beads are flat, light and very smooth. They measure 5mm x 5mm x 1.9mm and they have 2 parallel holes about 0.8mm wide. They are a new shape of glass beads made by Miyuki. They remind me of little mosaic tiles found in Europe, especially in high end Italian bathrooms, but miniaturized. They have been described as chiclets shaped, I don't get that. I guess you would have to get a bubblegum color... just kidding.

The Tila beads make a very light bracelet, comfortable to wear especially when paired with a button made out of horn. Get a kit to get a jump start and make your own. These bracelets are fun, easy to wear and addictive, plus they can be stacked!

> Wrap Leather Bracelet Kits with Tila Beads
> Leather Supplies
> Set Up to Demo the Wrap Bracelet with good closeup pictures! 

Material included in the kit... in the Green Patina & Natural combo, enough to make 3 bracelets.