Leather Wrap Bracelet with Madeira Silk

Silk is a fabulous fiber to work with lots of glamour. Silk adds a "je ne sais quoi" to any piece of jewelry.... So I decided to test leather wrap bracelets made with Madeira Silk.

Madeira Silk is a 4-strand floss, so it can be separated into 4 parts. Each strand is a soft 2-ply cord that can be used individually or as part of a group. Madeira is a spun silk, so it is made with pieces of filament that are spun together, so it has a fiber feel to it with a bit of fuzz sticking out.

The materials used to make this bracelet are 1.5 mm Greek leather, Madeira Silk Floss, Swarovski 6mm Bicones and Crystal Pearls, and Fresh Water Pearls.  Two strand of the Madeira Silk Floss were woven back and forth 4 times through each bead. Plus an old Italian button was used a the closure.

 I have been wearing this test bracelet almost everyday for several weeks to see how the Madeira silk will do over time. I just too the photos today. So far I have not noticed too much wear. The silk edges are a bit fuzzy, but no more than right after I finished the bracelet. 

After wearing for quite a while, I found the the silk thread moved laterally along the leather and after a while the bracelet was no longer flat so it did not wrap well around the wrist. 

I have since come up with a new double step process. I mount the beads with C-Lon Bead Thread Size D and afterwards wrap the silk around the leather. I will try to post the new way of doing this soon. 

Madeira comes in 108 colors > Madeira Silk Floss

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

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.