Making Your Own Leather Cuff DIY Lesson

1. Choosing and Measuring the Leather for the Cuff

Today's beading lesson is all about how to make your own leather cuff from start to finish. So, there are different styles of leather that you can choose from. I'm using this distressed leather because I love the look and it has completely natural dye, so I don't have to worry about any chemicals that are embedded in that leather because I'm going to wear this a lot. So, I'm choosing this medium width because this works really well for some stamping and other things that I want to do. The way that you choose the width of leather you use is what kind of embellishments you're going to do or maybe you just like the size. So, to start out by measuring around your own wrist, you want to lay your hand down and fold the leather around. It needs to cover the end by about an inch. So, I have maybe a little bit more than an inch right here. I'm just going to cut that off and you can count on about nine inchs, I would say, to be a good length. But you want to definitely take the time to make it perfectly custom for you.

2. Preparing and Punching Holes for the Snap Closure

Now the next thing that you'll do is you can see here at the end is where I'm going to attach a snap closure. And on this one that's already finished, I used a larger snap and it took up a little bit more space over the edges of the leather. So, I also have some smaller snaps, and I'll show you how to attach them. You need a hole punch, and there are a lot of different kinds of hole punches. I really like this one because it has a rotary head that you can switch to make smaller or larger holes. So, I'm actually setting it for the smallest hole size here and I'm going to do it maybe about a half an inch from the end. And I'm fine with eyeballing it here and I'll just punch down and it punches right through the leather. And then you can use that as a template to cut the second hole. Okay, so that's going to be my outside piece. I'm going to overlap it on the inside by about the same amount. Then I just pick up my leather punch, punch straight down, and that's cutting the second piece.

3. Attaching the Snap Closure

Now, when you're attaching your own snap, see how this is a four-part process here? And this end is the top of the snap, and then there's this inside piece. So, remember to attach that to the right part of your bracelet. See how this part's flaring up a little bit? I want that to be on the inside. So, I'm working with the natural curve of the leather strap. So now I'm going to take my snap, place it through, and then through the inside, I'm going to attach this part. Now you need what is called a snap setter. This has a little dimple on the end. And you can also use a small little anvil that sits on top of your own metal block. So, you place this into your anvil and then bring this to the center. And then you can strike it with your brass hammer. Or you can use a rawhide mallet here. Okay. So, you want to be sure that that's firmly attached and you're good. And then you're going to do the inside part. So, at this point, you just want to hold it like this so that you make sure you actually put the back through the back instead of having it going the wrong direction. This makes it possible to get everything lined up, place it there, then place this part.

4. Finalizing the Snap Closure

And I'm just going to test it to make sure. Yes, that's the inside of my Snap. So now this is going to go straight onto my block, and I'm going to use my Snap setter again, place it in the center, and we're going to strike this again. All right, so we have our basic cuff, and now you can embellish this any way that you want to.

5. Stamping the Leather Cuff

One thing that I've done here is stamping some words onto the leather. And it's a subtle little reminder these are words. It's kind of like a secret message. You can also attach different embellishments like these that have a hole in the center. Of course, you can punch them to create that hole. That's what I did with the mustache piece. I actually use a metal punch also on this type. It already has holes, but it's really flat. So, you might think about using a bracelet bending tool to just squish this down a little bit so that it gives a nice curve on the center of your bracelet. Okay, but let's talk about stamping. So, I'm going to bring this leather one over to my anvil, and I'm just going to give you my little trick for stamping some patterns onto the leather here. I'm just choosing a few designs. This isn't a spell of words, just a few designs. I'm just going to hold them together, and this is going to give me sort of a funky offset look. They're not going to be perfectly lined up, and that's totally what I'm going for here. Now I'm going to hold them gently and then give a couple of strikes with my hammer. And you can see that it makes this relief image. And then you can do this all over the surface of the leather. Or if you're planning to write a word, then you can take more time and carefully line them up. But if you take a look at the one that I did, I did it the same way. I just held my stamps together and gave it a strike so that it looks a little bit funkier. And this is fine because this is really for me to read when I'm wearing it.

6. Examples and Variations of Leather Cuffs

Now, if you take a look at the other bracelets that I have here. This example is one that I use the bracelet bending plier and the middle and attached it to some blue strap. And I just love that color. This is another one that I used, a larger centerpiece there and riveted that together with compression rivets. Same thing here with the flower bracelet over here. And this one, I punched holes and then wove my leather cord through the strap itself.

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