Gossip Leather Necklace
Extract from Leather Jewelry: 30 Contemporary Projects (Lark Jewelry Book) • By Nathalie Mornu • Published by Lark CraftsAbout
Braided leather jewelry
Those catty girls. Their eyes appraise you with envy. The whispers start. What are they saying? It can’t be nice.
- Kathleen H. added Gossip Leather Necklace to Accessories 28 Feb 19:28
- Lotusburger favorited Gossip Leather Necklace 04 Jan 15:13
You Will Need
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Step 1
Pull the suede strands through the washcloth to prevent crocking (page 30). Cut 80 pieces of lacing 4 inches (10.2 cm) long—half of them in one color, and half in the other.
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Step 2
Cut a piece of fishing line 24 inches (61 cm) long. Double it, catching a closed ring in a loop at the center.
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Step 3
Tie a 4-inch (10.2 cm) piece of lacing of either color around the doubled line, using just a single knot and keeping the tails equal in length. Slide the knot against the closed ring. Using a 4-inch (10.2 cm) piece of lacing in the other color, tie it around the line with a single knot and with tails of the same length, and slide it snugly against the previous knotted piece. Continue in this manner, alternating colors, until you’ve tied on a total of 35 pieces of lacing. Tie the two protruding tails of line together, catching a closed loop in them so that it rests against the last knotted piece of lacing. Tie the line a few more times to secure the knot, and snip off any excess. You should end up with a length of knotted fringe with closed rings attached at both ends. Set aside.
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Step 4
Repeat steps 2 and 3, but knot 45 pieces of lacing on the line. Set aside.
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Step 5
Steps 5, 6, and 7 explain how to make the doubled chains hanging at the bottom of the necklace, and how to attach them to the knotted fringe. Use an eye pin and an oval bead to make a wrapped bead loop using the round-nose pliers (page 34). With wire cutters, cut a piece of chain 7 inches (17.8 cm) long. Randomly cut it in two, anywhere along its length, and reattach the pieces by inserting the looped bead in between. Set aside.
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Step 6
Make another wrapped bead loop with an oval bead on it. Cut another piece of chain, but make it 7 1⁄2 inches (19 cm) this time. Randomly cut it into two pieces, and use the looped bead to reattach them.
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Step 7
Place the two pieces of chain embellished with looped beads side by side and parallel. Open a jump ring (page 34) and catch one pair of the chain ends in it; then slip on one of the closed rings at the end of a length of knotted fringe, and close the jump ring. Use another jump ring to attach the opposite ends of the chains to one of the closed loops at the end of the other length of fringe 1
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Step 8
The rest of the instructions describe how to make the chains that loop around the neck. Cut a piece of chain 2 inches (5.1 cm) long. Attach it with a jump ring to the free end of the shorter length of fringe. Attach a jump ring to the free end of the 2-inch (5.1 cm) chain; before closing the ring, catch one arm of the filigree star in it.
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Step 9
Cut a piece of chain 12 inches (30.5 cm) long. Set it aside.
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Step 10
Make five wrapped loops with the filigree tubes and brass eye pins and assemble them in turn to each other. Attach the remaining chain to one end. Lay this chain and the one cut in step 9 side by side and compare them. Cut the longer one so they’re exactly the same length.
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Step 11
Use a jump ring to attach the end of the chain with the filigree tubes to the arm of the filigree star that’s opposite the one with a chain already attached. Before closing the jump ring, add one end of the chain cut in step 9.