Leather and Lucite Summer Sensation Necklace

This is the “Leather and Lucite Summer Sensation Necklace” I designed on behalf of John Bead Corp for the current issue of Perles Et Cetera magazine.

This magazine is published in French, so this is the English translation.

Soft leathers in a range of colors make it possible to create wearable jewelry with virtually no leather crafting skills. All you require is a desire to think creatively about a product normally shaped into purses or shoes. Leather is also normally associated with colder weather. Combining it with Lucite, which is perfect for hot summer days was a great challenge.

Leather is much thicker than fabric, requires no extra hemming and can be easily cut with many dies originally designed to cut paper.   My maple leaf shape could have been hand cut with scissors but I already had a paper cutting die that made this job take only a minute or two.

I stacked my leaves in an interesting pattern and lightly glued them together. I now had my new leather pendant. A little extra trimming gave me my new abstract shape.

I used a regular ribbon clamp to make my new leather pendant easy to add to my polyester pipe necklace.

The Lucite Hibiscus Bead Cap flowers are from the Dazzle-it Tropical Punch collection. I used a head pin to add my bead to the cap and created a loop so I could attach three of these to the pendant bail sliders with a jump ring.

These special bails allow you to add components to braided cords featuring kumihimo and macramé techniques. They slide beautifully onto thick cords.

I glued a strip of leather onto my polyester pipe cord to keep the bail positioned at this height. It was like creating a little stopper.

Finally, a glue-in magnetic end cap finished my polyester pipe cord ends brilliantly. My necklace is lightweight and the perfect accessory for summer outings. With so many soft leather colors to choose from I can mix and match shapes for virtually any clothing ensemble.