Fiesta Sunset Earrings

There's not much to report on the book front at the moment except to say that the editing process will soon be underway. To my relief all the designs arrived safely at the publishers last week and my editor will soon begin the editing process. There should be more on that front in September.

In the meantime, here's a simple Sof-suede lace design to whet your appetite for what's in Stylish Leather Jewelry. Hope you like it!

Lengths of rust, aqua and orange peel suede lace fashioned into a teardrop earring, surrounding a marbled red, turquoise and orange teardrop bead.

Materials:

Realeather Sof-Suede Lace (3/32"): Rust; Aqua; and Orange Peel
Bead Treasures Color Gallery Multi Striped Round and Oval Glass Bead Mix (from Hobby Lobby)
26 gauge gold wire
2 gold head pins
2 6mm gold filigree bead caps
Multi-hole jewellery punch
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
Wire cutters
Ruler and marker
Scissors

Punching a hole near the end of the orange peel sof suede lace

Cut the suede lace to the following lengths: Rust 90mm (3½”); Aqua 95mm (3¾”); and Orange Peel 98mm (3⅞”). Use the ruler and marker to measure ⅛” from each end of the three laces. Punch a hole at each mark.

Turning a simple loop in a head pin strung with red beads,

Trim the head pin to 1 ⅜” and string a bead cap, a tear drop bead and two red bicone beads. Create a loop at the end of the head pin. N.B. There will be a gap between the loop and the top bead.

Orange Peel, aqua and rust sof suede lace strung on wire with tear drop in the centre.

Cut 14” wire and thread on one end of the Orange Peel lace, the Aqua lace and the Rust lace. String the loop of the beaded head pin and then the tails of each of the three laces.

Beginning the wire wrapping around the top of the teardrop shaped laces.

Move the laces to 1” from the end of the wire and bend the wires on either side of the laces so that they cross over each other above the laces forming a triangle. Wrap the short tail around the long wire twice and trim away the excess. Leave a gap of approximately 1/8” above the wire wrapping and create a loop with the round nose pliers.

Wire wrapping from the top of the loop down to the top of the suede lace teardrop

Wrap the wire down the neck and over the coils. Continue wrapping it down the triangle and across the top of the laces until you cover the holes in the laces.

Finishing off the wire wrapping around the top of the suede tear drop

Take the wire back up to the neck and wrap two or three times to secure. Trim away the excess wire and then hook the eye loop onto the earring wire. Make a second earring to match.

Tip: How to Punch Those Tiny Holes

Here's my special tip to help you punch those little holes in narrow leather lace:

Use a pen to mark where you want the hole and then line the needle point of the multi-hole jewellery punch up with that mark. Before punching it, make sure that the lace is centred and sitting perfectly flat. Then squeeze the handles to make the hole. If you look at the second photo above, you can see that there is just enough width to punch a 1mm hole. I highly recommend this tool to do that.

If you don't have access to a multi hole jewellery punch, try using something like a needle tool. Lay the leather on a piece of wood or a self healing craft mat and poke the needle tool through the lace. You only need a hole wide enough to accept 26g wire.