DIY Leather Studded Bangle

On a whim I bought two unfinished square wood bangles a few weeks ago and had been muling over what to do with them when inspiration suddenly hit. I have a boxes of jewelry making/art/craft supplies and rummaging through it I found a bunch of leather and immediately decided to cover one of the bangles in leather and studs. Overall it was a pretty easy project and I'm happy with how it turned out and hope you have fun making your own!

Supplies:

-wooden bangle

-leather (from Tandy's leather, thanks ...love Maegan for turning me on to them)

*obvi this isn't the leather but I wanted to give an idea of how big a piece you should start with.

-fabric glue

-craft paint

-small brass round studs

-scissors

-jewelry wire cutters

-jewelry pliers

Steps:

*I only thought about doing this post after I finished so I have no photos of the steps

1. Figure out placement of leather on bangle. There will be folds but ignore them for a second and just make sure that the bangle will be covered.

2. Start gluing the top and one side of the bangle and smooth leather down onto bangle. When you reach a corner pinch the extra leather on both sides and cut out what should be a triangle strip of leather. This will allow the leather to lay flat on the bangle while making sure you get complete coverage. Continue to do this all the way around the bangle. Trim excess leather from side. Flip bangle over, glue down third side, and trim excess leather.

*side note: you can wrap leather all the way around bangle for more finished look. I didn't because my bangle has a very narrow opening and adding the leather would have made it almost impossible to squeeze my hand through.

3. Take studs and remove prongs with wire cutters and pliers. Figure out where you want to place the studs and then glue them down. I placed my studs on the corner seams I cut to cover them up.

4. Since I didn't cover the underside of the bangle I painted it black to match the leather. I am not quite happy with the unfinished edges of my bangle but haven't figured out how to smooth them out completely. Oh well!

And there you have it. A stylish one of a kind bangle that would be perfect to rock with little cocktail dress or jeans and a tee.