Jeans Blue Bracelet

Made a new pewter bracelet from my brand new jeans blue copper thread. It was a lot of fun to work with.

I've also been getting a lot of emails lately (thank you all for your interest, it's so much fun!) about how to make ones own pewter bracelets, what materials one need etc. So I will make a full tutorial for you as soon as I can, with every step described and also a complete list of tools and materials needed.  I hope it will be sooner rather then later but no promises =)

A tiny pink barrette and a warm welcome

First and foremost I really want to welcome all my new readers/followers and thank you all for the support you've given me with my very first bakeshop project! I'm really excited to tell you that I have more projects planned and in the pipeline =)


This adorable little pink barrette is my favorite hair accessory at this point in time. It's really tiny which makes it prefect for me as I have such thin, babyish hair - and it's PINK, perfect for summer =)

As I couldn't find any barrettes in the crafting store this small, I bought an (pardon my french) ugly, cheap one, stripped it of decoration and made it from that one. It also turned out much cheaper then buying an "empty" one at the craft store. As all of it is covered, the little glue residue I got from the original bow doesn't show at all in the end. I took some pictures while I was making it so there might be a tutorial coming up on how to make one for yourself, it's really quite easy.

Oh and on a side note, the plant on our balcony I took the pictures in is flowering for the first time in the 3 years I've had it. I'm so glad, I had no idea it had such adorable, tiny pink flowers!

Silver on Silver

For the first time ever I tried out my silver colored lambskin. I've seen others use it online and it always looks so pretty but I haven't really been able to make myself use it until now as silver on silver always looks so boring in person to me. But after this first attempt I'm a lot more confident, it actually looks quite good! I have no idea what the braid is called, it's just something I played up while trying to learn a completely different braid *lol* If it has an official name and you know it, I'd be really happy if anyone enlightened me =)

Again, the skinn of the bracelet looks a little bumpy because it's never been worn, it'll get all nice and even with use =) I have to show you later how great the silver bracelet looks when mixed with others. You see, I nearly never wear just one bracelet, I almost always wear at least 3 or more on the same arm, looks great I think!

Black Jenny braid bracelet

I had some leftover braid from making my Three Tier Bracelet so I decided to utilize it by making a somewhat thicker but still simple bracelet of it. It's a Jenny braid with two skin inlays. Made with black lambskin and it has a reindeer antler button.

I'm currently teaching myself some new braiding techniques so hopefully I'll be able to share some brand new stuff with you all soon =)

New Style: "Raw Edge" Sami bracelets

So I've been wanting to do some experimenting with new styles of sami bracelets for a while and the Handmade Jewelery Club feature was exactly the kick in the bum I needed. It's a perfect design to whip up quickly and makes great use of those leftover bits of braid I always get since I tend to do add a bit extra length whenever a make a bracelet to ensure my final bit of braid is as even as possible.

The glue is not dry in the image which is why it's still visible and the seams aren't completely closed up, I just wanted to snap a picture before the light disappeared hence it looks a little haphazard ^^

This bracelet isn't sewn together but two pieces of glued together raw edged leather.  It gives it a nice, edgy look and the closure is just a piece of leather instead of my normal twirled leather thong. 

I have been featured! =)

I just found out I've been featured over at the Handmade Jewelry Club!

They have lots of jewellery tutorials and so much inspiration and I'm honored they choose to include one of mine, the Macramé for Sami Bracelets one: 

They have lot's of great tutorials over there, be sure the check them out =)

*beams with pride*

Gift for one of my dads

I'm lucky enough to have two you see ^^
I imagine that the topic is a bit confusing, it's just that the word "step dad" is so ugly that I don't want to use it. It's a bracelet he's wished for for some time. He's a large man, over 2 meters tall and well muscled so I needed something that wouldn't look delicate or too thin, but at the same time not so big it would become clumsy so he couldn't wear it when he worked. I think I managed quite well with that =)

He sent me these beautiful pictures of himself wearing it as I completely forgot to photograph it before I gave it away. It's a five strand braid with twisted skin thongs around and finished with the two folded three strand bracelets. It's black lambskin with a reindeer antler button.

A gift for a friend - Ruffled Bracelet

I made one of my best friends a sami bracelet for her 25th birthday. She's a beautiful woman with a great sense of style (something I very much lack!) so I was terrified at the thought of getting her a gift. But after seeing a sami bracelet in a picture online I knew that was what similar to what I was going to make for my friend, it was very much her style I thought.

I auditioned leather colors and braids endlessly and after much internal debate I concluded that offwhite reindeer leather was the best choice in combination with a four strand braid with 3 strands of pewter threads. The ruffles was a battle and took many many tries but made the whole thing oh so feminine but still it felt very much like her with the skin and the pewter and the fact that you tie it instead of button it closed. She's from the north of Sweden and always working out - so she's no delicate flower and needs a little edge too ^^

I think she really liked it and it was given to her with the little pleated purse I made earlier.

Three Tier Bracelet

I'm suddenly feeling like making sami-bracelets again, I think it's because it's nice to be able to make something that goes together a bit more quickly then a quilt, and because I really need some new jewelery ^^

So here's something new for me, a three tier bracelet, please excuse that it's a bit bumpy still, I've not worn it at all yet and the leather has therefor not shaped itself to the right form. =)

It's a regular Jenny Braid with two of the pewter threads exchanged for thin caribou leather thongs, creating this very loopy look to the pewter threads. As always it's made with highest quality pewter threads with 4% silver, reindeer leather in this case and the button is made from reindeer horn. 

Delicate Blue

So I wanted a somewhat loosely hanging bracelet to combine with the blue and white one I posted earlier and this is what I came up with, a simple "katarinafläta" with a really nice padded ribbon. As the bracelet is loose and the backside might be visible from time I choose a ribbon that had crazy colors striped on the backside. So should the backside be visible, it doesn't matter as it's fancy there too =)

I'll update the post with pictures of the backside later, forgot to photograph it...

Military Green Elegance

Here I have a just over 1,5cm wide bracelet that together with yesterdays bracelet really shows the versatility of a normal three strand braid. In the middle braid I've folded the edges over instead of just straitening them, which gives this interesting look.

It's set on white lambskin and has a traditional reindeer antler button. Sadly the sun washed out the color of the pewter thread a little, it's a rich military green.

Spring Temptation!

Life has been very busy for me since I last wrote and I haven't had any time to spend on my Sami Jewelery, and therefor the blog hasn't been updated in a long time. Hopefully this can change now as I've more free time and I've gotten back into crafting.

First out I have an in my eyes lovely white and light blue springtime creation. It's a basic three strand braid, but to mix it up a little it has two strands of three pewter threads and the last strand a single, light blue pewter strand. It creates a stunning effect and on the white lambskin it goes beautifully with a pair of washed out jeans shorts and a white top =)

Turquoise Temptation

Turquoise is a tricky color, if used right it can be stunning, if overdone, it's terrible I think so I decided to do a rather wide white edge to balance this fairly wide, turquoise four strand bracelet. If you think the bracelets like in this case seem to have bumpy and uneven leather edges - it's because they've never been worn. Once you wear them they will flatten out and adapt to be round and the edges will become nice and even thanks to the pressure and your body heat. The skin is cut with quilting rotary cutter and ruler so it's always perfectly even thanks to that.

Introducing - Pearl Silk

I've wanted to try this material for a while and when I was making a bracelet for my dear friend Sandra (check out her blogg here) I figured it would be a good time to do so. She wanted a simple pink bracelet and here's what we came up with: Simple three strand braid with the beautifully shining pearl silk in between the pewter threads on cerise lamb skin. Beautiful but so subtle with the white silk thread nestled in there.

Tutorial - Macramé

I promised a while back to make a macrame "how to", and here it is. You need a "calf" which is the thread/threads or piece of skin in the middle of the macramé braid (the calf is the thing that determines how long the braid will become) and two strands of wired pewter thread. It's rather hard to tell how much pewter you'll need since it depends on the width of the calf and your technique but a basic guide is to make the pewter threads at least 4 times longer then the calf.

Since the macramé braid really want to twirl around it's center you need to straighten it continually during the braiding if you don't want to make for example a necklace where the twisting around the center can be really pretty. Then you just turn the braid over every 8 or so repetitions of steps 1-6.

How to make a macrame braid:
1. Arrange one pewter thread on each side of the calf.
2. Take the right thread and lift it over the calf.
3. Take the left thread and place if over the right thread, still on the left side of the calf.
4. Take the left thread and place it under the calf.
5. Continue up through the loop created between the left thread and the calf.
6. Tighten the threads and continue from step 1.

And the end result in this case is this bracelet:

To finish up the bracelet with a button closure, please see this tutorial: Tutorial - Simple Katarina Bracelet

You can also make beautiful versions of this with a thicker calf and double strands of tin threads, like this.

To see more about this bracelet, you can read this post. 

If you make your own Sami Bracelet or anything from a pattern or tutorial of mine - I'd love if you add it to my Facebook Group and thereby share it with me and the world so we all can enjoy it and be inspired by it.  And don't hesitate to tag me if you post on instagram @pink_pony_design

Simply Cerise!

I wanted a cerise bracelet but seeing as the color stands out so much on it's own I needed a very simple but yet pretty design for it. So I went with a standard three strand braid with three threads, two silver ones surrounding a cerise copper thread. I think the result is dashing without being "too much":

Black manliness!

A friend of mine wanted a bracelet that reflected his extreme manliness so I thought long and hard about how to make a "manly man bracelet" and this is what I came up with: A variant of "katarinafläta" with a double calf which looked more manly and thick strips leather spun into thongs and an edge of twirled pewter threads.

New style pink

I found some lovely pink sheer ribbon when i was back in Sweden this summer with matching pink heart pearls and I just had to try using them for a bracelet. This is the result, a very delicate four strand braid in a for me new braiding technique:The button is a sheer pink heart making the otherwise quite milk-and-water bracelet stand out and shine:

Gifts return in the form of photos

My sister Sara was kind enough to photograph the two bracelets I made for her and my mother on my last visit to Sweden so I could show them off here. Thank you sweetie!

Think Pink!
The bracelet I made for Sara is a three strand bracelet with twisted pink copper threads in the center on white lambskin, she's as found of pink as I am so I think it suits her well:

Black n white!
My dear mother wanted something a bit more classic so we went with a "black n white" design, it's a "katarinafläta" with a black skin calf and two four strand braids framing it, set on white lambskin:

Macramé can be used in many ways

Macrame is not only for use with string, it can easily be used to make very nice designs for pewter bracelets. In the middle of this macramé "braid" is a skin glued together to make a thinker and sturdier calf without ugly edges. Will post a "how to" for those interested in making their own macramé bracelets shortly, it's a very easy thing to start with as you don't need to make a leather backing for them if you don't want as they're very pretty on their own.