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.

Not just bracelets, introducing - barrettes!

A barrette is a beautiful compliment to any bracelet and they're fairly quick to make as no sewing is required. Perfect if you've accidentally made a too long braid and don't want to waste the ends. These two where made specifically to be made into barrettes though and are classic yet stylish.