How to Finish 10mm & 20mm Hand Tooled Leather Straps

These new bracelets are absolutely fabulous . They are definitely going to be a big hit!

These are beautiful straps. I will have to try this asap!

LOVE it!!!

i love itttttttt

I have purchased just about all styles of this new leather. I LOVE IT! I am new to this site and to jewelry making all together. I also purchased rivets with the sun and star heads to match the leather design. They have no back or female end and I have not been able to make them flatten out to hold in the leather. Can someone please help me to understand what I need to do to make them work? Once done, I would love to post some of the designs I have come up with. Thank you in advance!!!

when are you going to have the sold out items back in stock?I need some lobster claw clasps, rock and roll strap tips, and some e clasps

I made a nice wrap bracelet out of the red tooled leather. Then I noticed that my wrist was stained dark pink and there were water spots on my bracelet. The dye comes off. What should I do to rescue the rest of it? I have some of the spray that you put on leather boots to make them waterproof. Should I use that? I want to preserve the rest of the color.

Also, on the wide blue strap, how did you attach the button?

From what I understand from a conversation in which I asked about the size of jump rings used in the first photo (the toggle set does not come with them), these photos are from the manufacturers. It may just be my own ineptitude, but I cannot find any instructions on how to DO these. Also, the holes in the riveted foldovers are too small for rivets. You can tell by the placement, which is actually too close to the edge, that the hole had to be enlarged and could not be placed at what at least I would consider a more aesthetically pleasing distance. I know this about the holes because I just ordered the blanks in copper, pewter, and brass. Along with blue leather (like the one with the star button that we don’t know how to attach) which now I also realise may not be waterproof.

If and when I actually achieve these bracelets, I will post pix of them. In the meantime, if anyone else had actually managed to MAKE one, or more, and has tips or advice, I would be so happy to know!

Update: I sprayed the waterproofing spray on it and it didn’t help at all.

I love the red bracelet . It looks like there is some yarn attached to it. Do you have a picture of the top of this bracelet?

I searched a bit and it appears that this leather comes from Finbay Leather Co. All their sites have been taken down. I found another website that sells it, so I left the question on their site.

Finbay.com is online now. I tried to ask a question but it said my email wasn’t valid. So I left a review of the product, which they have to review first. But I am hoping someone will contact me to find tell me how to save it.

Jeanne – thanks for letting us know about the waterproofing spray. I may have time to tackle these at New Year when I’m home with my son. I hope you hear from the producers of the leather.

They didn’t respond and they didn’t put up my review. I talked to someone online at another website that sells it, and she said that the red dye is different from the other dyes. She didn’t know it comes off. So I still don’t know what to do about it.

One more thing, the color on the blue leather doesn’t rub off. I cut the wide piece to make two bracelets (saved half). For the first I used a 20 mm. magnetic clasp for flat leather. The leather is very stiff. If you work it for a while it loosens up a bit. The clasp wouldn’t stay closed. So I got a blue rubber O ring around it and now it seems okay. I am going to try to figure out how to attach a button on the other half (the only thing I can think of is to tie it on with a bunch of cord, so any other suggestions would be welcome). I still don’t know how to seal the red leather. I would avoid the red.

So, I found out from the Lima Team that the button is ties on with some cord (waxed linen) through two holes punched in the leather (so my guess was good). I bought some leather sealer thus evening and I am going to try some on the back of the bracelet to see if it helps. I will report back.

Okay, I think I so,vied the red dye problem I bought a jar of a sealer called Eco-Flo Super-Shene (sic) Leather Finish. Tandy makes it. It comes in matte as well, which I would have preferred, but the store had a single bottle and it was glossy. I followed the instructions-I did two coats on each side. I used a brush. It dried quite quickly, and also gave a more “finished” look to the back. A little more red dye came off while I was doing it. I put it on when it was dry and so far no red color has come off! I’ve had it on for a couple of hours. So far so good.

First sentence should be “Okay, I think I solved the red dye problem.” Sorry.

Jeanne, you are amazing and wonderful and thank you for boldly going I ended up moving starting at the end of Dec, still moving, but about to get dedicated craft room set up. And I WILL tackle the leather. I am so glad for your suggestions and your info. I have one of the blue leather pieces and I am itching to get at it. I will report back.

I suggest you try this product (rather expensive but supposedly good for nearly everything!) called Renaissance Wax. It was developed by or for the British Museum several years ago to use to protect their artifacts/furniture/armor/metals/leather too, I think. It’s a microcrystalline wax. I haven’t actually used it on anything yet, but I have read and heard about it and it sounds like a truly great product. (I think I saw somewhere one of the Lima team said the leather makers recommended paste wax from the hardware store, but now I can’t find it??) Good luck! I love these leather straps–wish they were wider s I could make a belt from them…are they thick enough, do you think? Thanks.

I can actually wear my first bracelet as a belt. They are pretty thick.

Almost everything on this page that I wanted is sold out…any chance you’ll be getting a shipment in any time soon? )

Finally found the TierraCast products I was looking for. I’ll definitely order more goodies from Lima Beads!