February 20, 2012: A studly creation.

 This bad boy is a beast! It is a leather cuff made out of an old belt. I had scored a bunch of belts at Salvation Army and this was one of them. It already had the holes and the metal studs on it so it was a very simple creation (if it is even acceptable to call it a creation??). I just cut it shorter and added a belt loop that fit from another belt. This holds the flap down after you snap the cuff into place.

February 9, 2012: Jammin'... well not quite

Last year I had the wonderful idea to learn how to play the guitar. I still REALLY want to learn but I realize that it will take some serious work and dedication... and that means time... which is hard to come by. I asked a very talented young lady, a student, to teach me how to play. She was enthusiastic about it and we got started... we were able to get a couple of lessons in after school but then both of our schedules seemed impossible. Regardless, I truly do thank her for her time and willingness to attempt to help me. I think we will resume again... we shall see...
I made her this bracelet. When I hear the word "jammin'" I think of musicians... so I thought it was a cool word to punch on her bracelet. Check it out :)

This bracelet is made from an old belt (the buckle is still on it - that's what closes the bracelet). Then I punched the word into a pieces of sterling silver. To help the letters stand out more, I used the liver of sulfur again to oxidize the metal. Then I buffed the surface of the metal and the letters stayed oxidized (to learn more about the oxidation and liver of sulfur, click the label's below to jump to previous posts). I used rivets to attach the silver to the leather.

February 3, 2012: Finally Got My Black Belt!

You may or may not know that one of my passions is MMA. Yeahhh... so I have not been training lately... which really bothers me :(. The reason I am not training boils down to 50% living so darn far away from where I train, 25% is the fact that I am obsessed with Period Ten, 15% is lack of TIME and 10% is the need to just get over the other 90% and just DO IT AGAIN ALREADY! (end rant...) So, I jokingly titled this post "Finally got my black belt." Hmmm... NOT. But, I did make a cuff out of an old black leather belt!? Check it out:

I cut the strips with a razor blade, keeping the belt in one piece at either end. I set the snaps fastener (technique in earlier post) on either end and viola! I have seen ones like this on Etsy many times before and always wanted one. What better way to get one than to DIY!!!?