Belts and bracelets
Inspiration strikes at the oddest times, and after months of poking around for a new project, I found myself inspired by Christy Tomlinson’s terrific “Belt Bracelet” workshop, which is about taking old leather belts and converting them into bracelets.
I’ve done many of Christy’s other workshops – Art Society, Behind the Art, She Art, New Boot – and Belt Bracelet really grabbed my imagination.
I love practical projects and this one appealed to my love of finding new uses for stuff I’ve hoarded for years and have long since forgotten about. A practical project like this is also good for using up old embellishments – brads, gems, sequins, etc – stuff I haven’t looked at since my days of making cards, altered books and ATCs back in another decade.
Many of us have old belts that once accessorised a nice outfit, laying unloved and forgotten at the bottom of a drawer or wardrobe. I found a couple of old belts I could happily live without and picked up four more from the local charity shop, just to give myself a few more options.
Working with the hands of Mary Ann, I looked at the various options and settled on two different leather belts that would “accessorise” nicely – one chunky and one thin. At this point, my main aim was to use up my old embellishments and make some good looking jewellery, but without really thinking about it, a theme of faith began to emerge as we started work on the bracelets.
Once we figured out what to do, it was a lot of hole-punching, sanding and hammering on an anvil, which Mary Ann probably found quite cathartic. Over the course of a couple of afternoons we finished six bracelets, with three of them eventually going to lucky nieces.
I’m really happy with the way the bracelets turned out. It was a great way to make something new from old and personalise it in a way that means something to me. I can’t wait to get started on the next bracelet. If you have a spare afternoon and fancy doing something creative with your old leather belts, you’ll find yourself inspired – I did.