the Deepster's Dizziness

Exploits in art….

Belts and bracelets

August17

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.

WWJD

WWJD

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.

Chunky bracelet

Chunky bracelet

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.

Belt Bracelet

Belt Bracelet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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