Making Earrings Leather

I have used leather in my jewelry before but there are so many projects and kinds of leather to consider when you want to utilize or expand your leather crafting skills. It is a challenge picking out the leather and color.  I love to make and wear earrings so I decided to see what leather earrings  I could add to my collection. For inspiration, I looked through Pinterest to see what others have created.  It was easy to pick something a bit out of my comfort zone. I recently obtained some leather samples from Sun Enterprise so I decided this was a perfect time to create some new leather earrings.

Sun Enterprises is a leading manufacturer and supplier of leather, locks, silk and jewelry components. They are based in The Netherlands and ship goods across 55 countries and work extensively with jewelry designers, artisans, jewelry makers, goldsmiths , wholesalers and hobby stores. I was amazed by their huge collection of leathers and locks. It was fun looking through their online catalog and seeing all of the types, colors and sizes of leather. 

In the samples of flat 5mm Italian leather that I received I found a piece of pink leather with the saying "La Vie Est Belle" in silver.   I knew right away that this leather would make a great pair of earrings.  I used a "good" pair of scissors to cut 2 pieces of leather with a complete set of words and I punched some holes at each end of the leather.  I used punch pliers to cut tiny holes through leather.

                                                                       components used for one earring

I selected silver as my metal and used a pair of sterling silver ear wires, tiny heart charms, some silver chain, and some spacers. I found Czech glass among my collection that complimented the color of the leather.  These earrings are available for purchase HERE.

Loving Life Earrings by BayMoonDesign

The key to making these earrings is to attach the heart charm to the chain before starting. Then I used a piece of 6 inch, 20 gauge sterling silver wire to go through one of the holes in the leather. Next, I added the chain to the wire and added the other side of the leather to create the loop. The rest is easy to figure out.

5mm flat Italian leather from Sun Enterprise

I located some more 5mm flat Italian leather to create more earrings. I found 5mm the perfect size for these earrings. I used about 2 inches for each earring. What I really like about using this leather is that isn't very heavy. I am always trying to keep my earrings as light as I can. 

Copper and brown leather teardrops by BayMoonDesign

I made a very different looking pair of earrings using the dark brown leather with a thin black edging.  I added a pair of art beads by Humblebeads and used copper to bring the colors together.  This leather was thicker than the orange leather in the pair below so I used 20 gauge copper wire with this pair.  The pair below has thinner leather so I used 22 gauge bronze wire. 

Orange leather earrings by BayMoonDesign

This is a very light weight earring in this year's hottest color-- orange using the same technique.  I used a pair of art beads by Humblebeads.  I paired this leather with bronze.  

I look forward to working with more leather this year.