Braided Leather Wristbands

Free Laser Designs
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I’ve always liked the “Magic Braid” look on leather, so I worked up a blank for it yesterday.

There are two here, one for a 3-strand braid, and the other for a more ambitious 5-strand braid.

Both “should” braid down to about a 7" diameter band when they are done.

I’ve left a little 1/8" marker circle for where the snaps would be placed (centered and with correct overlap) - those can either be cut or engraved to help with punching the holes for snap placement, or just omitted.

Instruction Videos for how to braid the bands are linked in the Attributions below.

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Files:

Braided Leather Wristband_3strand_7inch.zip (742 Bytes)

Braided Leather Wristband_5strand_7inch.zip (757 Bytes)

Attributions

Lizard modification
www.vectoropenstock.com

3 -Strand Braid Instructions

SilverCreekLeather Braiding Instruction Video

5-Strand Braid Instructions

NorthStarLeather Braiding Instruction Video

I was also thinking that it might be fun to play with engraving on the blanks sometime down the road…

Examples:

Greek Key

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Gators

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Lizards

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oops! kinda messed that up for a bit! :neutral_face:

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Whew, dejavu :slight_smile:

I used to make these when I was a kid. Had to cut the slots with a utility knife. Actually had a gizmo that I could clamp to a table and set multiple utility knife blades in slots so I could run a strip through and do 3/4/5 strip braids. The closed ends always made people puzzle about how it got braided :smile:

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That’s really cool. I’d never seen this type of braid before (not that I ever really looked). I had to watch the video to understand how it was made.

I like it!

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Love these! Saving all the info. for, um…you know :wink:

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Oh, my daughter’s going to love this.

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That is awesome. Thanks.

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LOVE this. I’ve seen these at local markets but haven’t been able to figure out how they worked! Thanks for the share!

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Fun! Thanks for sharing this!

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I am hoping to try creating a few leather projects. Do you think craft foam sheets would be a good material to practice with?

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I think the foam might tear too easily for this. You might try some heavy fabric with a tight weave instead. :slight_smile:

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OK, a lot of my brainstorms don’t seem to work - but I’ll keep trying! :grinning:

How about strengthening the foam with a layer of fabric? I’m thinking some spray adhesive (check to see that it doesn’t eat the foam). It may give the foam enough stability that it won’t tear. With the fabric glued down, make your cut through both materials. Hopefully the fabric edges will seal and you have a nice pattern as well as the thickness to approximate leather at a cheaper cost.

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Nothing wrong with that idea. :smiley:

I was actually thinking of heavy upholstery fabric. Some of them are fake “pleather” with a leatherish side already attached to a more flexible backing.

They are a booger to cut (rather like real leather), but you could certainly perform the weave with it and it should hold up.

(These things can be cut with an exacto knife out of fabric - they just get to be a pain with heavier leather.)

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I wasn’t thinking of wearing them, just to make sure the size is right. I would hate to waste good leather. I think Dan mentioned using paper to get the size and shape of the leather bag just right. I thought maybe the craft foam with it’s extra thickness might be a better material for mocking up leather projects.

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Oh, gotcha!

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My wife is looking forward to me trying this one. Thanks for sharing!

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It amazes me the amount of things I learn on here everyday. Thank you for sharing that.

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Thanks for sharing!! Totally looking forward to making these…seems like they could be a good introductory project to working with leather!

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This is great, I’ve always wondered how it was done but never took the time to research it.
Another item added to the to do list.
Thanks

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one of my Glowforge-interested non-buying crafty brothers makes these. He’s got visions and dreams in his head of doing intricate things like you have here. Really great.

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So he’s gonna be over at your place a lot, huh? ROFL! :innocent:

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