Hell for leather

Rock out in Corinne Bradd's edgy collar and earrings!

This statement collar will be turning heads wherever you wear it! Leather pieces are edged with copper and seed beads before being linked with jump rings, then embellished further with mokume gane-style clay discs. Complete your look with a pair of matching earrings, in a choice of dropper or stud styles.

Download the template for this project here.

Collar Necklace

1. Take a quarter block of black polymer clay and knead in your hands until it is completely pliable and easy to shape. Press into a rough cube and roll out to a thickness of 1mm. Repeat with the other colours and layer one on top of the other. Cut this stack in half and place one half on top of the other (Fig.1). Repeat and flatten the stack to 5mm with a roller.
2. Press a heavily textured surface or an embossing plate onto the stack and press down firmly to indent the surface (Fig.2). Remove the plate and use a thin blade to slice horizontally across the textured surface, removing the raised areas only (Fig.3). Continue slicing thin layers across the stack until you reveal a multicoloured pattern. Keep cutting thin sheets of pattern from the stack and place to one side, to be used as veneers.
3. Once the pattern on the stack begins to diminish, take any waste clay pieces and roll out to 2mm thick. Lay a piece of veneer over the waste clay, smooth in place and use circle cutters to create decorated discs (Fig.4). Take the remains of the sheet, make it into a ball, re-roll and veneer to make more embellishments. Bake all the discs on a baking tray for 30 minutes at 110°C/230°F. Allow to cool and add a coat of clear gloss varnish.
4. Download our templates from http://www.makejewellerymagazine.com, or create your own symmetrical design, and trace around the shapes onto black hide leather with a white ballpoint pen. Cut out all the pieces with sharp scissors, wiping away any white ink from the leather with a damp cloth. Using a craft knife and ruler, cut a thin copper sheet into 1.5cm wide strips. Fold each strip in half lengthways and squeeze over the ends of the leather pieces (you will need to use two pieces for the central shape).
5. Trim the ends of the copper strips and fold in to prevent sharp scratchy corners. Use metal punch pliers to make holes through the copper and leather, fitting jump rings into the holes as you go to prevent the leather slipping out of the copper ends. Try and ensure the pieces that are to be connected have the same number of holes on the adjoining sides. If this is not possible, when assembling later you can always join two adjacent rings before fixing to the next piece.
6. Decorate the outer edge of each leather piece by oversewing with a border of alternating seed beads. Once the edge is trimmed with beads, run the thread back through all the beads to help them sit in the same direction and create a smooth line. Connect the pieces with jump rings fitted through those already attached.
7. Add three short pieces of chain to each end of the collar with a jump ring and add fastening chain plus a clasp with a jump ring to the correct length, allowing the necklace to sit attractively around your neck. Add a length of chain from the top centre to either side to help the collar keep its shape when worn. Lay it flat and arrange the varnished clay embellishments onto the leather sections. Use a strong clear glue to fix the discs in place before adding small flat back crystals as shown.

Drop Earrings

1. Cut a leather shape and fix a short folded piece of copper sheet to the top edge, holding in place by punching small holes and adding jump rings. Fit a short piece of chain between each pair of jump rings, then connect the centre of this to an earwire with a third jump ring.
2. Decorate the sides by oversewing alternating seed beads to the edges. Smooth out the line of beads by running a thread through all the holes and fasten off. Glue two small polymer clay discs down the centre of each earring and add flat back crystals.