About the leather cuff bracelet
I love working with unfinished vegtan leather because I get to play around with leather dyes, which I’m still experimenting with. I used a blue dye here, but the natural colour of the leather was closer to a medium beige. As a result, the colour turned out less blue and more turquoise (with a bit of red throughout).
I love the end result, but I’m still trying to find a leather light enough to give me a true blue. Still, this was a fun stop on that journey. 🙂
Below are some high-level photos of the process, and also the finished result.
If you’d like to make your own, I’ve written a post with step-by-step instructions on how to create these kinds of Cricut leather bracelets. If you’d rather just buy one, I sometimes sell similarly-styled laser-cut leather bracelets in my Etsy shop. See if there are any you like!
What inspired the design
This was one of the first bracelets I designed. I love the ocean and all things marine-related, so it made sense to try creating some marine-themed designs early on. I was still experimenting to see what was possible.
I love this set. This particular design is simple and just looks really cool when it’s cut out of leather. Below are some photos from my marine biologist days (I worked at an aquarium for a while). Marine life is so close to my heart, I have to resist not to make these amazing critters central to all my designs.
Working at an aquarium means you’ll eventually and inevitably see some weird stuff. Our giant puffer fish had a freak-out moment one day and I managed to catch it on camera. He was puffed up for probably less than a minute and then it was all over and he was chill again.
Puffed up, he was larger than a beach ball. It was unreal.
The jellyfish shot is a drink that a local bar started making for us (our aquarist group used to hang out there after work sometimes).
Finally, the ugly (ADORABLE) fish is an Atlantic halibut named Spy, and one of my favourite guys. He was almost as long as I am tall, and visitors constantly thought he was dead.
The making process
If you want a step-by-step, see this video tutorial:
At a high level, the process of making this bracelet involved:
- Finding/purchasing a piece of scrap vegtan leather at a local leather supply shop.
- Uploading this design file into Cricut Design Space.
- FYI, you can purchase this design (along with three other marine-themed designs that come in the same bundle) in my Etsy shop for a few dollars if you’d like to make it! I also have free bracelet patterns available on this site (just filter for bracelet files).
- Cutting the pattern using my Cricut Maker.
- Dyeing the bracelet with blue and red leather dye.
- Buffing out the extra dye, applying a conditioning oil, and then sealing the leather with a finishing product.
- Adding snap fastener closures.
And that’s it! Here are some images of the process.
The finished result
I wish the red had stood out a bit more, but overall it does look pretty cool. I’ll definitely be experimenting more with this colour combination. I’d love to get a more fire and ice kind of vibe going, but I’ll need much lighter leather for that.
