Leather-Feather Metallic Statement Necklace

Supple, shimmery, and oh-so-elegant, this stunning leather-feather necklace will blow your friends away.  Accented with metallic gold paint in a sweeping, ombre gradient, this eye-catching accessory is sure to be a show-stopper!

Supplies:

-Sheet of leather from Michaels Crafts (about $10).

-Thread that matches your leather.

-Gold necklace chain from Michaels or a bead store.  Make sure you get a chain with links in it.

-2 gold jump rings.

-Metallic spray paint (you can use gold, silver, copper, etc.)

-Very sharp exacto knife.

-Jewelry tools (snippers, pliers, etc.)

Other Things from Around the House:

-Pencil

-Scissors

-Cutting surface (cardboard worked great for me!)

-Plastic to cover your spray painting surface.

Step 1

Using light strokes with a pencil, sketch out the shape of a feather on your leather swatch.  It helped me to draw the basic shape (sort of like a banana), and then add all of the wispy edges after I had the general shape and size sketched out.

Step 2

Use an extremely sharp blade on your exacto knife to cut along all of the edges of your feather drawing.

Step 3

When you’ve cut it all out, it should look like a lovely feather (see picture).  Take a sharp pair of scissors and trim away the “fuzzies” around the edges of any cuts that got a little ragged.

Step 4

Thread your sewing machine with the coordinated thread that matches your leather, and do a simple stitch down the center of the feather.  Do a single backstitch at the top and bottom of the feather (this will help anchor the necklace chain later).

Step 5

Time to bust out that metallic spray paint!  Use a generous amount of spray paint on the tip of the feather, and then move the spray can further away as you spray towards the other end of the feather.  Starting with the spray can close to the leather and then getting further away as you spray in a quick, sweeping motion, is what gives the “ombre” look to the piece with that gold gradient.

Step 6

Use your jewelry wire cutters to snip your necklace chain right in the middle.

Step 7

Time to attach the jump rings – one to each end of the feather.  Use the exacto knife to poke two little holes on each end of the feather (one on either side of the sewing machine stitching).  In the Step 7 photo, you can see the way to stick the jump ring through the leather.  It should only be visible a tiny bit on the front of the feather.

Step 8

Once the rings are threaded through the leather, don’t pinch them closed just yet –  first, hook the ends of the necklace chain through the jump rings, and then you can pinch them closed.
Ta-dah!  You are finished with your lovely, soft, elegant leather necklace.

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