Thursday, November 14, 2013

Vintage Book Cuff

I'm sure by now most of you know that I'm a thrift store junkie and that I love finding ways to re-purpose some of my thrifty finds into jewelry.



One of the things I'm always picking up at the thrift stores are vintage hardcover books. Many of them have beautiful artwork on the covers and along the spine. I decided instead of just displaying them on a shelf, it would be fun to wear some of that beauty. A cuff seemed to be the perfect way to do just that!



Some recycled suede, used jewelry and a few easy steps was all it took to create these unique cuffs.


supplies:
vintage book
recycled suede
heavy duty snaps
used piece of jewelry
fabric glue
wire
wire cutters
scissors
bead reamer


Rip the cover away from the pages.


Carefully rip the spine from the cover.






Apply a layer of glue to the front of the spine. I used my finger to spread it out evenly. It gets tacky very quickly so work fast.
Let dry completely.




Tear a piece of suede that is slightly larger than the spine.
My wrists are small so I did not need to add any extra length.
I suggest you measure your wrist and add extra length
to the suede piece if necessary.




Apply glue to the back of the spine and lay it over the suede piece.
Let dry completely.




Decide where you want the piece of jewelry.
Attach it to the cuff with wire. I used a bead reamer to poke the holes.
Trim and secure the wire at the back.




Cut a piece of suede a little smaller than the one used for the cuff
and glue it to the back of the cuff.




Follow the manufacturers instructions to
add the snap to one end of the cuff.


Wrap the cuff around your wrist to line up the placement for the other half of the snap and follow the manufacturers instructions to add it.




That's all there is to it!
Your finished cuff should look something like this.



Happy Creating!
 
 Sharing with: I Gotta Create!: Wildly Original link party, Funky Junk Interiors: Party Junk, Craft-O-Maniac: Craft-O-Maniac Monday

14 comments:

  1. Those are so cute! You should send that in to Stampington's "Green" magazine. They will like it too!

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  2. It's very useful! I've ever seen it before! Thanks for sharing! Gonna like it!

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  3. Gorgeous and creative as usual!! You do such a nice job with your process photos...so easy to understand. You should open your own studio and teach classes!

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  4. love love love - we'll be seeing this one in a stampington mag for sure!!

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  5. Love these and have some books on hand. Like you I love my G.W. adventures. I now have other things to look for.

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  6. What a great idea Kathy, Such a cool look with book spines!!!
    Hugs Lynn

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  7. Gorgeous! Great idea Kathy. So glad to check out your latest project.

    Pinning!
    <3 Christina

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  8. Kathy, You won 2nd place in my blog candy giveaway. please send me your top 2 choices and your mailing address.
    Congrats!!!
    hugs Lynn

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  9. Wow nice idea Kathy. it is one creative idea...do it your own way...

    Visit here

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  10. I saw your pieces in the current issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry and love your work. These book spine bracelets are so cool - thanks for sharing your technique!

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  11. How beautiful! I love everything that looks vintage

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  12. How fabulous!!! OMGosh!!! I just popped over to visit from Susan's Second Chances blog and is it possible? There are two of you that are so amazingly creative on the planet at the same time? Well, I am most certainly going to make myself a couple of these cuffs and now I'm off to poke around your blog some more to enjoy the eye candy! :D
    Hugs from a brand new follower,
    Beth P

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I look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!

Have a great day!
Kathy