WigJig Jewelry Making Newsletter for 10/17/2004

Jewelry Technique:
This weeks jewelry technique is the technique for making necklaces strung on leather.  First, a note about leather.  Some leather can contain chemicals used in the tanning process that are carcinogenic for children under 14.  The chemicals are apparently not carcinogenic for adults.  For this reason, if you are making a leather necklace for someone under 14, we recommend using the simulated leather product called Pleather. 

When making leather necklaces you will often string a combination of beads to cover about 3 to 5 inches.  These beads become the central focus of the necklace allowing the leather itself to show for the remainder of the necklace.  About 19 inches of leather is recommended for the necklace.  The beads chosen will need to have holes that are large enough to accommodate the leather, which is generally either 1mm or 2mm in size.  Pearls and Swarovski beads will not work with leather, but Lampwork beads, Pony Beads, Bali-Style Beads and our Paula Radke Dichroic Glass Beads will work well with leather. 

The leather can be finished in one of several ways.  You can use crimp style connectors to clamp to the end of the leather.  These connectors provide a loop that can be used to connect to a clasp via a figure 8 connector, a jump ring, or via a wrapped bead link, using wire and a bead. 

An alternative method of finishing a leather necklace is the cave man way.  Instead of using 19 inches of leather, use about 26 inches of leather.  Use the final inch of leather on each side to tie in a square knot.  This will make a 24 inch necklace which can be slipped over the wearer's head without untying the knot.  Direction for tying a square knot can be found here.

Select here for detailed instructions on how to make a leather necklace.

Announcements:
Online Books.  If you are looking for new and interesting jewelry projects -- try one of our Online Books.  Our most detailed instructions are for sale online.  Please select here to view our selection of online books.  These books are delivered over the Internet and there are no shipping costs on an order with just online books. 

Shipping Policy.  We ship all retail orders over $60 for free within the US.  For International orders we ship via UPS international service and charge $34.95 (our average cost) for this expedited shipping service.  Please select here to view our entire shipping policy.

WigJig University.  We provide Over 2,000 web pages of free information, tips, techniques and free jewelry making designs in WigJig University.  We encourage everyone to view this information as a source for new ideas, projects, or a way to learn new techniques.  We now have a page in WigJig University that shows our designs by sorted by the WigJig tool used to make them.  Please select here to view that information. 

International Vendors.  We do have vendors who sell our WigJig products outside the US.  We encourage customers to contact these vendors in their home country.  Please select here to view our list of overseas vendors.  We are also happy to sell our WigJig tools to stores.  Please send us an e-mail if you are interested in selling our WigJig tools. 

Classes.  We have a listing of various jewelry-making classes using our WigJig tools that are offered by bead stores throughout the country.  If you are interested in classes, please select here.  If you know someone who has classes in using our WigJig tools, please ask them to send us an e-mail at custsrv@wigjig.com so that we can include them in these pages.