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I remember I always wanted a package of them with more blue bows than anything. I knew blue bows rarely matched any of the wrapping paper and that meant I could wear one anytime during December and not just Christmas. Super score! Besides the blue are always the prettiest. Always.
In thinking about my love of bows and wanting to get my jewelry box filled back up again I decided to make this fabulous leather bow ring. It’s a lot bigger than most rings I would wear but I still really dig it and since it is on an expandable ring blank I can wear it on any finger I please. I’m thinking it would be best on either of my bird flipping fingers.
For this project you will need:
- leather
- scissors
- ring blank
- industrial glue
- clothespins (mine are mini pins from Michael’s)
First cut 3 strips of leather that are half an inch wide by 3.5 inches long. Also cut 2 strips of leather that are half an inch wide and 2.5 inches long. Another strip that is half an inch wide is also necessary but length doesn’t really matter – set this piece to the side.
Mark the center of the inside of your leather strips. (the fuzzier side)
To make the bow shape fold like you see here. It might take some finagling to figure it out but it’s not that difficult in the end.
The front side of the leather is facing away from you. The fuzzy side with your center mark is in the middle. Take the top of the piece of leather and fold it so that the smooth/good side is now on that mark for the center of the fuzzy side.
You’ll form this shape if you’ve got it. Glue that first side down and use a clothes pin to secure. Move on to the next piece.
After you get one side of all of your main pieces go back and glue down the other side folded into the center. Glue, pin and allow to fully dry.
After the pins have been removed, place your three largest pieces together like so. Place glue in the middle of the top two pieces and hold together with your fingers for 10-15 minutes.
Place your two smaller pieces inside of the large bottom bow section and glue into place, also holding for a length until the glue takes hold.
Grab that piece you set aside and cut a small length of it. Fold it like seen above and see if it looks like it fits the space well. Adjust and cut a new piece as necessary. Us that industrial strength glue to glue the piece into a loop shape.
And glue it into the center. Now you can’t really hold with your fingers as you’ll windup smashing the piece down. Instead I grabbed a pair of closed scissors and pushed down on the inside of the loop where glued until it took hold.
You can buy ring bases just about anywhere but I decided I wanted a nicer one for this particular ring. This one is super sturdy and a bit fancier than most. It’s also expandable which is good since I really like salt. Like a lot. Way too much.
Place a daub of glue onto the flat part of the blank and give it a minute or two to get sticky.
Place to the middle/back of the bow, giving pressure as needed until the bow seems firmly in place.
Go ahead and give it some time to for the glue to really dry and this sucker won’t be going anywhere.
The end result is bit large, but you can play with the proportions of the leather strips to make something smaller if you choose.
You could also maker a larger bow that would look great on a hair clip and last much longer than the paper ones! Bonus points if you can find blue leather!
I’ve decided I also need one in brown (tan, I decided, will match my skin too much and look like a weird growth) and red. So much fun!
