My browband experiment has concluded. After searching for unique browbands online I had decided I really need to make my own. I wanted to do an orange browband, a millefiori browband, and a white/pink browband for horse shows.
Supplies
I got my empty browbands from delfinasaddlery.com and Ebay, using instructions that Delfina provides gratis. Delfina's browbands are quite nice, in a variety of colors and sizes. I got full size black in the curved style, and some 8mm beads and 3mm spacers from Etsy.com.
Craft marathon
I did the browband in one sitting on Saturday night. I made some mistakes, both in the selection of spacers and in the construction of the browband. But, I like it for all of its flaws!
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| I LOVE the beads!!!! And I like the spacers. |
If you think that there is something magical about the empty channel browbands that makes it easier to work with hard leather, think again. I bent three leather needles and impaled my fingers twice. I was not 100% happy with the instructions from Delfina, but I'm not especially crafty. An experienced craftsperson would probably do fine.
I will make more, but need to give my hands a rest!
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| I think it looks good from the standard distance most people will see your horse |
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| The spacers have very big holes, and they were not terribly stable in the strand. The instructions said to use an extra bead to accommodate the curvature. This caused the beads to "jam" in places. |
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| Jamming continued. Plus I tried to follow the "finishing" instructions and did not succeed. Notice the beadwork angles up at the end? It's partly the jammed beads, but also improper finishing. |
You can't see the jamming at all unless you are right up on it! I think it looks really neat!
ReplyDeleteI think your attempt looks pretty good. No one will see the "up close" imperfections. I've heard nothing but great things about Dark Horse Designs on etsy. I think I'm going that route, lest I sew my hand to the browband :)
ReplyDeleteWhoops, I mean Dark JEWEL Designs. Sorry!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Susan on everything! In addition, I think Riley will ROCK the orange and black.
ReplyDeleteImpressive for a first time job. The imperfections are hardly noticeable and I never would have noticed if you hadn't pointed things out. It's going to look super on Riley.
ReplyDeleteI love your browband! You did a great job making it and I bet the orange pops on Riley. I started to make my own browbands from belts that I bought from Goodwill. My horse Blessi now has browbands made from rattlesnake, python, fake leopardskin, alligator, etc. Average cost is about $3.50 and average time is less than 10 minutes. Detailed directions are on my blogsite:
ReplyDeletehttp://blessiblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/blessi-bling-how-toleopard-skin.html
And here are some of the wilder browbands I have made:
http://blessiblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/blessi-bling-more-browbands-python-croc.html
Regards, Pamela N.
Ooooo! love the orange beads!
ReplyDelete