Upcycled Beaded Cuff - Inspired from the Trend

I noticed this stunning beaded cuff in Lucky Magazine's June 2010 Issue, page 58, called Double Happiness by Stephanie Wells. I was so taken with it that I decided to try to re-create my own. While thrift shopping, I came across a colorful blue, orange and yellow southwestern belt buckle with a leather backing. I carefully cut out the metal buckle and original cream colored leather. Then I replaced it with a flashy gold leather piece, carefully cut by using the buckle as a stencil. I used wood glue to adhere the new leather component to the original stitching backing.

Fortunately I have a lot of junk jewelery to work with and soon found just the right piece to use as the bracelet form. I used a malleable copper cuff so it can adjusted to fit on my wrist. Some say I have little bitty bird wrists. After the gold leather was completely dry, I used a quick clear drying epoxy to connect the copper with the leather back. I applied pressure for about 20 minutes. As you can see from the photo above, the epoxy dries very clear.


The finished cuff looks straight on trend and only cost me a few dollars to complete. And the joy of upcycling two random pieces of junk jewelry is such an exciting endeavor. If you have any unique ideas, I'm listening. In the meantime, though, I can't take off my new cuff!