Canada Day is coming up (July 1) But you do not have to be a patriotic Canadian to appreciate the maple leaf.  The distinctive shape, not to mention the beautiful fall colors, is symbolic of fall.  If autumn is your favorite season, then this layered faux leather maple leaf love tutorial is for you!

The Maple Leaf Love is a new SVG cut file available on my Etsy. As with my other cut file, you can sell what you make!



Die cutters like the Cricut (which I have) or the Silhouette are great for making leather jewelry because you can cut designs consistently time after time.

One of the reasons why I love using faux leather is because the die cutters just cut through this material like butter! Genuine leather can be tough to cut with older die cutters like mine. I personally prefer to use the laser cutter for real leather because of this issue. Faux leather can only be cut on die cutters. Faux leather is typically made from PVC - laser cutters will release dangerous chlorine gas during the burning/cutting process.

Thin faux leather which is about 1 mm thick is ideal for making layered styles.  I used Cricut's faux leather sample collections - the rustic faux suede and the faux pebbled patina - to create the examples shown here.

You have to use the strong grip or fabric mats for cutting leather or faux leather, otherwise the material will shift during the cutting process.  Another tip is to lay the material right side down.  I forgot one time and you can see the fuzzies stuck on the mat below.  (Slaps hand to forehead!)


Once I cut out leaves, it was a matter of just playing with the coordinating colors and the cut outs to create different combinations of double leaves or heart designs.


I sized my designs to about 2 inches in height.  That meant that the Cricut blade did not succeed in cutting out most of the holes.  Not a problem if you have a hole puncher or a leather punch.  I used my 1.8 mm hole punch pliers. It is best to put the two layers together and punch through both.


E6000 is a flexible glue and so will work for gluing the two leather pieces together.  The flexibility means there is some give when the earrings are handled. It is kind of messy to use though.

An excellent alternative is the flexible glue from Starbond which I absolutely love. Get 15% with this discount code : BGSB15. You can also purchase it from Amazon. 

I have been testing it since I received some for review.  The Starbond glues are very strong and durable. Plus each bottle has a nozzle which makes application of this liquid glue a breeze.  Starbond makes a wide range of specially formulated cyanoacrylate glues for crafts and lapidary work which are less brittle and superior to the common superglue.

How strong are the Starbond glues?  Pretty strong. Remember the gemstone inspired smartphone covers I reviewed?  The adhesive pads of the ring holders were not strong enough. So I reglued them with Starbond Medium. I move the ring on my cover several times a day and lo and behold, it is still firmly attached.

I found it easier to apply the glue to the leaf layer with the cut out.  When piecing both layers together, start with the leaf stem and aim to do the top of the leaf next, then the rest of the design.

One thing, if you get a little of the glue on your finger, Touch ID on iPhones will not work until said glue is removed from your finger.  The glue obscures the fingerprint!  Who, me? 😁

Nothing is wasted....including this boo-boo (shown below) when cutting went awry. The  faux leather sheet was not firmly attached to the grip mat and it lifted up during cutting and I was forced to abort the cut. No problem as I just glued a leaf cut out over it!


I used pinch bails to attach the leaves to ear wires for a neater finish.  See this past post - How to Eliminate Using Jump Rings for Earrings for more information.


I had so much fun with the maple leaf love design. I hope you will too!  NB Laser cut wood versions will be in my store in due course!







Photography 
I used  my iPhone 8+ for final product photography in natural light. I used  the Orangemonkie studio which comes equipped with LED lights - for artificial light photography in my windowless basement studio. The Foldio2 Plus is excellent . I use the Foldio3 because I need the room for tutorial photography. 

My online class Easy Guide to Smartphone Jewelry Photography is now available. Read more about it here.  

Before You Go:


Disclosure
This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation.
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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