3 Steps of 3 Loop Spanish Braid Video

When I first posted this article I advised my readers that I would soon be releasing a video showing this technique. You will find that leather brading video below.

The Spanish 3 loop edge braid is not only a beautiful finish to the edge of your leather project but it is also a perfect way to protect the edge from damage. This braid can be found as plate 118 in the Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding. The name of this braid describes what you will learn…make 3 loops, braid, make 3 loops, braid.

Think of it this way, each of the first 3 steps is going to create a loop over the edge of your leather. Then you will be passing the working end of your thong under the 3 loops, this leaves 2 loops over your leather with nothing under them. When you go through the next available slit or hole, you have now created 3 loops which you will then pass under.

The length of the thong for this braid is approximately 7 1/2 times the length of your project.

Plate 118 061911

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Step 1. Loop 1…Pass the working end through hole number 2 from front to rear. Hold the loose end over the edge of your leather between holes 1 and 2. You now have the first loop.

Step 2. Loop 2…Pass the working end from front to back of hole number 1. You now have loop number 2.

Step 3. Loop 3…Bring the working end over the edge of leather, go through hole number 3 from front to back. You have now made your 3 loops, thus the name of this braid.

Step 4. Pass the working end under the 3 loops, on top of your edge between the edge and the three loops above the gap between holes 1 and 2. You now are left with 2 loops over the edge of your leather.

Step 5. Bring the working end to the front, go through hole number 4 from front to back (you have now created the third loop) then between the edge and the three loops above the gap between holes 2 and 3.

Now continue braiding in this fashion by repeating step 5 until completed.

When you have gone through the last available slit/hole and under the three loops, go under the last two braids on the backside. Trim off the excess here and where the loose end is still exposed at the beginning.

Final step, lightly tap the edges so they lay down and relax.

3 Steps of 3 Loop Spanish Braid

The Spanish 3 loop edge braid is not only a beautiful finish to the edge of your leather project but it is also a perfect way to protect the edge from damage. This braid can be found as plate 118 in the Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding. The name of this braid describes what you will learn…make 3 loops, braid, make 3 loops, braid.

Think of it this way, each of the first 3 steps is going to create a loop over the edge of your leather. Then you will be passing the working end of your thong under the 3 loops, this leaves 2 loops over your leather with nothing under them. When you go through the next available slit or hole, you have now created 3 loops which you will then pass under. I will soon be releasing a video showing this procedure in depth so if you want to see it when it is released be sure and register for our email notifications.

The length of the thong for this braid is approximately 7 1/2 times the length of your project.

Step 1. Loop 1…Pass the working end through hole number 2 from front to rear. Hold the loose end over the edge of your leather between holes 1 and 2. You now have the first loop.

Step 2. Loop 2…Pass the working end from front to back of hole number 1. You now have loop number 2.

Step 3. Loop 3…Bring the working end over the edge of leather, go through hole number 3 from front to back. You have now made your 3 loops, thus the name of this braid.

Step 4. Pass the working end under the 3 loops, on top of your edge between the edge and the three loops above the gap between holes 1 and 2. You now are left with 2 loops over the edge of your leather.

Step 5. Bring the working end to the front, go through hole number 4 from front to back (you have now created the third loop) then between the edge and the three loops above the gap between holes 2 and 3.

Now continue braiding in this fashion by repeating step 5 until completed.

When you have gone through the last available slit/hole and under the three loops, go under the last two braids on the backside. Trim off the excess here and where the loose end is still exposed at the beginning.

Final step, lightly tap the edges so they lay down and relax.

June 2011 Catalog

June 2011 catalog is being released this morning along with a short term 25% Savings coupon of NL0507 good for any of our leather products here.

3 Practical Steps to Edge Braiding

I am going to take advantage of the fact that I am currently working on a key fob that I want to have edge braiding on so it will add a beautiful effect of the braid itself and the fact that it will better protect the edge more than anything else I could do. This leather braiding technique is covered in the book “Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding” as plate 122. If you want to really learn how to braid, then I recommend purchasing this book. When edge braiding you must first make one very important decision…Do I want to punch holes or slits? For me, I always use slits except for the corner where I always use three 1/8″ holes. Corner braiding is a topic of and to itself which I will discuss in another post. But, if you are currently having a problem with going around a corner, post your question at the bottom of this article and I will answer it for you.

So for our purposes we will use 1/8″ slits and we won’t need to punch any holes because we are not going around any corners because the key fob is round. At the end of this article is a slide show that depicts the hard to describe visuals referred to in this article.

The 3 practical steps to edge braiding as I am going show are

A. Preparation

B. The braid

C. Final touch

Step 1…Preparation is far more important than the braiding step because if you mess up now, there is nothing you can do to fix it with the braiding step.

a. skiving…in the project I am using for demonstration purposes, the leather is from a 10 oz vegetable tanned shoulder resulting in a piece of leather about 3/16″ thick. I want to skive both sides down so when they are glued together the final product will be approximately 1/8″ total thickness

b. using a scribe set to 1/8″ inch, I want to mark a line 1/8″ in from the outside edge. This will be the line where my slits will go.

c. since each slit is 1/8″ wide and I want 1/8″ between all slits, I am going to set my wing divider at 1/4″ so I can easily mark the leading point of each slit. I am going to make the slits one at a time versus using a 3 or 4 tong punch because the slits will be on a curve and the punch will not mark them with the accuracy I prefer

d. once I have made all of my slits on one side only, I now glue the two sides together and come back and make the slits on the other side by using the slit already made as a guide to line up the other side. In other words, place one side of you punch in the slit already made and while holding it in place line up your tool and make the slit on its pre-scribed line.

Step 2…The braid I am going to use is an eight thong braid done with one thong. This braid can be made with a over-two under-two sequence or even a over-two under-three on the front and on the back a under-three and over-two. This braid is discussed in depth as plate 122 in the Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding.

a. begin by bringing the leather thong down between the two pieces of leather and enter through the “fourth” hole from the beginning going to the front of your project

b. go over the piece enter through hole 1 from the back to the front

c. go under the thong and through hole 5 from back to front

d. go under the thong and through hole 2 from the back to the front

e. go under the thong and through hole 6 from the back to the front

f. go under the 2 thongs and through hole 3 from the back to the front

g. go under the 2 thongs and through hole 7 from the back to the front

h. go under 2 thongs, over 1 thong and through hole 4 from the back to the front

i. go over 1 thong, under two thongs and through hole 8 from back to front

j. go under two and over one and through hole 5 from back to front

Now continue this process in front , always in the front you go over one and under two; in the back, under two and over one until you have gone from back to front of the last hole, finish the sequence again to the point where you have no hole to come through from the back to the front. You will want to work the needle through the last hole where it comes out somewhere is your braid and then carefully trim the thong.

Step 3…Final Touch…use your hammer (one specifically designed for leather) and lightly tap all edges of your braid. This will help the thong to relax and move evenly as the project goes through the natural bending process of being used by someone.

There is still the question of corner braiding and competing this braid so you cannot tell where it starts and ends. This is being left for another time but as always if you need assistance immediately please post your question and I will be happy to help.

The following slide show provides you with a visual of everything I have discussed above. You can pause the slide show and move through it one frame at a time, all for your benefit.

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2 Steps To Making a Leather Business Card Holder

There are basically two steps needed in making a leather business card holder for your desk or someone else. Step 1 preparation of the parts and Step 2 is the assembly.

Tools necessary…razor knife, ruler with a center finding indicator, ball point pen, straight edge, edge trimmer, 4 prong chisel, hammer, braiding needle, leather lace, wing divider, finger nail clipper, circle template, scribe and 8 oz or heavier vegetable tanned leather. The most important tool is the center finding ruler. If you don’t have one then you can purchase one here.

Below is what your finished product could look like.

Of course you can alsways add your own garden variety of tooling but for with this particular piece, plain and simple works just fine.

Applique braiding is both practical and beautiful. Once you learn the process you will be amazed at all of the different places it can be used. On this product I used plate 122 from the book Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather braiding as an applique because of how it looks. If you don’t already own this book, you should and you can get it here. When you learn these techniques you never need any thread, metal brads, glue or other things to help you in joining leather together. It can also be said there is a harmonious relationship between the leather thong used to join the leather together and the leather itself which complements your entire project. On the back of this business card holder you can see how I used one such technique.

Step 1…I cut out 3 pieces of leather. Two of them were 4 inches long, rounded on the ends and the third piece was two inches in height and 12 inches long at this point.

Go ahead and glue the two small pieces together and clamp them down with edge protected bull dog clips.

Using your “center-finding” ruler, mark the center of what will become the bottom of our leather business card holder on the flesh side; a small mark will do. Later when you wrapping the leather around this base you will want to have the two ends that are joined together line up with this mark so it is properly centered. If you don’t have a ruler with a center mark you can get one here.

When the glue dries on the two smaller pieces, wrap the larger one around and overlap lap it. Make sure the leather is snug around what will be the bottom of our leather business card holder and make a mark for trimming. Be sure when you mark the line for your cut that is perpendicular or leather ends will not join properly.

You can trim what will be the outside of your leather business card holder however you choose, but the picture below shows my choice of the shape. The reason for this choice is that it provides enough space for braiding the two pieces together and the backside is tall enough to support our business cards.

Step 2…once you have your two pieces cut and sized as per the above instructions, you can add some additional tooling if you wish or proceed to dyeing, applying edge coat and adding a clear coat on your final product. Using your wing divider, carelfully scribe a line 1/8″ from the edge on both sides as shown below.

Using your 4 tong chisel, line it up on the line you just scribed and make your slits. When doing the opposite side, make sure you do them so the slits are lined up properly. One tip is to make the first one 1/8″ in from the edge then mark the same starting spot on the opposite side.

The braid I am going to use will be the 8 string simulated braid shown in the Enclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding as plate 122. The only difference is that the two edges I will be working with be “edge to edge” and not where the two are overlapping. The same steps will be used, you just need to visualize it differently.

The following slide show will review the information we just discussed and will show you step by step of how to complete this applique which is from plate 122 of the Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding.

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Stairstep Braiding

I have received a lot of comments about different forms of braiding I have used so here is the scoop about the one I am using on my centerpieces.

This one is best described as a stairstep braid which is beautiful and practical. I have used it to join two pieces of leather and at the same time it is pleasing to the eye. When you spend the time learning how to braid, you find it unnecessary to use metal brads or needle and thread, and your work will stand out. Properly done, the braid enhances your leather creation.

I am using the stairstep applique on the centerpieces because it is practical and just plains works. Holes of 1/8 inch are placed on 1/4 inch center line where the edge of the hole is at least 1/8 inch from the edge of the leather.

The thong is entered from the back up and through hole 1 then down hole 2. Leave the edge of the lace about two inches from completely going through hole 1. Now take the thong and pass it again up and through hole 1 then down through hole 3. Next pass the thong up and through hole 2 (this is where you must decide to work pass the lace either on the right side or left side). Next go down and through hole 4 then up and through hole 3. The process is now repeated until completion. When have finished pass your lace under the bottom final on the backside and trim. Don’t forget to trim your lace at the beginning.

I have included two photos to demonstrate how this easy braid can be used to beautify your work. In the picture below you will notice that the opposing braids are “in balance”. This is because on one side I consistently passed the lace on the left side and the other one was consistently passed on the right side.