Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Leather Jewelry

Leather Jewelry: 30 Contemporary Projects by Nathalie Mornu

This book has been in my collection for a couple of years now. It's one of my favorites in my jewelry-making library and it deserves a little review love here on the blog. With the recent popularity of leather in jewelry, this book hits the mark for creating stylish accessories that are oh-so relevant with what is happening right now in the jewelry and fashion industries. Leather jewelry is hot, hot, hot and still on the rise with no signs of stopping anytime soon!

If you want to add leather to your jewelry and you're looking for inspiring ideas on how to do it, this book is for you. I really didn't know much about leather before grabbing a copy of this book. Now, I feel informed and confident I could handle any leather jewelry project I set my sights on with this book by my side. Author Nathalie Mornu presents a great introduction to the medium. Her book is loaded with useful information I have found enlightening on the subject. You'll learn all about the different types of leather, which ones work well for the kind of jewelry you want to make and tips on where to track down leather scraps for jewelry-making. The book also contains detailed sections on all the right leather-working tools to use and techniques that you can start applying to your creations immediately. 

The jewelry projects in the book are chic and sophisticated, stylish and fashion-forward. Some of my favorite designs are also the simplest ones. For me, jewelry that is on-trend and easy to execute are top priorities. You can even start adding leather to your pieces right away with the jewelry-making skills you already have and a little inspiration from this book.

Take a look at a few of the projects inside Leather Jewelry:

"Gossip" by Nathalie Mornu 

Photo courtesy of Lark Books

"Regina" by Nathalie Mornu

Photo courtesy of Lark Books  

"Knots" by Nathalie Mornu

Photo courtesy of Lark Books 

See what I mean? How cute is this jewelry? And so easy to make. Couldn't you see changing up these projects just a little and adding in some art beads??? I certainly could. Leather is a great material to pair with your favorite art beads to add texture and interest to your jewelry designs. In fact, I did just that recently with my own version of Nathalie's "Knots" earrings pictured above. 

Here are my earrings inspired by Nathalie's:

Blue Titanium earrings by Erin Siegel

 Suede knot earrings inspired by "Knots" in Leather Jewelry by Nathalie Mornu.

Featuring handmade blue ceramic beads by Lisa Boucher.

If you want to learn how to add leather to your jewelry designs, grab a copy of this book. I highly recommend it! Buy it online at Barns & Noble (on sale now) or Amazon.

Okay, it's giveaway time.  

In the spirit of the season and the Thanksgiving holiday, I have an author SIGNED copy of Leather Jewelry to giveaway. While I was at Bead Fest this year, I had the pleasure of meeting author Nathalie Mornu. It is pretty exciting and an honor to meet someone who's work you admire. I loved meeting her. She's a pretty awesome person and she was awesome enough to personally send me a signed copy of her book to help me say "thank you" to you. Nathalie, I love your book and I know our ABS readers will, too.  Let's show my friend Nathalie some love for her generosity and leave a comment on this post. Leave your comment by Friday, November 23rd 2012 to be entered to win the signed copy of Leather Jewelry. Please leave me a way to contact you in case you are the lucky recipient.

Good luck and

Happy Thanksgiving! 

I hope your holiday is filled with reading, beading and all things you are thankful for.

Erin Siegel is a jewelry designer, beading instructor and co-author of the jewelry book, Bohemian-Inspired Jewelry: 50 Designs Using Leather, Ribbon and Cords. To find out more, visit her blog: Erin Siegel Jewelry.