Here, we will talk about how straightening faux leather cords.
Faux leather cord (or imitation cord) is made as a substitute for real leather. It has the same look and feel you want in traditional leather and the fact that anything that is made typically with leather can be made with faux leather is also a great advantage!
Therefore, whether you want to straighten genuine leather cord or faux leather cord, it will be the exact same process! How convenient!
So, we’ll take here the method of a normal leather cord and then you can reproduce the same method to straighten your faux leather cord.
When you buy leather cord for making jewelry, it often comes wrapped around a spool or sold in different lengths. The downside is that once the cord has been coiled around the spool, it often acquires that curve and refuses to uncurl when you’re ready to make jewelry with it.
So you may wonder how you can straighten them to work with, so your piece doesn’t end up looking warped or awkward.
So here’s what you have to do.
The simplest method of softening leather cords is by pinching a section of the cut cord with your thumb and index finger and using your other hand to bend the leather cord back and forth.
Why? Because it wakes up the stiff fibers of the leather and allows them to become more pliant again!
This method may work for shorter cuts of leather cord – like the ones use for bracelets for example – but if you need a truly straight cord, you may want to check out the more traditional technique of softening and straightening the cord. This last one involves the use of a bone bead and additional friction.
This technique is called “the neat” and has been used by traditional leather workers for centuries to straighten and soften leather cord.
Natural beads are best suited for softening leather as they are easier to hold and just generally produce better results. So what you need to look for when buying bone beads particularly for this purpose is variety in the hole sizes. They have to be sufficient for the size of your leather cords but at the same time, you need to be sure that they “bite” the leather cord a little when you are threading the cord through the bone bead.
First, cut off the length of leather you need for a project then insert one end of that piece of cord through an appropriately sized bone bead and pull on it. After that, simply run it back and forth through one of the beads a few times, to soften the cord and take the curl out of it.
For best results, you need to angle the bead slightly as you do this, so that it scrapes across the surface of the leather. The added friction while pulling on the leather cord is important as this directly softens the leather cord and allows it to be more pliant than when it was stuck in a spool.
We recommend that you take your time with it as to give the leather a more distressed look, which is always nice.
That is the two best methods to straighten you leather cord, might it be an imitation or a genuine one. But if despite all this, your leather refuses to straighten, for many different reasons, you can always add a bit of moisture to the leather.
We invite you to look more in details at our other blogs who can help you a lot on your creations or if you have any questions !
