Wonder Woman Bracelets Part II

Wonder Woman bracelets are finally complete!

My last post, here, showed how to make the hand wrapping that goes under the bracers.  I realized that it was essential to create the wrapping first so that I could size the leather correctly to fit over top.

This project involved a lot more supplies than the last one.  First, I purchased two pieces of smooth, sturdy leather to create the bracelets.  I used 8 1/2 x 11 inch pieces but I have very small wrists.  I strongly recommend that you read through all the steps and wait until you have created the pattern based on your own measurements before purchasing the leather.   This size was just enough in my case.

Miscellaneous supplies pictured here include: ruler, white charcoal pencil (for marking on the back of the black leather), permanent marker, scissors, three paintbrushes (larger flat brush for applying a base coat, medium brush for shading, and tiny brush for details), and leather remnants for the bracelet straps.  Not pictured: plastic shopping bag (such as you might find at a decent clothing store) and scrap leather (optional.)

Leatherworking tools: leather hole punch, hammer, rivet setting tools, small double cap rivets (4), and clasp rivets (4).

Paints, coating, and adhesive: I tried out all of the metallic paints in the craft store and felt Grumbacher's Academy acrylic paint in thalo silver and thalo gold would fit this project best.  It ended up being a good choice on the final product.  I also used black acrylic paint, an acrylic clear coat made for leather from Fiebing's, and Ecoweld, a leather cement.

 

I started by creating a basic pattern on plastic, using a shopping bag, which I wrapped around my arm to gauge the sizing as I sketched.  Below is the basic shape of the piece, but final dimensions will vary according to your measurements.  Note that it tapers from elbow, where the arm is larger, to wrist.

 

After creating the pattern, I traced it onto a piece of scrap leather so I could fit it to my arm and make a few additional adjustments to the shape and size.  (The plastic didn't completely simulate the way firmer leather would wrap on the arm.)  This step is optional and you could get by without it.  Ultimately, the bracelet should cover most of the forearm length without impeding movement of the elbow.  It shouldn't wrap entirely around the arm- there should be a gap between the two ends (somewhere between a centimeter to an inch) in the back.  Two leather straps will fasten the bracelet together.  As you can see, the scrap leather I used was pretty low quality.

Once I was happy with the shape and fit of the bracelet on the scrap leather, I traced the shape onto the two higher quality leather pieces and cut them out.  The two pieces should be mirror images- the same but one piece in reverse.  (There is a photo of the two pieces side by side toward the end of this post that illustrates exactly what I mean by mirror image.)  To achieve this, I traced the pattern onto the back of one piece of leather and then flipped the pattern around before tracing on the back of the other piece of leather. 

After cutting out my leather pieces, I applied the base coat of paint to the front of the leather.  The silver took several layers.  To get the desired effect, I carefully painted with the brush strokes going in one direction only, from elbow to wrist, using the large flat brush.  This method is important to achieve the brushed metal appearance!  I used the medium brush to add a couple base layers of gold at the top and bottom.

Then began the tedious part of the project.  Using the medium and tiny brushes, I slowly began shading the bracelets using mixtures of black and gold and black and silver.  I used a recent movie poster from the internet as a reference.

  
There isn't a shortcut or trick for this part.  It's just old fashioned brushwork in many layers with a lot of blending.  To make the bracelet look more three dimensional, I used a sharp contrast in colors in the very center at the top and bottom.  For the seam lines, I used a ruler to make the lines relatively straight and then used thin silver strips of paint to the top left of those lines to add dimension.

On the side of each bracelet where the top slants inward (pictured below), I punched two holes (one at the top and bottom) and attached two clasp rivets to each bracelet.

On the other side of the bracelets (side where the top juts out), I used the hole punch and scissors to cut two small slits about 3/4 inch long and just wide enough to accommodate the leather straps.  For the straps, I cut two 3/4 inch strips from some brown leather remnant material I had.  The length of the strips will vary based on your measurements, but I cut the strips much longer than necessary so I could fold over/double up the material to reinforce the end where I would later punch the hole.  In the photograph, the bracelet on the left shows how the strap appears on the final product.  The bracelet on the right demonstrates how I folded the leather over.  I used leather cement to glue the folded parts of the strip to each other and pressed the pieces together with a paperweight to dry.  Once that end was dry, I glued the unfolded end of the strip to the back of the bracelet, and again, pressed while drying.

I also used small cap rivets to further reinforce the straps.  A couple years ago, I learned with a Katniss costume not to rely on leather cement alone for the structural integrity of a costume.  So, although the movie version of the bracelets lacks the rivets, I am attaching them anyway in hopes of avoiding another wardrobe malfunction.  I punched holes, as shown below, and used the rivet tools to attach the rivets.  I also spread a little bit of the silver paint over the rivets after to avoid the sharp contrast of steel on metallic paint.

The last step of the bracelet was to punch the holes in the leather straps.  I wrapped my hands in the leather strips first, then fit the bracelets over top and marked the straps where I wanted to punch the holes.  With this type of fastening, you need to snip a tiny line at the edge of the holes (the side facing toward the bracelet) to make a keyhole shape.  It's hard to see in the photographs, so below is a rudimentary sketch of where the line should be snipped:

Below is the final product.

This next photo shows the two bracelets side by side.  This photo demonstrates what I meant earlier by the two pieces being mirror images (same but in reverse.)  They differ slightly in shading and battle damage placement, as is to be expected.

Here are the Wonder Woman bracelets being worn.  Now, I just need a Lasso of Truth...

Edit/Update (06/01/17):

I have gone back and applied additional surface protection to the bracelets.  The Leather Sheen I used initially made an immediate difference on protecting the paint, but when designing the boots I realized footwear would need more protection.  I e-mailed customer service as the Angelus company and they recommended the two products below- one is a finisher specifically to protect the paint (applies with a brush) and the other is a repellent that causes water to slide right off the leather (spray application.)  I decided to go back and apply them to the rest of my costume as well, including the bracelets.  Although I chose matte finish, the products did add a slight amount of shine to the leather.  I still intend to entirely avoid getting the costume wet.