Obsessions on Leather Watchbands

Hi there!

I am new to the GF (and laser) community, I got my machine in March this year and while I’ve been having a blast creating stuff, I think I finally caught the laser bug with my latest project–watchbands! OMG, combining my other crafting hobbies into the Glowforge is such a treat and opens up so much potential and possibilities! I’ve loved leatherwork for a while, but am terrible about getting clean cuts, and what do you know–the glowforge does that for me!

I desperately needed a new watchband for my Withings 18mm smartwatch, so I dusted off my calipers, took lots of measurements of my worn out band, fussed about in inkscape and came up with a design that I’m really happy with. I used the proofgrade leather that came with my starter kit along with some leatherworking tools I already had on hand (dyes, waxed cord, needles, atom wax) and re-used the metal bits from my old band.

My design doubles over the leather so the part that hits your wrist is also the smooth skin side, and the glowforge cuts all of the thread holes so it was super easy to assemble. I did a lot of cardboard prototypes to get the dimensions and alignments, I’m newer to inkscape but not to the fundamental ideas of vector work, so it was a good challenge for me.

Bam!

I’ve fully engulfed myself in–I just finished up a snake/dragon scale design, and I have a full list of other designs I want to dig into as well. I did have some non-proofgrade veg-tan leather on hand that was a good thickness for the straps, so I think I’m pretty set for a while, now all I have to do is order more metal lugs and buckles!

Thanks for reading!