Black and white is supposed to be one of the hottest trends for Spring so I thought it would be fun to dress up some of my old jewelry and give it a fresh take. I'll be sharing a quick tutorial over the next 3 days to show you how I made each one.
I'm starting today with my favorite of the bunch - the Chevron cuff! This started out as a $1 plain white plastic cuff from Michael's and guess what I used to cover it? Washi tape! I was scrounging around my craft room looking for anything black/white and found this roll of tape and thought, I bet that will work! And guess what? It does! Here's how I did it.
Supplies - Cuff bracelet, washi tape, high gloss glaze (Mod Podge is fine, but all I had was matte so I used this Martha gloss glaze instead), small paint brush. 
Start by tearing off a length of tape that is about double the width of your cuff (you can probably just eyeball it.) Pull it taut and carefully lay it across the bracelet. Now take your time to press it down, paying careful attention to get out as many creases/bubbles as possible. Depending on the shape of your bracelet, you may not be able to get it completely flat but do the best you can. (The gloss glaze will cover up most imperfections at the end.) After you've smoothed out the front, wrap it around into the inside and line it up as neatly as possible then press it down firmly. I didn't do a great job at this - ha!
Next, tear off another piece and carefully line it up with the first piece, smoothing it out as needed. This is very important. It makes a huge difference in the look of the finished cuff if the pieces of washi tape are lined up carefully and smoothed out as much as possible.
Continue adding tape all the way around until you reach the end. Do your best to not overlap the pieces, but you might have to on the last piece, depending on the spacing.
Here's the fully wrapped bracelet. As you can see, it's not perfect but the next step is to add the glaze which helps detract the eye from any imperfections.
I added 3 layers of glaze, letting each one dry for a few hours between. And just a tip, a little of this stuff went a LONG way! When I first added it, it dripped off the side of the cuff and started to pool at the bottom so I had to keep wiping it off to even it out. The next two layers I only used a few drops for the whole thing.
Better, right? It's even cuter in person. :)
Check back tomorrow and I'll show you how I made the striped cuff. :)
A Little Tipsy - There are literally HUNDREDS of different styles of washi tape so a few things to keep in mind if you try this out -
~Be aware of which way the print will go on the bracelet. You want to make sure it will look good going "up and down" as well as side-by-side.
~Not all washi tape is created equal! For instance, Smash tape works great on paper but did not stick to the cuff and wouldn't work at all. Some are stretchier than others as well.
~If you start with a cuff in a color other than white, you might have to paint it since some washi tape is slightly sheer.
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