Leather Chain Necklace

While shopping at Ikea, I never miss visiting the "as is" area. The Textiles Bin is a can't miss. I almost always find a single dishtowel, pillowcase or some slightly stained fabric yardage that I can easily turn into something else. Always at a ridiculously low price. Last weekend I didn't find any fabric-like items, but I did find a 17" x 37" length of black pebble leather. The price wasn't marked but I took it up to the front and I bargined with the manager and managed to get it for $5! (He started out at $8.) Boy, do I love a good bargin. But what does one do with a 17" x 37" length of black pebble leather? The first thing I thought of was making a clutch, which I still might do with the remains. My fear of needleholes kept me from jumping into that idea feet first. I just started researching leather tutorials and came across this Leather Chain Necklace, via Cucumbersome. I have to tell you, I didn't exactly enjoy the journey on this one. I ended up needing about 30 "figure-8" cut outs to reach my desired length. Cutting these out was not the most challenging and interesting activity. And was rather time consuming. But I did manage to crank these out Thursday evening while watching Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice. But I am rather pleased with the outcome. Not bad for $5. I really do think I'll get a lot of wear out of it. And I have about 3/4 of the leather left, just waiting for me to figure out what to do with it. I will now be in search of some brightly colored leather, wouldn't that make a fun bracelet? I also may try this with some oilcloth scraps I have around.