DIY Towel Ring

Hi! I’m so excited to present a NEW DIY! It’s been a very long time since our last DIY, and I love this new one. A DIY Towel Ring! This is pretty easy to complete once you have all the supplies. So let’s get started!

Supplies:
– 5” metal ring (usually near leather section at craft store, comes in a pack of 4), or from amazon
– wire cutter or tile nipper (I used a tile nipper which worked really well)
– unfinished wood beads  (I used 3/4”/20mm, 1 ring takes 20 beads)
– Rit dye in your choice of color (I prefer using the liquid kind, color is Evening Blue Azule)
– Leather
– Ruler
– Scissors for cutting leather, or an exacto knife
– Screw Punch
– Glue (regular gorilla glue works really well) *not pictured
– large glass bowl or whatever you have that won’t stain from the dye, and is microwave safe (unless you’re using the tea kettle method).
– metal spoon *not pictured
– rubber gloves
– paper towels

*also helpful to have a measuring cup and measuring spoon, or you can eyeball dye mixture if you want.

Directions:
1. Snip the ring with wire cutters/tile nippers (I found it easiest to cut where the welded seam is on the ring)

2. Pull apart and put the beads through.

3. Get ready to dye: Line your work surface with plastic or several sheets of newspaper or paper towels, have a few paper towels laid out nearby to wipe up any spills and/or blot your gloved hands before you touch things. Put on your gloves. To mix, I used 2 overflowing tbsp of dye to about 3 cups of HOT water.  You can either microwave, covered with plastic wrap, for a couple minutes (check after 1 min) or use a tea kettle and measure out with a glass measuring cup. Stir thoroughly with a metal spoon.

* I recommend you dye a test bead first to see if your mixture is how you want it.  If it’s too dark, add more water.  If it’s too light, add more dye.  The wood will appear slightly lighter when dry.  Generally, the longer you leave it in, the more saturated it will be.


4. Take the beaded ring and submerge it in the dye, hold under and agitate gently.  Take it out and let the excess dye drip back into the bowl.

5. Rinse the ring thoroughly in a sink under cold running water.

6. Hang to dry for a couple of hours. You don’t want to beads to be wet or they will rub off coloring onto the leather.
7. Measure your leather strips, and mark on the back side for easy cutting. I made my strips half an inch by 4 and a half inches.

8. After you have cut your strips, mark about half an inch up on each end and in the middle. This is where you will use the screw punch to make a hole.

9. Thread the strips of leather through the opening on the wire rings, and put two beads in between the strip.
10. Find the opening in the ring and pop out a bead, this will be the one that covers the opening.  Wiggle beads if need be, to make even.  You’ll want the opening to sit inside the middle of the bead when you put it back on. Put a small, thin layer of gorilla glue over the metal opening.  Be careful, this stuff expands! Pop the bead back on and let the ring dry.  The glue should be dry in about an hour.
11. Hang, and look at the pretty towel ring you just created! :)

I hope you guys liked this one, it’s my new favorite! :)
♥ Teri