# Keychain handler

# Introduction

Most of my pants have small pockets.
When doing gardening, standing up and down, this is not very confortable when you have your keys in.
With some leather leftover, I made a simple keychain handler.
You can attach keys to the belt or put it on your wrist.

## Table of Content


- [Material](#material)
    - [Consumable](#consumed)
    - [Embellishment](#embellishment)
    - [Pricing](#price)
- [Step by Step](#step-by-step)
    - [Pattern](#pattern)
    - [Instructions](#round-edges)
- [Final result](#result)



# Material

## Consumed

- Leather strip: (vegetally tanned leather) 25cm length, 2cm width, 2.5mm thickness (if you want to carve the leather) or 1.5-2mm (if you just want to stain the leather).
- Rotating carabiner
- Snap button
- One rivet / concho / chicago screw (select one of this option)


Tips: Select the same color for all metallic parts



## Embellishment

For carved leather:

- Knife opener
- Metallic Stamps
- Sponge
- Edge beveler
- Edge burnisher

For coloring:

- Eco-flo Watershtein light brown
- Eco-flo antique dye - han tan
- Eco-flo acrylic gold

Necessary:

- Cutting mat (unless you have a working table)
- Hole Punches: diameter depend on the snap button and rivet.


## Price

(without counting the painting, irrelevant for the project)

- 3.5€ for the [rotating carabiner](https://www.decocuir.com/products/mousqueton-tournant-ovale-nickele-40-mm?variant=40656932405302)
- 4.6€ for the [Concho](https://www.decocuir.com/products/concho-vis-titus-argent-vieilli-antique-creation-decoration)
- 0.8€ for the [Pressing button](https://www.decocuir.com/products/20-boutons-pression-laiton-12mm)
- 2€: for the [leather strip](https://www.decocuir.com/products/laniere-cuir-collet-tannage-vegetal-naturel-ep-19mm-25mm-80cm?variant=40658459066422)

**Total: 10.9€** without labor ! (Think about this before buying on Etsy)


*Note*: I am not paid for this article, these are just links if you want the full detail.


# Step by Step

## Pattern

![](/assets/images/keykey/leather.png){:style="display:block; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto" width="100%"}

![](/assets/images/keykey/000_big.jpg)

## Round edges

Cut the end of the strip to get rounded edges (or any suitable shape)

## Carve

Carve the leather at wish.
Here, this is a simple pattern:

1. Draw a line parallel to the leather border of 2mm width
2. Cut and emboss the line
3. Make compass:
    - stamp a flower tool
    - Use the knife opener to create the 8 branches

## Prepare the Holes

At the start, make the two most distant holes: one for the pressing button, one for the rivet (at 1cm from the ends).
This are the simplest ones.

Next, make a hole for the pressing button 1cm near by the rivet hole.

Note: There are some template where the pressing button serve as a rivet.
While this is more elegant, this is not recommended.
First, it is hard to get a button with a large traversing pin.
Next, button are not designed for that.


For the last hole, (the second rivet hole), you may need to adapt the template based on the leather thickness:
if your leather is too thick, it will be difficult to get it bent within a small radius.
To reduce thickness, use a dedicated razor, near the dashed line, until you get something correct.

![](/assets/images/keykey/028_big.jpg)




##  Stain the leather

1. Watershtein light brown for the middle

![](/assets/images/keykey/001_big.jpg)

2. Apply Antic finish when the dye is dry: put in on **both sides** (but let it dry before turning the leather piece).
3. Apply the acrylic gold only on the compass star, and remove the surplus immediately (with your finger for instance)

![](/assets/images/keykey/007_big.jpg)
![](/assets/images/keykey/008_big.jpg)

With natural color:

![](/assets/images/keykey/026_big.jpg)


4. Edge finish black



## Putting the Metallic Parts

Here, dedicated clamp are more than welcome, especially for the pressing button.

Here, I used a Chicago screw, which is easy to put when you don't have many tools at home (However, be careful, it can unscrew itself).

![](/assets/images/keykey/015_big.jpg)
![](/assets/images/keykey/029_big.jpg)


![](/assets/images/keykey/013_big.jpg)


# Result

Full strip:

![](/assets/images/keykey/011_big.jpg)
![](/assets/images/keykey/012_big.jpg)


Bent:

![](/assets/images/keykey/016_big.jpg)
![](/assets/images/keykey/017_big.jpg)

Final result:


![](/assets/images/keykey/018_big.jpg)


![](/assets/images/keykey/027_big.jpg)
![](/assets/images/keykey/023_big.jpg)