DIY Network

Carnival Belt Create a vintage-looking carnival belt. From "Special Presentation" episode DHGN-S

The carnival gives Michele Beschen, host of B. Original, the inspiration for a belt for Creative Juice co-host Steve Piacenza. She takes a belt blank and traces text and images onto it. That is then burned into the leather using a wood burner. Once it is stained and sealed it has the look of an old vintage belt. A buckle is glued to the back of a paper weight to make a unique closure for the belt.

advertisement

Materials:

belt blank
leather hole punch
computer printed words
tracing paper
pencil
carnival images copied from book
wood burner or soldering iron
cotton dauber
bowl
cotton rag
leather stain
large paper weight or belt buckle
two-part epoxy

	Figure A
	Figure B

Steps:

1. Punch holes into the end of the belt blank.

2. Center the lettering on the belt and trace it onto the belt with a pencil. Also trace the carnival images onto the belt.

3. Carve the traced images and letters onto the belt with a hot wood burner (figure A).

4. Crinkle up the belt to make it look distressed.

5. Pour stain into a bowl and use the dauber to rub it on top and the sides. Wipe the excess stain off.

6. Once the stain is dry, use a leather sealer to seal the stain into the belt.

7. Glue the buckle onto the back of your buckle base, or attach a store bought buckle (figure B).