One piece of leather + two cuts + a little magic, and a mystery braid is born!
Among the many types of braiding out there for leather projects, the Mystery Braid is actually one of the easiest. It makes a great beginner leather project or an interesting addition to simple projects. Also known as the trick braid, the secret plait, and the magic braid, the Mystery Braid can be used in bracelets, belts, hat bands, leashes…the list goes on!
But how do you know how long to make a Mystery Braid without the dreaded trial-and-error phase of a project? That’s the real mystery!
I hate wasting leather. The first time I tried a mystery braid, it didn’t go well. I was so irritated with myself for wasting my little 2oz strip of chrome turquoise leather on that project that I stopped trying (hint: 2oz chrome? Not a great choice, and we’ll see why in a minute). Well, I finally figured out why it didn’t work, so I’m here today to help you figure out the Mystery Braid without as many wasted strips of leather.
Caution: you might still waste some leather. If you didn’t know this yet, I must tell you a leathercraft secret: we all waste leather. Like, quite a bit of it. Things go awry. Crafting is messy. But we can reduce the messed-up projects with a little info before we begin. Sound good?
Let’s start with some good choices of leather for a Mystery Braid and how to actually make one (we’ll just cover a three strand braid, but you can actually do five strands or more!). Next, we’ll look at how sizing the mystery braid works…and doesn’t…plus how to actually do the braid. Finally, I’ve got a short list of projects and applications for the Mystery Braid to help jumpstart your creative leather crafting engine.
Feel free to skip around, but if this is going to be your first Mystery Braid project, I would definitely advise you to take a look at the type of leather to use before you start.
What Leather Can I Use with a Mystery Braid?
Anything you want! But…well, the very best results have some specific restrictions.
Earlier, I mentioned failing a Mystery Braid with a piece of 2oz chrome tanned leather. One of the reasons that it didn’t work out is that the size and thickness of your leather makes a huge impact on whether or not the Mystery Braid ends up looking polished or has enough body to hold itself together well. A 2oz piece of soft chrome tanned leather doesn’t cut it; the edges roll up and the leather stretches out and wrinkles.
The Mystery Braid needs a solid body to prevent rolling at the edges, so most braids should be done with at least a 4-5 oz strip of leather. This can be a chrome tanned or vegetable tanned leather, though there are additional considerations for each:
- Chrome tanned leathers tend to be softer and will stretch more easily. Choose a leather with a medium to firm hand or temper (that is an inaccurate measurement of “can I squish this and how much does it suffer?”). Make sure the leather you choose cuts with a clean edge or be prepared to do some weird edge paint work (I haven’t tried this yet, but I don’t like the sound of it). Some of the oil tan (a type of chrome tanned leather) I’ve worked with looks pretty decent and rugged (rather than ragged) without any edge work, but if you are looking for something more polished, you might try a few edge finishing techniques on your chosen chrome tanned leather before making a bracelet or belt out of it.
- Veg(etable) tanned leathers tend to be firmer and lack stretch. The sturdy nature of veg tanned leather is great for tougher items like belts or leashes, plus edge finishing is much easier since veg tan burnishes easily. Choose something between a soft-medium (for heavier weight leathers) and medium-firm temper (if the leather is on the lighter side). Too stiff and you won’t be able to wrestle it into a braid, too floppy and the edges will curl. Veg tanned leather can be oiled to help with the stiffness. Note that because veg tan doesn’t have a lot of stretch, you’ll need more of it for braiding as the length of the strap will shrink as you braid.
Got a really neat leather in a lighter weight? Glue on a suede backing or other lining to give it some more heft. As long as the bond is solid (it’s going to get braided and stretched, so it needs to hold tight), it should be good to go! I recommend using contact cement for a good, strong bond (mmm, toxic fumes! …but seriously, don’t forget to ventilate with that stuff, it’s potent).
What about Calculating the Mystery Braid’s Length?
The most problematic part of any mystery braid project is that you need to know how to size it before you braid, but you won’t know exactly how the braid will affect the final product. There are several factors that are going to influence the length of your project:
- Leather type (we’ll categorize these as stretchy or stiff for simplicity)
- Leather weight (I’ve stated 4-5 oz as a good weight for most projects…but a 9-10oz Mystery Braid makes a pretty awesome drawer pull)
- Sets of braid per foot
- Width of the strands
- Number of strands
I’ve tried calculating based on loss of length after braiding 6″ on test strips of leather, hoping to give comparison data to help you (and me!) figure out project lengths based on a scrap test from the same leather. However, despite being reassured by the school of YouTube that this makes sense, all of my experiments with it don’t hold up!
Bracelet length calculations simply don’t scale up. I can see a loss of half an inch over 6 inches on a veg tan bracelet project, but put that same leather into a hatband over three times the length and the losses don’t seem to accumulate (though you can certainly try). It’s even weirder with oil tan: I lost half an inch on a 6″ Mystery Braid project, but the hatband project only saw the same half an inch loss over 18″.
Bottom line: Choose a leather in a good weight, make your width easily divisible by three, calculate a loss of 0.5 to 1.5 inches of length per foot (in other words, less if the leather is stiff, more if the leather is stretchy), and expect that you’ll waste at least one attempt until you get a feel for each leather. Not too reassuring, but for bracelets it’s not a big deal. For everything else, though? I would cry if a belt turned out the wrong size.
One way to minimize the risk that a long mystery braid project will end in tears is to only do a foot of braid cuts at a time, adding in uncut space between them (possibly decorated, stamped, tooled, the sky’s the limit). This might stabilize the length loss, but I can’t confirm that just yet. Maybe later, in another blog post.
Making the Braid
I’m going to chicken out on teaching you the braid myself and link to Weaver Leathercraft’s video here. Chuck Dorsett does high energy videos full of enthusiasm, and so here’s hoping his energy jumpstarts your experiments. Note his use of a nail to hold the end of the braid! You don’t need the nail, but it does help you keep a steady tension.
I personally like to use Chuck’s method, but guess what? There are multiple ways to make the mystery braid work. Here’s a different take on the method by Silver Creek Leather with a slow, very detailed look at how a three-strand Mystery Braid goes together (it’s not in English, but visually very easy to follow):
Project Ideas
Beginner
- Cuffs / Bracelets
- Key Fobs or key lanyards
Intermediate
- Hat bands
- Purse straps
- Any other kind of connecting strap
- Collars
- Leashes
- Belts
Advanced
- Horse tack
- Any of the above…but with MORE STRANDS!!!
Seriously, though, the Mystery Braid isn’t a super complicated part of the project; it’s calculating sizing and choosing a project that’s hard. Keep it simple or go Mystery Braid crazy, because if you’re already looking for advanced projects, you’re already prepared for the Mystery Braid part of whatever it is.
Good luck, have fun, and get back to work!
