DIY Leather Keychain Clip | Beginner Glowforge Aura Project

It’s the middle of the school year, and teacher-me does NOT have much time for crafting. Sad face.

But you know what only takes an hour? This keychain.

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Materials

• Keychain Pattern – Grab it for free below!
• Leather – preferably veg-tanned, see post on choosing/buying/laser cutting leather here.
• Leather Rivets
• Clip – I bought some silver ones off Amazon a long time ago that I’m still working my way through. I kind of wish I’d bought a multi-colored pack, like this one.
• Keychain
• Laser Cutter – I have both the Glowforge Aura and the xTool M1 (and have clear favorite – see here.)

How to Make a DIY Leather Keychain Clip

Step 1: Print the Design

If this is your first time laser cutting leather, there’s a whole lot you should know, so check out this post.

I accidently purchased chrome-tanned leather, so I’m only engraving the pattern, and doing the cutting by hand (chrome-tanned leather doesn’t laser cut well.) But if yours is veg-tanned, you can have your laser cutter cut the outline as well.

I’m engraving the outline too, so that I have something to follow when cutting by hand.

Because I’m engraving, the settings don’t need to be precise, so I just used the recommended “proofgrade” settings for medium leather, which are as follows:

Function	Power	Speed	Passes
Engrave	4	92	1
Cut	10	33	1

If you’re cutting everything, I recommend doing some tests on scrap leather to make sure you have the right settings. I detail that process over in this post.

If you don’t have the pattern yet, grab it for free here:

Step 2: Finish Cutting

I haven’t had any problems cutting leather by hand after engraving a shape, given that the shape I’m cutting is simple enough.

Since this is just a rectangle, it’s easy.

I use a rotary cutter for the longer sides, and alternate between a box cutter and scissors for the curvy corners.

Step 3: Add the Clip

I wanted to add a clip to this little keychain so that I could clip my keys to inside of my bag (so they don’t fall to the bottom!)

To start, I slipped the clip on the end, and folded leather to secure it in place.

Then I made a hole with the leather punch that was included in my grommet set.

Then I slipped the rivet into either side, hammered, and was done! Photo is pre-hammering:

I added the keyring for good measure, and look at that!

I’m vaguely considering adding another rivet on the other end to keep the keychain in place. We’ll see how I feel after a month of using it.

For now, I think it looks great!