Coveted Clutch DIY

My weekend was pretty low key.  I hung out with friends, celebrated a birthday, watched some football, and did a few projects around the house.  My absolute favorite project, in fact it's probably my favorite project that I've done in a while, is this awesome studded brass and leather wolf head clutch that I modeled after this totally gorgeous Burberry bag.  As far as a DIY bag goes, it's not super cheap, but when compared to the unaffordable price of the high end version it's a pretty stellar deal!  Here's how I did it:

Supplies: black leather zipper clutch (mine is actually a travel wallet), about 200 cone studs, a stamped brass animal head (other options here and here), E6000 super glue, some pliers, a toothpick/popsicle stick/take-out chopstick, and a piece of tag board.

Directions:

1. Bend back the fasteners on about 20 of the studs.  Lay them out on your clutch to determine how many you'll need - make sure to leave a naked strip in the middle of the bag that is big enough to fit your stamped brass animal head.  I found that mine looked best with two 6x7 stud arrangements on each side of the bag.  Do the math and bend back the fasteners on the remainder of the studs you'll need.  With my arrangement, I had to prepare 168 studs.
2. Squirt a quarter size gob of glue onto your tagboard and use your wooden implement, mine was half of a set of take out chopsticks, to generously spread glue onto the bottom of your the bent back fasteners on a stud and try to spread it around the inner perimeter of the stud as well.  You don't want so much that it'll ooze out, but you don't want the studs to be loose on the bag either, so you'll have to feel it out and see exactly how much works for you.  Don't work in "gobs" much bigger than a quarter otherwise the glue will dry up on you before you can use it. 
3. Spread the glue and attach the studs to the bag one at a time in the arrangement you decided on.  Start from the upper left corner and work along the upper edge of the bag for your first row to ensure a straight line.  Then work down the side of the bag for the same reason.  Use these as your guidelines to make a fairly evenly spaced grid.
4. Once you finished one 6x7 section (or whatever size you settled on), move to the upper right corner next and do the same, working along the top and the sides first for straight lines..  Try to mimic your spacing on the other side of the bag for symmetry.
5. Spread a generous amount of glue onto the inner perimeter of your stamped animal head and stick it down firmly in the middle of the naked strip that's left in the center of the bag.  Let dry over night.
6. The next day flip the bag over and repeat steps 2-4 on the back of the bag.  On this side the naked strip in the middle will remain naked.  Let dry about 24 hours.

Voila!   Your brass animal head studded black clutch is complete!