These are really useful for controlling rambunctious pre-schoolers.
Kidding! But they are apparently fun for them to play with. They are a little nicer than those plastic handcuffs that always break five minutes after you open the package, because these stretch.
They are also super easy to make. Start by using two rubber bands down the center of the pegs. Place a cap band on the end and work like you are making a regular bracelet. Instead of using a c-clip, place both ends on a holder (like a toothpick or some other type of stick).Now make a diamond bracelet using one end of the strand you just made as the cap band, and connect it with a c-clip. Do the same thing again for the other side of the handcuffs, and you are done.
Whole process takes ten to twenty minutes at most. Really super simple, and you can make it in any colors your tiny police officer wants. (Or super villain who likes being put into jail).
To the rescue of the sad little boy who had rubber band Batman number 1 stolen from him. This Batman is based on the Thor action figure tutorial below. I couldn’t find any tutorials on actual Batman, so I came up with this little chart to use along with the other tutorial.
You will need:
52 gray bands
121 black bands (43 without cape)
7 flesh color (I used glow-in-the-dark orange) bands
7 yellow bands
and 1 white band
Note:It isn’t mentioned in the chart, but the horizontal bands are singular, not double.
Simple version of the instructions is to start with the arms. Place bands, using 2 at a time except the one that needs 3, from top to bottom, then loop the bands in the opposite direction, placing the 3 bands on the offset top bands. Hold the arms on toothpicks or similar objects, with the top loops grouped separately from the bottom.
Next, place the vertical bands from top to bottom. Put the arms at the shoulders as indicated, then place the single horizontal bands as shown.
Before looping the bands, you are going to first need to extend the legs by wrapping a cap band on the hook, pulling through two (held together) black bands, and two (held together) gray bands as if you were making a single bracelet with the mini-loom. Place this on the bottom peg at one leg and create another for the other side.
Finally, loop all the bands from bottom up, placing all of the top bands (both loops) on the center peg. Pull a single black band through, and loop it through itself into a knot.
To add the eyes, take a single white band, push the hook through the mask area at one side, pull one side of the band through, placing a c-clip on the back side. Weave the band at the front behind the center v and then back through the other side of the head to create two, even eyes. Place the other end of the white band, and the loop created by the last black band, into the c-clip.
To make the cape, make a 6-long by 6-across “triple single”. A good tutorial on the “triple single” can be found on the Rainbow Loom website. To make it 6 across, either use two looms side-by-side, or you can create the regular size, lay the vertical bands for a second one, and stretch the horizontal bands from the first across in the same manner on the second. If you tie off the tops in the same manner as the top of Batman, it gives you two nice loops on either side.you will pull those loops through at the shoulder, loop two single black bands through in a chain, pulling them around to the opposite side of Batman’s head, and secure them in the c-clip. Do that on both sides, and your Batman is complete.
The first time I did it, this took me about 2 hours. Once I got the basic shape down, the second attempt took only about half an hour. So if you are familiar with making action figures on the Rainbow Loom, it is a fairly quick project. If it is your first time, set aside a good bit of time to work on it undistracted.
I did get a bit more than coffee and Simpsons memorabilia for Christmas. One of those things has launched a slight bit of an obsession. I’m talking about the Rainbow Loom.
Here I have four of the bracelets I’ve made so far. Left to right we have the regular bracelet made with two bands in each link, a ladder bracelet, a hexagon bracelet, and the “triple single” bracelet that I made just today. I also have a “hibiscus flower” bracelet, plus I’ve made many bracelets for the rest of the people in the house at the request of the four-year-old who was the first to catch the Rainbow Loom fever at school.
These bracelets are incredibly fun to make. It’s so interesting seeing what you can make just using rubber bands. I think I’m going to work my way through the instructional videos on the Rainbow Loom website. Like I said, making these things has gotten addictive. Perhaps a bracelet of the day on Twitter?
Handmade by Casey Kay 