Crafts from rubber bands

Today, a huge number of children older than 6-7 years are passionate about weaving all sorts of hand-made figurines of rubber bands, and this activity is interesting not only for girls, but for boys. In needlework this direction has a special name - "amigurumi" or "lumigurumi", and every day its popularity is gaining more turns.

As a rule, bracelets, pendants, necklaces and other ornaments, as well as figurines of various animals, flowers, holiday handicrafts, clothes for dolls, cases for mobile phones, housekeepers, wallets and other decorative elements are usually used in this technique. For weaving articles from rubber bands, you will need not only the gums of a certain shape, color and thickness, which today can be purchased in a huge number of stores, but also a special machine, fork, slingshot or hook.

In this article, we will tell you how these adaptations differ from each other, and how they can create original handicrafts.

How to make crafts from rubber bands on the machine?

The machine for the manufacture of hand-made articles from rubber bands is usually a longitudinal board with cells. The size of this device in most cases is 51 mm by 200 mm, however, there are machines with completely different parameters, as well as having a circular or polygonal shape.

On a standard machine there are 3 rows of cells on which weaving is performed. These series can be interchanged, and can also be rearranged in different directions. Rubbers for work are put on special pegs as indicated in the instructions. The rows are joined together during the weaving process by means of a special hook.

Although at first it may seem that creating crafts from rubber bands on the machine is incredibly difficult, in fact, it's far from the case. It is this kind of weaving that is the most simple and pleasant, and even a child of primary school age will understand all the intricacies of work in a few days of training and can independently make original accessories.

For example, with the help of the next step-by-step photoinstruction, you can easily perform a small koala figure:

1. Make a base for the head as shown in the picture.
2. Add gum to the center of the weave.
3. Make a neck, and also prepare eyes and a spout.
4. To do this, you can use dark gum or beads.
5. Stretch the loops from the bottom up, creating the legs.
6. Begin to gradually close the hinges.
7. When everything is ready, thread a new elastic band around the head and tie it with a hook, and then remove the figure from the machine.
8. Here is a koala you will succeed!

Can I make crafts from rubber bands without a machine?

Children and adults who have already mastered the technique of weaving from rubber bands on the machine, can try to do the crafts without it. In this case, as a rule, several identical pencils are used as the basis, but with a certain skill it can be done on the fingers.

For this, the gum is fixed in a certain way on pencils, and then, alternating layers, pull them over each other and weave the desired pattern. If necessary, during the weaving, this method uses pulling loops and other techniques. This technique allows you to perform not all figures - it is best to get long, uniform canvases of different widths.

In particular, on the fingers you can make a simple bracelet:

1. Put the elastic on 2 fingers and give it the form of a figure-eight.
2. Add 2 more gums.
3. Remove the first elastic from the fingers, you should have a jumper.
4. Wear new gum and repeat these steps.
5. In the end, remove all the gums from your fingers and attach the clasp.
6. Here is a bracelet you can do without even resorting to special tools.

How to make crafts from rubber bands on a slingshot?

The slingshot is another tool with which you can make crafts made of rubber bands. Weaving on this device is similar to the technique of working on pencils or fingers. First, one or more elastics are put on one side of the slingshot. If necessary, you can make up to 4 revolutions in this step.

Then both sides of the slingshot are connected with a new rubber band or for this one of those already in use is used. Then, with the necessary periodicity, the loops are removed from the projecting edges and move to the center of the weaving, and the knots and other elements are put on the slingshot. At the same time, new rubber bands of the right colors and sizes are constantly included in the work.

In particular, a bracelet similar to the previous one can be made on a slingshot. The technique of weaving in this case will look like this:

Weaving on the slingshot is not difficult, however, it allows you to perform only the simplest schemes. If you decide to seriously engage in the manufacture of hand-made articles from rubber bands, you better buy a machine.

In our photo gallery you can see examples of works that can be created from rubber bands with the help of special tools: