My son Charlie is only 5 years old, so coming up with Rainbow Loom projects that are not repetitive, and he can make by himself can be challenging but I think we have found a solution. My craft junk box 🙂
Any bead with a hole large enough for a rubber band to pass through immediately becomes a great addition for a bracelet.
They can be placed anywhere on the loom and are permanently attached after the bands are hooked. I take no credit for this idea, Charlie came up with it all by himself!
The finished bracelets have beads sitting around the outside edge.
You can also place the brands straight onto the loom as if they were just rubber bands and hook them up as you normally would.
I would use beads that are a bit smaller than these though. I bought these from Rainbow Fun and even though they are great looking beads, we haven’t been able to make a bracelet that didn’t either have the beads spaced too far apart, or bunched up too close together.
These little experiments made me wonder how would I go about adding large bracelet charms like my butterfly shown below. I knew it was possible because of the Loomey Time watches so I checked out their website, where you can find a good selection of videos on adding bands to Loomey Time watches, with bands in lots of different styles.
So, using all this information, here’s what I came up with. Step 1: Thread bands through the holes in your charm.
Step 2: Put your bands on your loom, leaving the end of the design open.
Step 3: Put the bands you threaded through the charm onto the end of the loom.
Here’s a view from the side.
Now, beginning at the end where you have placed the charm, hook your design. I made a triple single bracelet but there are many different designs that will work with this method.
Here is the first half of my bracelet. I used the full length of the loom to make an adult sized bracelet but you can start placing your bands halfway up the loom for a kid size one.
Repeat for the other side. Then make some more! The second bracelet below is a starburst bracelet, like the one I’ve shown before.
This technique can also be used to add button closures on a bracelet instead of c-clips.
It’s easier to thread bands through a button using an old embroidery threading trick for thick threads. Take a thread that will easily go through the holes of your button doubled. Use a thicker thread like perle 8 or 10 rather than sewing thread as that might cut your bands. Thread your band onto your piece of cotton.
Thread the cotton through one hole of your button
and pull the band halfway through.
Thread the same band through the other hole in your button. If your button has four holes, use two rubber bands, one for each pair of holes.
Put your bands on your loom, then the button last of all, just as I did for the butterfly bracelet. When you’ve finished hooking your bracelet, put the button through the last band that you hooked to secure it and you have a rainbow loom bracelet with a decorative button closure!
Charlie would like to know what you think of his collection so far? He actually has more bracelets than this but his arms weren’t long enough to get them all on 😉
