What You Need To Know About The Rainbow Loom

This is Auggie today. I love to Rainbow Loom and I show my designs on FB but I have more to tell you about Rainbow Loom so I'm going to do it now because people ask me when I learned. I started in September, and I'm good at it because I do it every day.

Rainbow Loom is a fun toy. It is a plastic board with pins that look like flat thumb tacks and you loop small rubber bands together to make intricate or simple designs. You mostly make rainbow loom bracelets but you can also make charms to hang, necklaces, rings, action figures. And head bands. I like it a lot and enjoy it very much, and spend lots of time on it. 

It is very safe and relaxing. It is a great Christmas gift this year for your son or daughter. I find the best channel to learn more and see how to do things is the official rainbow loom channel, you just google rainbow loom and then the official website will come up and then it has a link to take you to rainbow loom dash youtube and that's the link to the official channel. You need to go to the official channel because there are fake things that are not rainbow loom that say rainbow loom. They're not.

The official channel is cool because they have a gallery they have a gallery! You can show your original designs and they have contests.

You should go to their FB page to see all the cool things to make and your kids can put their stuff up there too to show it to people. You can talk to other kids who make stuff too.

I make and make and make most of my bracelets from that channel. Another great channel is Made by mommy. That's the name of it. She has Christmas wreaths, a Santa hat, a cross, a gingerbread man, a turkey, a mustache, a heart, candy corn, a Christmas tree, ghosts, a smiley face. And how to attach charms. 

You can make anything you want to. I make chain mail for my body. You can get bands that are glow in the dark, solid color, tie dye, glitter.

Another channel I really like is PG's Loomacy. "An irrational obsession with the rainbow loom." And he made a whole nativity scene out of bands. You can see it on the FB page or his website. And my favorites: a SpiderMan. But he has all the action figures for you to make. It's called "basic action figure."

This is a me I made from changing the basic action figure design:

 You can make a small Elf on a Shelf charm. That's on the FB page. My favorite bracelet design is the Feather Bracelet (that one's awesome), or the Totem Pole. (that one's awesome, too) Those are on the page too.

One important thing I forgot to tell you about to do is to ORGANIZE. Rainbow loom doesn't sell organizing things but you can use a plastic craft box from a craft store. You keep your colors of band separate in there otherwise you feel stressed with your colors all over the place. It's fun to separate colors with my mom and brother.

The rainbow loom makes excellent charms to put on your bracelets. The official rainbow loom is safe. There are copies and imitations that are not rainbow loom. You can tell a real rainbow loom because there is a special bar code on the box and code that is on the bottom of the loom and the hook and it says Rainbow Loom with a capital R in a circle in the corner and a patent number next to it. It is safe because if it breaks, it has controlled breakage and doesn't break in a sharp point. It also has safe rubber bands, that are nontoxic and latex free that i have to have. Their packages feel different too. They're not hard but spongy which means they'll stretch and not break on the loom.

My personal favorite type of rainbow loom is the official Rainbow Loom and in my opinion the Cra-Z-Loom is of lower quality, as with the fun loom or any other. Cra-Z-Loom is longer, but it is one solid plastic piece, and can't make bracelets using the rectangle pattern. The fun loom is longer, but as with the crazloom, it is one pieceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It also has smooth edges of the pegs for the rubber bands to hook on and not rough so you won't cut your fingers.

My recommended first do as a beginner is the single chain the instructions come with the box. And then I would say the triple single and then any other tutorial on the rainbow loom site that is rated BEGINNER level.

You will know when you are ready for intermediate and advanced when you don't feel frustrated with the designs you're working on.

I made this one for my mom and it still makes me frustrated. I told her that was the only one she was ever going to get so not to ask me for a red one. (It's called Hibiscus and is on the youtube channel)

I would buy this hobby for your kids and then have them look at the FB page for ideas and fun. I would let them put their pictures of what they make up on the FB page so they can be proud. Or they can enter contests. But it's hard to win because really good people are on there like grown ups. 

I hope I answered all your questions about Rainbow loom. Do your kids have questions? Thank you.

This is a bracelet holder from the craft store.

P.S.: This is a book I found at the craft store to tell you about: 

I think the best idea is to get a BIG box with more than one loom inside so if you have a lot of kids they don't fight and then get different kinds of bands and an organizer box and a how to book and that would be a great present for kids you know. THIS IS FOR GIRLS AND BOYS. 

Oh, and this too: I have two looms together so I can make bigger and wider things and have more choices for stuff.  But you don't need two looms until you are good. 

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