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Hello, the tide of inevitability has washed over me, and I am about to try out loom bands for the first time.
I've seen a squillion different kits & sets - what should I be looking for? Are some brands better than others? Would love to hear your recommendations & where the best place is to get them.
I only got one to compare which is the lindcraft rainbow band ones.
Not too bad for $5 and comes with 600 bands and 24 S hooks.
Im a novice though and can only do the fish tail and normal pattern lol
Definitely go for the original Rainbow loom kit. The bands are latex free and honestly, they are the best quality ones out there - the other ones start to perish and split after only a few weeks and they just don't cut the mustard. The loom frame is also a higher quality than the cheap ones - I originally got the girls the 'funloom' brand sold through BigW and they are starting to break and the pins bend when we have done some of the more complicated designs that put a higher amount of tension on the pins when you are looming the band up. I looked at the lincraft bands and even in the packet you can see that they are already perishing - not worth the $3 you pay for them when you can spend an extra $2 per packet and get higher quality ones in the Rainbow loom brand. Spotlight has the Rainbow loom kits for $20 which comes with 600 bands to get you started and you can also buy them online as well.
I just got DD a kit from our local cheap shop. It seems to be ok. She also gets her bands from there too and we've never had any issues. If I thought she was going to be using it for a long time to come, I'd spend more and get her a better quality one but I'm not really into spending too much on fads.
We went through three of the cheaper loom kits with the plastic snapping. So we ended up getting a more expensive one I am guessing it's the rainbow one, not sure. I do get the cheaper bands though, my kids go through a lot with all three looming so I have managed to find them for $1 a packet.
My 6yr old is obessed with looming.
Definitely get the rainbow loom board. Toys r us & big w sell them as well.
For the looms the cheaper ones do my daughter fine but she only does the easier bracelets so i get her 12 packs for $10 for myself I get the rainbow loom ones. I do a lot of charms & harder bracelets & the cheap looms either break under the tension or stretch so much my chsrms lose their shape.
I also like the metal rainbow hook much better than the plastic ones.
We have a couple of different ones and I'm with the others that prefer the original rainbow loom. It is definitely better quality. The original cheap ine we had broke very easily. And the one have from kmart is nit adjustable so hasn't been used at all. The container was ok though so I got it for dd for the variety on bands and the storage. She has a couple of little friends that visit and want to use the loom bands so the kmart boards will come out when they are visiting (one is very destructive and I'd rather the cheap one was at his disposal :) )
We have a mix of bands from different sources. My nieces school sells them as one of their fundraising things so dd mostly gets them there.
Exactly what Trillian said, right down the pegs bending on the fun loom branded one from B!gW. The rainbow loom branded one also comes with a metal tipped hook, which I find is way better for some of the more tricky designs where there is a lot of bands on each peg. The plastic hooks just bend.
I got the cheap $5 set. It is nasty and the pegs seem to be pointing in the opposite direction of the ones in the tutorials lol, but we are only doing simple ones. I am not overly good at it - other day I did some that looked right but when I went to take them off it seemed that none of the bands were joined to each other and the whole lot shot off everywhere. I managed to do that three times in a row! Tonights effort was a bit better and all three kids went to bed happy with a new band :)
I guess if you think you will get a fair bit of use out of it then the brand ones would be better but if they are only a causal novelty thing like ours then el cheapo works just fine.
Definitely worth spending the money on the original one. The cheap ones really are cheap and nasty.
We got ours from Neds (a cheap nick knack shop) and Mum saw the hooks in it and gave us her crochet hooks that she no longer uses. After two weeks though the novelty wore off.
Have had no trouble with the Lincraft ones, but I doubt they will continue stocking their kit now they are selling the Original one
Actually, I change my opinion on the cheap things - we (I!) spent ages making a fancy railway band last night and today the bands broke and it all fell to smithereens.
Thanks, everyone. We ran with the get-the-original-brand suggestion.
Does anyone have any recommendations for sites with instructions that are not videos? I hate having to watch videos (because normally want to do while watching the TV) but also because I like to study the pattern first?
madebymommy might have some on her site :)
Not really found many written ones, but have done a couple of video ones now and I think probably can live with the video - now I get the principles, I just prefer to see what I am going to do before starting and with the video I am too impatient to watch it before I start - is easy to skip ahead with written instructions.
Riot had a sale on this week - I got the original kit + 10 packs of bands (not sure if they are all the original ones though) for $23.00
I used to make alot of friendship bracelets as a kid/teen using embroidery threads, and at first I thought why the need for the elastics, but they are much easier to pick apart if go wrong (want to reuse), and cheaper than embroidery threads. The elasticity adds an extra dimension too. I am a convert.
Oh dear I am hooked, making my own designs up now. Have entered a competition to try win ten loom band packs :-) I have written down some tutorials (fairies - tinkerbell etc as kids obsessed with them) just so I don't have to watch the videos. I do use some of my crochet hooks with them.
Found you can get kindle books which have nice written instructions in them. Now I am going to attempt to write my own instructions in the same format.
I am still a bit obsessed here - have done more of my own designs and my latest project is a nativity set made of loom bands - tutorials are by PG's loomacy - his have a combination of written and videos which I like. Have made 3 characters so far I think there are 15 in total.
I haven't done looming in ages but now Christmas is coming up I might make.a few charms for DD school friends.
Charms as gifts are a great idea, I have done a few extra fairies and include in birthday gifts. DS has a massive collection now he loves because can take in bath. I made the fairy wings from the UV bands so they change color in sunlight and they find that fascinating (the genuine loom bands seem to last longer though, baths and sunlight do seem to degrade some). My favorite sites are izzalicious Designs and Marloomz creations).
We go camping for Christmas so am going to make some decorations as they are nice and light and durabl.
i am thinking of making some christmas themed ones and getting DD to make some long bands to use as ribbon/decoration on christmas presents for family. something a little different.
Really good ideas!
The real loom bands have dropped heaps in price so I'll be fixing DD1s supply up with the real ones & was thinking I might buy her (us) the monster tail loom for Christmas ;)
I got DD2 the monster tail loom for her birthday. She really likes it - so much easier to use it to make some styles of bracelet.
That's good to know Tril.
I'll make sure I get her one then.
My nativity set creation is going ok a bit slow - have now added Camel, Angel and Star.
You'll have to post a pic :)
Wow that looks fantastic!!
I need to get on with the nativity - I had to make a Frozen set (Anna, Elsa and Olaf) for a gift and a Rapunzel for another gift. DS has become superhero obsessed and has a list as long as my arm of characters he wants me to make. I don't mind, is fun and cheap way to get superheroes and he plays them in teams with his fairies - he has even started matching them up Tinkerbell with Ironman because they both make things, Thor and Iridessa because both can control light.
Your really getting into, do you use the original looms only?
I need to buy some more, DD1 has gotten back into lately, so thinking the monster tail & original looms as a little stocking stuffer present for her.
I have the monster tail and two of the original - I don't use the two looms together that often but do use the monster tail a fair bit. I also do a few bits on hook only. I never got into crochet but for some reason this has taken my fancy, maybe because changing yarn in crochet seems painful but using different loom bands isn't. Also thinking up your own crochet patterns is much harder, and is partly the challenge of my own designs I like.
So I think a monster and an original would be great stocking stuffers.
I need to chat to you to get some links to the designs you use for the Christmas stuff. Ds wants help to make some Christmassy things to share with people :)
PG Loomacy is the site for the nativity (look it up on You Tube and he has a playlist for the nativity characters) - Izzalicious designs has a Christmas playlist too. I also saw one for a pencil covering to make it look like a candy cane which I thought was cute - which was CraftLife. Often to do a whole design is beyond DD but she picks the design and the colors and does some of the bits.
Picked up a load of genuine loom bands for $1 a bag and an extra loom (genuine) for $4 from a toystore near work!!!!