02/04/2012 - Pull Tab Cuff

I was determined to make this bracelet work. I wouldn't call this exactly a successful project, but it is the general idea of what I wanted to accomplish. From what I understand, aluminum cannot be soldered and I believe welding a small aluminum tab would just melt it, so I am on a quest to find a way to hold these pieces together and super glue was just my temporary solution.

Reclaimed Material: aluminum pull tab
Other/New Material: none 
Tools: super glue, (2) pliers, patience

How I did it: I took 8 pull tabs from cat food cans and made sure they were clean and bend down the jagged part on the bottom hole. I began by overlapping two tabs with the bottom overlapping, using super glue in between the tabs, then overlapping the top over a new tab, super gluing, etc. After the super glue set, I put the strip of tabs over my wrist to determine where to bend it to fit. I clamped a pair of pliers on one side of the hole where I wanted to bend the piece and the second pair of pliers on the other side of the hole and slowly bent the aluminum and continued this in the sections needed to fit my wrist. To be quite honest, I was very impatient with this and did not give the super glue enough to fully set and the tabs popped away from each other when I first started bending them by hand.
 
What I would do differently: I am determined to find a solution to melting this tabs together other than using caustic glue which really is not a great solution because it can break apart. Using the pliers scuffed up the aluminum, which could be good if I want a weathered look.

01/28/2012 - Rubber "Film Strip" Cufflet

Third time is a charm...sometimes. My first try was a macrame-type bracelet from strips of inner tube that I just could not get to work just right. The second was using an X-acto knife to cute shapes into the rubber and still didn't look right. Finally, I just used a square craft punch and it turned out to look like a film strip.
 
Reclaimed Material: rubber inner tube, ribbon, snaps from SCRAP
Other/New Material: electrical tape
Tools: scissors, square craft punch, hammer and snap setter, hole punch

How I did it: I cut a piece of inner tube 1.25" x 8.25" for the base of the cufflet. I used the square craft punch and punched 5 squares evenly spaced on the rubber, leaving about an inch of rubber on both ends to set the snaps. I cut the ribbon 9.25" long and folded each end under .5" and lined it up with the rubber to make sure it was seen through the squares. I punched the holes for the snap placement through the ribbon and rubber and set the snaps. I cut the electrical tape into this strips and used the strips to hold the ribbon in place lengthwise.

What I would do differently: After I punched the squares and put the ribbon behind the rubber, it reminded me of film strip. I think it would be fun to use actual film instead of ribbon. I am also going to revisit my first two attempts for this day. I am 99% sure that other inner tube pieces I have seen are laser cut because I have tried for years to make intricate cuts into the rubber.

01/21/2012 - Aluminum Wrist Cufflet

I don't know if the proper term for this is "cuff" or "cufflet" so I will go with cufflet because it sounds fancier. The black fabric is sexy fabric I found at SCRAP, one of my favorite places in Portland. They take donations of scrap material from businesses and individuals and resell it to fund their school and community programs. The place is an artist's/teacher's/crafter's/garbage picker's (me) dream come true. I am going next week to start my volunteer training, hooray!

Recycled Material: aluminum can, SCRAP fabric, old ribbon
Other Material: decorative brads
Tools: scissors, ruler, X-acto knife, Crop-A-Dile, double-sided tape, rubber electrical tape

How I did it: I cut the top and bottom off the aluminum can then cut a vertical line to open the can body. There is usually a line down the side of the can by the nutritional information and the print overlaps that I use as a guide to cut a straight line. I cut the can body so it was about 3.25" in height and left the length of the can, about 8" to fit my wrist. I marked the aluminum horizontally down the center .5" apart for placement of the brads, used the X-acto to poke little horizontal notches on the marks, and inserted the brads. I used the electrical tape to hold the brads in place on the back of the aluminum. I folded the top and bottom of the aluminum down towards the front a little less than .5", but did not press the aluminum all the way down until the fabric was attached. I cut the fabric 2 inches larger than the aluminum to have room for the edging. I lined the double-sided tape under the aluminum fold, taking care to make sure none would be sticking out from under the fold. I tucked one edge of the fabric under the fold so the back of the fabric stuck to the tape then wrapped the fabric over the back of the aluminum. I applied the double-stick tape to the bottom fold and then trimmed down the fabric a bit to make sure the fabric would be flush with the fold when I tucked it under the aluminum. I pressed the folds flat with my hands, but pliers can be used, which helped hold the fabric in place and to make sure it adhered to the tape.

The short ends of the cuff were too thick to fold so I used the rubber electrical tape to cover the edges. I used the Crop-A-Dile to punch 3 holes and set 3 eyelets on each end of the bracelet. The final thing I did was to lace the bracelet like a corset (or shoe, but corset sounds saucier) and tie it off. 

What I would do differently: My original plan was to try to stitch the fabric to the aluminum, but I got sidetracked watching Wall•E with my family and ended up making it by hand. I still need to experiment sewing on aluminum, so that will have to happen with another project. There seem to be many things I would have done differently with this project. I don't think it was necessary to do the fold down, other than it give the fabric and tape a stronger hold. I need to use a better eyelet next time, but I used up the ones I had left. The ribbon does seem like overkill for this bracelet, so I will most likely change it out regardless. I chose the blue fabric scrap to pull out little accents of clue from the fabric, but the piece I ended up cutting didn't have blue on it.