Again, I am going to toot my own horn about my pop tab prowess...after working with thousands and thousands of these things, I have figured out a few tips that will make working with them much easier.
1. Make sure you wash them. If you have a large quantity, just throw them in a bucket of soapy water, rinse and spread out on a towel to dry.
2. If you are taking them off the can, push the tab back and forth so there is a clean break from the piece that attaches it to the can. Trust me, this will save you time later and you won't have to remove these pieces.
3. If you have tabs that were pulled from the can and have either the whole piece of the can connector (this piece is usually square with a circle punched in it) or sharp edges from the connector, they need to be removed. This can be done with a pair of clippers or pliers by either snipping of the piece or using the pliers to bend the connector piece back and forth to make a clean(ish) break.
4. The bottom part of the back side of tab my still have sharp edges. You can try flattening it with pliers - but this could leave marks on the front of the tab. Whenever possible make sure the back of the bottom part of the tab is covered with something (ribbon, cloth, another tab with the back sides facing) if you are going to wear the piece you are making from the tabs.
Recycled Material: aluminum pop tabs
Other Material: beads, clear stretchy jewelry cord
Tools: scissors
How I did it: This bracelet has 24 pop tabs so I made sure that they were prepared as recommended above. I took two tabs and placed the with the back sides facing together and looped the stretchy cord a couple times and tied a knot on the left side of the bottom hole of the tabs to hold it in place. This is the first time I have used this stretchy cord and I think it is absolutely annoying. The wraps holding the tabs together kept coming loose and the tabs would get all mixed up on a string on clear cord. I have made this style bracelet many times, but always used ribbon until now. After the cord was secure I suspended a bead on the cord in the middle of the bottom hole then wrapped the cord around the right side of the bottom tab a couple times then tied a knot. I found that if you stretch this cord as you are knotting it, it will hold much better. The next thing that I did was to get two new tabs and repeat the process. The only difference is that I did wrap the cord around the left side of the bottom hole of 2nd set of tabs, but didn't knot it. I pulled the cord so that both sets of tabs were flush then wrapped the cord twice around the bottom right side of the first set and bottom left of the second. Since the tabs kept getting loose because the top was not yet secured, I used a couple clothespins to hold them together. I repeated the steps of suspending the bead and wrapping the cord. I did this for 12 sets then tied off the end, but did not close the bracelet at that time. You don't have to use 12 sets of pop tabs, you can make it as big or small as you need it. If I am making something for myself, I always try to put is on as I go along to get an idea of size....measuring is an ever smarter idea. I repeated the entire process for the top set of holes on the pop tabs. The last thing I did was tied the two ends together - top hole to top hole, bottom hole to bottom hole. I was paranoid about the cord coming loose so I must tied about six knots on both the top and bottom then trimmed the excess cord.
1. Make sure you wash them. If you have a large quantity, just throw them in a bucket of soapy water, rinse and spread out on a towel to dry.2. If you are taking them off the can, push the tab back and forth so there is a clean break from the piece that attaches it to the can. Trust me, this will save you time later and you won't have to remove these pieces.
3. If you have tabs that were pulled from the can and have either the whole piece of the can connector (this piece is usually square with a circle punched in it) or sharp edges from the connector, they need to be removed. This can be done with a pair of clippers or pliers by either snipping of the piece or using the pliers to bend the connector piece back and forth to make a clean(ish) break.
4. The bottom part of the back side of tab my still have sharp edges. You can try flattening it with pliers - but this could leave marks on the front of the tab. Whenever possible make sure the back of the bottom part of the tab is covered with something (ribbon, cloth, another tab with the back sides facing) if you are going to wear the piece you are making from the tabs.
Recycled Material: aluminum pop tabs
Other Material: beads, clear stretchy jewelry cord
Tools: scissors
How I did it: This bracelet has 24 pop tabs so I made sure that they were prepared as recommended above. I took two tabs and placed the with the back sides facing together and looped the stretchy cord a couple times and tied a knot on the left side of the bottom hole of the tabs to hold it in place. This is the first time I have used this stretchy cord and I think it is absolutely annoying. The wraps holding the tabs together kept coming loose and the tabs would get all mixed up on a string on clear cord. I have made this style bracelet many times, but always used ribbon until now. After the cord was secure I suspended a bead on the cord in the middle of the bottom hole then wrapped the cord around the right side of the bottom tab a couple times then tied a knot. I found that if you stretch this cord as you are knotting it, it will hold much better. The next thing that I did was to get two new tabs and repeat the process. The only difference is that I did wrap the cord around the left side of the bottom hole of 2nd set of tabs, but didn't knot it. I pulled the cord so that both sets of tabs were flush then wrapped the cord twice around the bottom right side of the first set and bottom left of the second. Since the tabs kept getting loose because the top was not yet secured, I used a couple clothespins to hold them together. I repeated the steps of suspending the bead and wrapping the cord. I did this for 12 sets then tied off the end, but did not close the bracelet at that time. You don't have to use 12 sets of pop tabs, you can make it as big or small as you need it. If I am making something for myself, I always try to put is on as I go along to get an idea of size....measuring is an ever smarter idea. I repeated the entire process for the top set of holes on the pop tabs. The last thing I did was tied the two ends together - top hole to top hole, bottom hole to bottom hole. I was paranoid about the cord coming loose so I must tied about six knots on both the top and bottom then trimmed the excess cord. What I would do differently: I need to look up tips on working with this stretchy cord because there must be a smarter way to use it. I do like the stretchiness of the cord (obviously) and its transparency. In the future, I will probably weave a ribbon through the top while I am securing the bottom or vice versa to hold it in place. It also looks like I have an obsession with red beads...so I need to diversify.
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