Try a rubber band project that is out of this world! This creepy alien is already a cool project, but watch what happens when the lights go out! His glowing head will be a great decoration for your room or for Halloween, and he goes well with the glow-in-the-dark stars from this book. Anything that glows in the dark usually needs to soak up some light first, so just make sure to keep the project in lots of light before you want it to glow in the dark.
Difficulty level: Medium
You need:
3 looms • hook • c-clip • 95 white glow-in-the-dark bands • 34 black bands
1. Set up three looms side by side with the pegs square and the arrows pointing away from you.
2. Begin laying the “alien” shape onto your loom: begin on the first middle peg, and loop the left half of the shape onto the loom in a clockwise direction, as shown. Then start again at the first middle peg and loop the right half, moving counterclockwise.
3. Start filling in your alien head shape. Attach a band to the first middle peg, and connect it to the next peg above.
4. In the next row of your shape, lay out a horizontal line of bands, starting at the outside of the shape and moving toward the middle. Repeat this pattern all the way to the sixth row: lay out vertical bands from each peg inside the shape; then in the next row, lay out a horizontal line of bands across the alien head shape, starting at the outside edge and moving toward the middle of the row. Use black bands for the mouth, as shown.
5. Lay out vertical bands to connect the sixth row to the seventh row as you did for the other rows. Lay out your horizontal line across the seventh row as usual, using black bands for the eyes. When you lay out the vertical bands from the seventh to the eighth row, place two additional black bands diagonally, from the third peg from the outside on either side to the next peg up and out. These bands are for the eyes.
6. Lay out your horizontal line across the eighth row, starting at the outside of the shape and moving toward the middle. Use black bands for the eyes, as shown.
7. Lay out your vertical bands from the eighth to the ninth row. Add four diagonal black bands for the eye shapes: connect the pegs on either side of the middle peg to the next peg up and toward the outside. Connect the third pegs from the center to the next pegs up and out to continue the diagonal line from the last step.
8. In the next row (the ninth row), lay out a horizontal line of bands, starting at the outside of the shape and moving toward the middle. Use black bands for the eyes.
9. Lay out diagonal bands from the ninth row to the tenth, starting from the outside pegs and working your way to the middle.
10. Lay out a line of four bands across the tenth row, starting from the outside pegs and working your way to the middle.
11. Lay out diagonal bands to connect the tenth row to the eleventh.
12. Double-loop a cap band over the middle peg in the top row of your shape.
13. Starting at the double-looped peg, hook the band beneath the cap band and pull it up and off the peg, looping it back to the peg where it started.
14. Secure the bands on the final peg with a c-clip. Carefully remove your project from the loom.
15. To add alien nostrils, cut a rubber band with scissors and pull the band through the middle of the figure using your hook. Tie the band off in the back of the figure, and repeat for the other nostril.
