Have you ever suffered a broken arm, or maybe a sprained wrist? If there was a first aider nearby, chances are he or she first put a splint on you. A splint is a rigid piece of material used to secure the sprained or fractured part to prevent further injury. It can be a piece of cardboard, however it is not reusable since it folds. You can't find cardboard all the time during an emergency, so it would be helpful for one to have a splint in their first aid kit. But how could it possibly fit? Check how I did it in this instructable!

MATERIALS:

chicken wire, 7cm x 30cm
2 pcs of rubber yoga mat, 7.5cm x 30.5cm
epoxy glue
nylon wire
sewing materials
cloth
elastic bandage w/ clip

Step 1: Chicken Wire + Rubber

First, get your chicken wire (cut it as seen in the picture, and be careful since edges may be sharp!) and put in on top of the rubber yoga mat cut-out. Make sure it is the front side of the chicken wire which is on top. Give some allowance (see picture) for making stitches at the side later.

After fixing the position of the wire, use epoxy glue to attach the wire to the rubber. Do this for the whole chicken wire and not just the corners. This will help increase durability despite rolling.

Step 2: Sewing Wire to Rubber

To increase durability, get your nylon wire and put it inside a needle. We will sew the chicken wire to the rubber per "column." Check the pictures for a clearer view on how to sew it.

First, go to the very first corner of the column, and push the needle up. Secure that corner by going down on the other side of the corner. Next, go up the same you did the first time, and as seen in the sixth picture, go down a little beyond the second corner. Go up the a little before the second corner, then repeat the steps, until you reach the end. Do the same for the rest of the columns.

After this step, it should now look like the last picture

Step 3: Sewing Two Pieces of Rubber Together

Now, you need to cover the side of the rubber that has the chicken wire! Get another identical piece of rubber, and sew them together on all sides. (This was the purpose of giving allowance earlier!) A simple running stitch will do since the nylon wire is strong.

After this, go to the back and cut off lose strands!

Step 4: Sew Cloth and Elastic Bandage

Before wrapping the splint, remember which side is the back, or the one where the stitches are visible.

Get your cloth (It doesn't have to be yellow! Preferably red or orange so dirt won't be obvious) and sew it around the rollable splint you made. Use thread for this, since nylon would be too thick. Afterwards, get your elastic bandage. Put it around the splint once, then using thread, sew it to the rest of the elastic bandage. At this point, you should be able to slide the elastic bandage band up and down. For storage, roll the rest of the bandage around the splint, and put the clip.

Step 5: Put the Label

To increase durability, it would be better if you would only roll the splint in one direction. Hopefully you remembered which is the back side, since this time you will put a label to mark where to roll!

The best way to roll is from the top of the front side, inward. So make a marker or a symbol which will help you remember this!

Now try it out on your arm! Wrap the bandage starting from your wrist, going down to your elbow. Make sure that bandage is not too tight or loose, but just right. You can improve the splint by possibly adding a second layer of chicken wire. Let's see how that works!