Introduction: Magnetic Connection Bracelets Made From Household Items

About: Just a college student trying to learn some new things and teach some things too.

This is an idea I came up with a while ago in my physics class when we were learning about magnets. My whole life I have thought of magnets as having these sort of "magic" powers, turns out it's not magic at all, it is physics. But you know what is magical? The inexplicably strong connections that we have with our loved ones! So when the magic of magnets that was taken away from me when I learned about electrons and magnetic fields, I said to myself "Why should the magic have to go away?" And if I have learned anything from physics it is that energy is ALWAYS TRANSFERRED and NEVERDESTROYED. So what I did here is transfer the magical properties of magnets into the inexplainable, magical connections I share with my loved ones. These are the Connector Bracelets.

The Connector Bracelets let you physically represent the connection with you and the person/people you give them too! This bracelet is perfect to make for you and your partner, your family, or even your good friends. It shows your connection with the person through a magnetic connection! It is super simple and cheap because it is made with almost all household items.

Supplies

For each bracelet

  • Paracord (two strings a bit more than 1.5 ft remember too long is better than too short)
  • One to two small key ring depending how you decide to tie off the bracelet
  • 2 hair ties
  • Tape
  • Scissors
  • One chapstick cap
  • 1 round neodymium magnet
  • Five 3/4 inch hex nuts (size is optional but i think these look the best)
  • Super glue
  • Dental floss
  • One skewer or something you don't mind getting glue on

Step 1: Connecting the Hair Ties

The first step is to cut bot hair ties and tie them together with a simple double knot to get one long string. This will allow our bracelet to be flexible.

*Note* Try to make the knots ends be as short as possible without letting the knot slip out.

Step 2: Setting Up for the Knots

  1. Take the two longer paracord pieces and your new hair tie piece
  2. Place the hair tie in the middle of both paracord pieces.
  3. Tie a simple knot with all three pieces
  4. Tape it to a table or any other steady surface

Step 3: Learning the Square Knot

The Bracelet is rather simple to make. The only knot you need to know is a square knot making sure the hair tie piece is in the center.

To do a square knot:

  1. Take the left longest string (Photo 1) and place it all the way to the right (Photo 2)
  2. Take the former left most string (Photo 3) and place it over the first string you moved (Photo 4)
  3. Take the cord that is on top of the other (Photo 5) and place it under the middle hair tie piece and thread it through the loop and over the leftmost string (Photo 6)
  4. Pull both cords to tighten the knot it should look like Photo 7, then pull then tight but not super tight.

*Note* The hair tie piece always stays in the middle if its not in the middle untie and try again.

Step 4: Tying the Bracelet

To Make the Bracelet:
  1. Do square knots until you hit the place where the two hair ties are knotted together, for me it took 5 or 6 square knots (Photo1). Make sure you are pulling the middle hair tie string after each knot (Photo 2)
  2. Thread 1 hex nut through the hair tie string (Photo 3 & 4)
  3. Do 1 square knot
  4. Thread 1 hex nut
  5. Do 2 square knots
  6. Thread one hex nut
  7. Do 2 square knots
  8. Thread 1 hex nut
  9. Do 1 square knot
  10. Thread 1 hex nut
  11. Do square knots till you one string ends or until you get 5 or 6 (Photo 6)

Step 5: Finishing Off the Bracelet

At this point, you should have the ends look something like Photo 1 and 2

You can close the bracelet however you like.

How I did it:

  1. Tie a knot with the two paracord strings (so leave the middle string) Photo 3, but don't tighten it
  2. Thread the middle sting through the knot you just made to make a loop and then tighten the knot as hard as you can (Photo 4)
  3. I undid the knot on the opposite side (Photo 5)
  4. And retied it a similar way so I had two loops (Photo 6 &7)
  5. To tie the loops together I used a key ring loop (Photo 8)

*Note* There are many adjustment loops you can do but I prefer this since the hair tie is stretchy and adjusts itself =)

Step 6: Making the Connecters

This can be will be the hardest part...

  1. Take a piece of floss (make it long at least 6 in) and use super glue to glue it to the back of one of the magnets (Photo 1)
  2. Fill the bottom the chap stick cap with glue (Photo 2)
  3. Place the magnet with the floss side face down (Photo 3)
  4. Use the skewer to make sure it is properly placed. Do NOT use your finger unless you want to super glue your fingers together (Photo 4)
  5. Put some more glue and then ill with some kind of paper, I used paper towels (Photo 5)
  6. Push and compress the paper and add more paper until there is about an eight inch of space
  7. Make a pool of glue on top and over fill a little bit but do not let it overflow. Try not to touch it too much to get a glossy final result

*PAY ATTENTION TO THIS* You have to make at least two of these. The orientation of the magnet doesn't matter for the first one, but you MUST make sure that the the second connector magnet is attracted to the first. To figure this out, before making the second connector simply connect just the magnet to the first connector and place the side that is connected to attracted to the first, face down in the chap stick cap. If you do not follow this your connectors will be repellers.

Step 7: Attach the Conectors

  1. Tie the floss strings into a loop (Photo 1)
  2. Thread the loop through the keyring (Photo 2)
  3. To adjust the connectors distance to the bracelet simply twist the loop so it looks like an 8 (Photo 3) and then thread the loop through the bottom half of the 8 (Photo 4). I did this three times (Photo 5) but it really depends on how long your floss was and your preference.
  4. If needed use pliers to open the keyring up so the hex nut can fit in the keyring (Photo 6)
  5. Insert the middle hex nut from the bracelet into the keyring (Photo 6)
  6. Use pliers to close the keyring (Photo 7)

Step 8: Make Multiple and Connect!

Give them to:

  • Your girlfriend/boyfriend
  • Parents
  • Spouse
  • Friends
  • Even put it on a pet's collar!
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