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SCK Tries…. Daiso Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

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It’s another edition of SCK Tries where we try out a DIY tutorial or kit to see how it works in real life and whether we’d recommend you give it a go. This time I’m trying a snowman paper-band craft kit I bought in Daiso on my last trip to Japan.

The Original DIY

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

This was a bit of an impulse buy in Daiso as it had English instructions and I thought it might be fun. However, once I opened it, it looked very intimidating and I kept putting it off. Since I was spending the Christmas holidays alone this year, I figured it was time to try it.

Materials & Process

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

I couldn’t have told you what paper-band crafts was before and all you get in the kit is 2 rolls of paper bands. This is a thick flat ribbed tape made of paper. You split the tape into strands*, much like in embroidery and cross stitch, and use those to weave 3D shapes. That is all you need, along with glue (I definitely recommend a hot glue gun), scissors, ruler and pencil.

* TIP: There’s a special tool you can buy for splitting the tape (of course there is!) but it also suggests a strong thin piece of card will work. I ended up using an expired credit card which worked well but the tape did totally trash the edges so don’t use an active card!

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

I found the instructions quite easy to follow but you do need to triple check your measurements before cutting as there’s only enough for the project. You start with a flat star shape of full width pieces and then weave around with two 1-thread strips, curving the shape as you work. I found this really difficult to begin with but got the hang of it eventually. It’s basically basket weaving and I remember doing something similar at school with raffia.

Once you’ve made the body, you repeat the process with the smaller (and trickier!) head and then make a hat and face with black tape. The hat was really difficult as you have to keep changing direction, to make the top, sides and brim.

The End Result

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

Here’s my snowman! I think he turned out really cute, though there is a lot of visible hot glue, especially on the hat. I think you would get very frustrated using normal glue as everything really wants to spring apart at all times. I had to take regular breaks as my hands would cramp up from holding everything together.

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

The one thing that definitely didn’t work was making the face and mittens as instructed. Cutting small rounded shapes from a material that is designed to split apart was horrible so I used felt instead – and a mini pom pom for the nose. This looks so much cuter as you can use more colours. My head was also a bit of a wonky fit to the body so I added a scarf (Lindt chocolate deer bow!) to hide that!

Snowman Paper-Band Craft Kit

I’m not sure I would recommend paper-band crafts as it’s complicated, messy and time-consuming. It was quite satisfying seeing the shapes build up though and I do love my snowman. If I saw a really cute kit I might try it again. If you already enjoy more traditional weaving crafts and would like to try a kawaii version, I’m sure this would be easier.

Sumikko Gurashi craft book

This is an older kit so hard to find online now but there are a few others from the same series on Ebay, along with supplies. If you have a Daiso store nearby, they might have new ones too. Amazon Japan also has a big range of supplies, books and kits for making bags, accessories and storage items including Sumikko Gurashi!

Have you ever tried paper-band crafts or basket weaving? What do you think?

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