Soda Can Tab Chainmaille Gauntlet

Here is a new way to recycle those soda can tabs. Instead of just tossing them why not make some awesome chainmaille! With some soda tabs and a little imagination I was able to create chainmaille gauntlet!

Here is what I used to create my metal gauntlet.

soda tabs

a staple remover

Pliers with wire cutters

I first had to prep all of the soda tabs. There are two steps to do this.

1. Bend - To start I bent my soda tab so it would be at a 45 degree angle. This would give dimension to the chainmaille and make it easier to connect together later on.

2. Clip - The second step to prep is to clip the very top of the tab with my pliers. This made an actual opening to where I could connect the chainmaille.

NOTE: I would also suggest to wash the soda tabs before using them since they probably have some sticky residue left on them

After prepping a whole lot of pop tabs I started to connect and form the chainmaille.

There is a pretty straight forward chainmaille design. Each top of the soda tabs will hold two bottom soda tabs, making a diamond design.

Once I had the design down It was all about just keeping the pattern going. The chainmaille took me a long time to do. because there were just a lot of soda tabs to go though.

I just kept going with soda tabs until I had a good layout. Then I started to form the gauntlet shape.

The key is to make sure that I would be able to slide the gauntlet around my hand when finished so I measured my hand and adjusted the soda tabs accordingly.

NOTE: I would recommend making one long sheet of chainmaille before trying to form it into a circle. A long sheet is a lot easier to work with than a tube

Also near the top of the chainmaille I took out a couple tabs to allow for the thumb hole.

When I was finally happy with the look and length I was able to try it on and see how awesome it was.

I was very excited about how my gauntlet turned out. There are also some improvements that I would make a better outcome for future chainmaille designs

1 - solder tab opening closed. One thing I noticed is it was common for the tabs to slip out while I was working on another section. I think to remedy this problem is to close up the opening by using solder. It would take a lot more time, but I wouldn't have to redo sections.

2. Find a way to finish off the ends. - one thing I didn't like was how the edges looked raw. I need to find a way to finish the edges to make them look a little better and cleaner.

Overall though I was happy with the result

Enjoy!