Pop Tab Curtain with Tutorial

[spoonfighter]

Inspiration comes from the strangest places . . . I was watching Law & Order SVU, and one of the victims was schizoprenic. When they went to her apartment to check on her they pulled down one of the garbage bags blocking her windows, she had these strings of pop tabs hanging like beaded curtains. I guess they're aluminum, like a tin foil hat for your house, to protect you from mind control beams. I fell in love. So, after much trial and error, and a whole lot of soda, here's my finished product:


(any other Jefferson Airplane fans out there?)


And here's how to make one of your own:
To start, you need to measure the width of the doorway you want to fill, and mark the doorframe at 1.5" intervals. Start from the center, and go 3/4" to each side, and then 1.5" after that. You don't want a string in the exact center. Then I screwed in little picture hanging loops:


Next you start making the strings. There's no real way to calculate the number of tabs you'll need until you've made one string and figured out what length looks best. Then you can do the math. Mine required 640 pop tabs and the same number of paper clips (size #1 from Staples, where you can get 500 for less than $2). Ask your friends to save theirs, and if you have a job, check out the breakroom for the recycling bin. That's where a lot of mine came from. If that doesn't help, try ebay. I've actually seen bags of them for sale. Once you've got your materials, you can begin assembly. It's pretty simple, you just have to make sure you're keeping the tabs facing the same direction.
First, slip a paper clip onto the top of the tab as if it were a stack of papers, and then pull it up.

For step 2, slip a tab wrong side out under the outer edge of the paper clip, then insert the end of the clip into the bottom hole of the tab, and pull it up.

repeat steps one and two until you have a long enough string, and then make enough strings to fill the doorway.

And voila! No more pesky mind-control beams!

Thanks for looking - let me know what you think!

[kategirl]

cool. 

and I saw that episode.  do we have to worry about you, too?   

[JodiJean]

very cool, i thought it was so cool in fact i added it to my list of tutorials, which can be found here:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=25199.0

i put it under "tutorials for you home"

thanx for the cool tutorial

[nikkicola]

that's groovy! it could be made with colourful bottlecaps with holes drilled in the except that might take a while...

*cole*

[green_day_gurl_]

ahaha, awesome!
that's a great idea  ::runs to get a soda::   

[faeriedust112088]

Yay! Finally away to keep the voices out AND recycle, kinda!

[EmilyFlew]

That came out classy! I like it! What kind of noise does it make, and does it ever scratch at all when you go through it?

Good job.

[twostep]

Very very cool.

[daiconharuko]

I love law and orde svu, but I haven't seen that episode. It's awesome that inspiration can come from the strangest places.

[Pink Hula]

that is so awesomely cool, that i might start collecting can tabs!! and lucky for me, my beaded curtain is breaking and i need to replace it, it will probably be completely destryoed by the time i have enough tab things!!

that looks really good

well done!

Also Law and Order SVU is my favourite Law and Order!! though i havent seen much of the lasest series because of school work! either way that curtain is cool!