why we make loom bands
Ruby is five and lives in Primrose Hill. Her school in Camden is twinned with our twin school in Africa.
Last term her class heard that the school does not always have pencils, and often can't do arts and crafts.
Ruby, who draws every single day and has been known to negotiate over stickers and glitter access, decided that wasn't fair.
Her first plan was to post her own pencils. We explained about postage.
Her second plan was better: make something, sell it, send the money. She'd been making loom bands for months, neon ones, mostly, because those are the best ones.
So that became the plan. Make loom bands. Sell loom bands. Buy pencils.
how a band gets made
Every band starts as a drawing. Ruby draws it first. The whole thing, colour by colour, before a single band is touched. Then she picks the colours off the drawing, decides whether it needs a name or a charm on it, and only then does she start making.
It's a proper process and she takes it seriously. Designs get rejected. There is a folder.
Every band is made in Camden, at a kitchen table in Primrose Hill, mostly on Saturday mornings, usually with the KPop demon hunters on. Nothing is outsourced, this is an artisan process! If you buy a band, a five-year-old in NW3 designed it and tied it.
where the money goes
£3 from every band goes to our twin school. The rest covers beads, elastic, packaging and postage. Nobody takes a wage. Ruby is five and her overheads are mostly snacks.
The school tells us what they need and we send that. So far that's meant:
No parcels have gone out yet. The first one is being saved for right now. Every amount we send, and exactly what it bought, will be published here.
next target
Next target: £150, thats about 50 bands. Every one gets us closer!
Ruby Loops is a small operation run from a kitchen table in Primrose Hill by a five-year-old with adult help on the boring parts. The bands are properly made and properly neon.