DIY Designer Phone Case #1

A few months ago I got a new phone, an LG G2X AKA LG Optimus. After stopping by the mall I soon found that the cases available to me were very few and expensive at that! So, with no where else to turn, I scoured the internet. I found a few on some websites, but the choices weren't much better than the mall. I then headed over to ebay. Oh, ebay. Great prices is what I found! However, the choices in color or pattern were still very vanilla, or quite simply cheesy and lame. I began to search how exactly do these companies get certain graphics onto cell phone cases? Well the process is called Sublimation, and requires a special press, special printer, with special paper and special ink. Brand new $1000's of dollars and near $1000 for the whole system on ebay. Even though this system would provide so many opportunities other than just cell phone cases, as a college student, it's not exactly an investment I can afford at this point.
More and more research and creative thinking spawned 2 ideas for DIY cell phone cases.
I've completed one, and the other, the supplies are currently being shipped for!


Here's the first one :)


I purchased this phone case for $3.99 on ebay, it's TPU which means its made of that tough but bendable rubber that the nice ones are made out of. It's not the cheap flimsy kind (I made the mistake of ordering one previously for 99 cents on ebay and it didn't hold it's shape) it's also not a hard case that has a front and a back and is very difficult to remove once on. It's the happy medium.

It came in white, but when I went to purchase it, it was sold out. I decided to email the seller on ebay but to my dismay they would not receive anymore white because the manufacturer has ceased production of this case all together. The quilted pattern of this case reminded me of a certain high end designer brand and I just had to have it, so I decided screw it, I'll order it before I never see it again and just paint it white.

Here it is, all painted white, I did about 3 coats.
Next, I gave it a couple clear coats to protect it and give it a shine.


Meanwhile, I had ordered a special piece of plastic from an etsy shop so I could make molds from it with Amazing Mold Magic. (I knew I was using the original for another project, and that I wanted to be able to make my own in the future, that's why I made molds out of it!)


For my new piece, I took my mold and filled it with black hot glue. You can get black or any color hot glue sticks online, at craft websites or on etsy, but I decided to make my own for free from stuff I already had. In a saucepan that I'd already ruined I melted together 2 hot glue sticks and one black crayon both broken (or cut) into smaller pieces. (Note: DO NOT do this in a pan you ever want to cook in again, I used one I'd already ruined from trying to make candles in. If you don't have a crap pan, go buy one for 99 cents at a thrift store!) You can also use something like a tuna can, which I saw on another website, but I hate tuna. Melt your mixture until it's extremely runny. Here's not what to do: DO NOT ASSUME THAT YOU CAN JUST POUR IT INTO YOUR MOLD AND HAVE IT WORK. I'VE ALREADY TRIED AND FAILED AT THIS FOR YOU :) THE FINISHED PRODUCT HAS MANY HOLES, EVEN WHEN TRYING TO SHAKE AND POUND THE MOLD BEFORE IT'S DRY.

CRAPPY PICTURE, BUT YOU GET THE IDEA, IT'S BAD!














So, in order to be successful, you need to make a hot glue stick to put into your glue gun.
You will want to use something like a skinny pipe to do this, but in a pinch (with my impatient-self) my way will work. I took parchment paper, with non-stick side inside, wrapped it around an existing glue stick, and scotch taped it shut.

Push the stick out with a pencil.Place your parchment paper roll in the hole of some scissors, or in some type of place where it's propped and sturdy. Put parchment paper underneath as well to protect your work surface, as well as making it non-stick.

Pour your piping hot black glue mix into your roll, this will be messy! Let dry and cool for about 20 minutes.

Next, peel off the parchment paper, and peel off the excess bulge on the bottom so that it is as wide as a regular glue stick.

It's fine if it has some excess on one end, it'll all melt the same.

Load your stick into the gun flat side inward. 

Prepare your molds.

Make sure you are protecting your work surface.

Once your gun is heated enough make sure to test that it's only black coming out. (You can see how much clear I had to squeeze out, there wasn't even any visible stick left?!) My gun wouldn't let me just pull the trigger with this, so I had to push the back of the glue stick with my thumb to push it out of the nozzle. Fill your molds making sure to push it down and spread it out thoroughly in every nook and cranny. Overflow a small bit. Let dry and cool for at least 10 minutes.

Squeeze out your piece from the mold, this should be extremely easy to do. With an Exacto knife clean up all around the edges of your piece. I also ended up needing this to be not so thick for my project so I trimmed the underneath with swiss army knife scissors.

Now you have your special little pieces :)

If you do more than one, choose which one looks the best, and use it!

Now you're ready to attach your piece to the phone case! Grab some Amazing E-6000 Glue and some Q-tips. Rub a good amount of the glue on the back of your piece with a Q-tip, but make sure when you press it onto your phone case that it doesn't goop out. Press your piece onto the case and let dry over night.

Put a couple more clear coats on, and you're done! Yay! 

Look for my second phone case tutorial coming soon :)

Until Next Time,