Hello, today I have a tutorial on deco headphones!
Wow I can’t believe it’s already the last day of my super awesome week of tutorials! It feels like I’ve been at my new address for much longer and I’m loving it!
I’ve been promising a deco tutorial for ages, it was going to be my laptop but I decided to go with a smaller design to start off some of you guys that are beginners 🙂
The fun part about this tutorial is that you can win the end product of deco headphones, but more on that later!
So first you need some headphones! I bought these ones to do, they are just fairly standard ear buds, the only thing special about them is that the coloured outside bit clips on and you can change colour… cool idea but they only included one of each colour so you can’t have a matching set >_< I didn’t even notice until I got home!
Apologies that these photos are a little dark, James was out when I did it so I didn’t have his lighting/camera expertise!
The deco technique I’ll be showing you today is called paving.
I decided to make one headphone pink and one blue so I attached the corresponding colour clip.
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Gather all of your materials and decorations together. I suggest that you lay down some paper towel or tissues to work on so you can see everything easily and you don’t get your work surface all glue-y.
The type of glue I am using is called “Epoxy”, it comes in 2 tubes one is resin and one is hardener. There are other types of glue available for deco but epoxy is the strongest and most hard wearing, if you use a decent amount your jewels won’t be going anywhere! Epoxy is good for rigid surfaces (like plastic), it is not good for things that need to bend (like fabric). It comes in different formulas which take different lengths of time to dry, for a project like this use the 5min one. Also unlike some other glues it doesn’t smell bad so you won’t pass out from the fumes ^_^
We need to start with the largest items we’re going to glue. That’s an important rule of paving deco, put the big pieces in and then fill the gaps with everything else. |
So squeeze out an even amount of glue from each tube onto a piece of plastic. I just used the packet that some of my diamantes came in.
Using an orange stick mix the two bubbles of glue together. Make sure the consistency is even and it’s mixed well.
I’m going to put a bow on my pink headphone first so using the orange stick I apply a little glue to the back of the bow and also to the headphone where it’s going.
Hold it in place until the glue becomes tacky then allow it to dry completely.
Repeat the process on the other side. I decided to use a bead shaped like a heart on this one. Apply the glue…
Hold the jewel in place.
For paving you need a lot of jewels in different sizes. Rather than buying 1000 of each size if you are doing a small project like this check the scrapbooking section of your local craft store for pre-stuck designs like the photo below. It has many different sizes.
Because they already have a sticky backing on them, they’re fairly useless to glue, you’ll find that if you use the provided sticky back they will eventually slide off your item or if you glue them with the backing on they will still fall off because the glue isn’t touching the actual jewel. So you need to gently pull the sticky backing off… I stick it to my finger and use my nail to pry them free.
And you should be left with this:
Now for this project you need some larger coloured diamantes too..
To pick up the diamantes one by one I find the easiest way is using a match stick with a piece of blutac on the end. New blutac is too sticky so roll it on carpet or fabric first so it picks up some dust and isn’t as sticky ^_^ Other people I know use tweezers but I find that awkward.
Starting with the pink bud add glue to a small strip down the back.
Starting with the largest jewels again place a line of 3mm pink diamantes straight down the back.
While the glue around it is still wet fill in around the edges with tiny clear diamantes. The key to this looking good is to try to fill in every single little gap as much as you can. Wait for it to dry before continuing.
Once the back is dry continue on the side,place a row of large pink diamantes and fill in around it with clear. It’s kind of like making a mosaic, trying to find the right gems to fit the right spot.
When that side is dry continue around to the other side until the jewels meet in the middle, the entire thing should be covered. When you’re done it should look a little like this:
Now let’s start on the other side! The principle is the same, but this time use blue jewels instead of pink ^_^
Do the sides first and then keep going until the jewels meet in the middle.
Once everything is completely dry it’s time to tackle that last little white bit where the cord comes from…
Holding it by the ear piece cover that in clear diamantes.
So then leave it to dry! If you think it needs it, you can give the entire jeweled area a clear top coat. I don’t generally do it because if you are using acrylic jewels it can melt the top layer and make the facets of the jewel less obvious. If you decide to top coat then go with a quick dry clear nail polish. This is what you end up with when you’re done…
Haha you can tell that James can home and took these pictures because they’re so arty!
I think pastel blue and pink look so cute together ^_^
You can see the paving a little more clearly here…
I hope you enjoyed this and it helped! If you have any questions feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer 🙂
Now if you love the ones I made and can’t be bothered making your own you have a chance to win them! Click here to see for yourself how you can get your pretty hands on the deco headphones ^_^
