DIY Magnets

My friend Nicole Caulfield recently made some really sweet novelty items to sell for a festival and it inspired me to create some magnets of my own. These cute magnets can act like your perfect advertisements when you add your website & info to the back. Here’s a step by step of how I made them -

Materials required -

• Craft wood sized 2×3 inches , you can find these in any craft stores.
• Sanding paper – to sand and prep the surface of the wood
• Craft knife/ Exacto
• Permanent marker
• Decoupage medium
• Access to a good printer – I first tried this using an inkjet printout and the inks got dissolved!! so I used a laser print out.
• Diamond glaze – A small bottle is sufficient to make at-least 2 dozens of these magnets.
• Magnets
• Super glue

1. Smooth and prep the surface

2. I used a simple word document to print my work to match the size of the wood and attach it using a Decoupage medium. Let it dry completely. It takes around 20 minutes.

3. After drying, trim any unwanted edges using a sharp craft knife/ Exacto. Then pour the Diamond glaze on top. It is a self-leveling glaze so make sure you do it on a flat surface. There is also other options like a 2 part resin which you can use which does a similar job. But this is a non toxic water soluble alternative.

4. Add a thin layer of the glaze on top of the piece. You can apply the glaze directly from the bottle or using a brush. Make sure there are no air bubbles, in case you do have some break ‘em up!

5. Let it stand on a flat surface for several hours. It turns completely clear and glossy upon drying. Although it says few hours I left it up overnight to make sure its dry and hard to touch.

6. Once it’s ready add your info using a permanent marker pen to the back. I wrote it on a piece of paper and decoupaged it to the back. Superglue a magnet and voila! your magnet / business card is ready. Display it on your fridge or board, share it with your clients or gallery, the options are endless!

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