(I apologize in advance if any pictures are duplicated or not within the body of this post. I tried, I promise!)
I've learned SO much from this thread! Here are my bands and a detailing of what I did, based on information from here and from
here. After our trip (8 days away!), I will come back and update how they held up. I am not a particularly good artist and my kids wanted designs that I really couldn't do, so this time I opted to make decals with my Cricut. Once I found the images I wanted (some I purchased on Etsy), I used the template found on the website I linked and imported everything into Cricut Design Space to create my decals. (Just as a note, this was my first time using a Cricut, and the Design Space was *extremely* frustrating, their "Help" features were NO help, and I was about ready to box it up and send it back. But, I researched and soldiered on - figuring out by a lot of trial-and-error. But enough of all that...) For those who *do* use Cricut, I used the vinyl setting, despite the sheets of decal material being so thick.
If you notice in the picture above, once you have printed on the vinyl, you have to run it under water to wash away any excess ink. I was fortunate in that my printer ink did not seem to wash away at all.
Next, I applied three coats of the adhesive primer to the MBs. I don't know that 3 coats were necessary, but it seemed like a good number to me.
Then, I applied the vinyl to the curved/closed bands. For the longer strips of vinyl, such as the Inside Out band, I was a bit disappointed that the vinyl did not lie flat. It wrinkled and gapped a bit. I even took it off and tried again (with a newly printed piece), but the same thing happened. One trick I did learn was that once you have your decal lined up with where you want to place it, start pressing in the middle and work toward each end. You can somewhat lift and try again if you see that it is off a bit, but I think that the adhesive primer makes that more difficult to do. The instructions say to then let the vinyl cure for about 24 hours, which I did. During that time I embellished the bands just a bit - Inside Out characters got a little bit of sparkle in their hair, Mickeys were painted (with nail polish). One thing to note, if you do decide to paint with nail polish over the plastic adhesive, it will likely NOT be removed with nail polish remover. I got a tiny bit outside the lines of one of the small Mickey heads at the end of the band, and I really couldn't get the polish off. A little bit did, but it was almost like the band was stained.
For the top coat I used this SEM Flexible Coating:
Again, I used 3 coats. Even though the product label says "high gloss" it isn't as high gloss as I thought it would be.. But they are shiny enough. Using this flexible top coat for plastics is fantastic! Our bands are just as bendable now as they were when we got them. My biggest concern is how well the vinyl that buckled will remain adhered to the bands. We will be hitting the water parks one day of our trip, plus using the resort pool, so I will be sure to post the results afterwards.
One final note - making these bands this way was expensive - the total cost was around $46! The vinyl decal sheets were the most pricey. You have to purchase so much of each item, but you only use a little bit. But, it provided a creative outlet for me, I learned more about my Cricut, and the kids love them! Plus, now I have all the supplies for the NEXT Disney trip.
So here they are!
Love this!!!
I got it last year at Hollywood Studios. I think it was around $30-40. I never had a "real" wedding ring and have worn many different rings for my wedding ring. But this one! I think I finally found a keeper.
