Friday, July 12, 2013

Popsicle stick Bracelets- Pintester Movement

I participated in the first Pintester Movement and had fun, so I am back to do the next Pintester Movement 2.0! Unlike last time, this time I had to re-do one of the Pintester's previously done pins. (Is it just me or does this post already have a lot of "P" words?!)

I chose her attempt at the Popsicle Stick Bracelets.
Photo from Pintester
The original pin is by Craft Affection. Aren't her bracelets beautiful?!
Photo from Craft Affection
Well, anyone who knows me knows that in my mind I am pretty decent at crafty stuff. I figured it can't be too hard. I read the comments and tips on both blogs, I felt worried because many were unsuccessful. But I still had high hopes and lots of confidence.

Off to the craft room I went to find some popsicle sticks (ok, craft sticks, 500 to a box), while looking for those, I found a literal popsicle stick. As in the ones from last nights dessert!! Score! Now I can "compare" the brands.

Soaked in water for a few hours as suggested. After soaking some were bendy some were not. The ones from actual popsicles didn't bend very well. They are actually the only ones to break. The fat ones were craft sticks and they bent relatively easily. The trick was to not bend them with thumbs pressed in the middle, but pressing evenly along the whole stick, with most of the pressure near the end of the sticks.

Once you get the pliably soft, put them in a cup to dry.
Sitting in a really narrow cup, my hand can't fit in it. The bottom two's ends touched, the top one not so


They've sat in the cups overnight to dry. Now it's time to whip out the mod podge! In true fashion, I couldn't find any of my bottles. But I had remembered seeing the Pintesters take on homemade mod podge and figured I'd just go with that. I already knew this homemade mod podge wasn't going to work very well because I'm not exactly a stranger to MP. I've used a half dozen bottles over the years. But it's whatev. I coated my now very nicely curved popsicle stick and gave it a nice coat of glue. At this point I felt fairly (When I first typed "fairly" I typed "faily" maybe it's a sign of things to come?!) confident in this pin. Up to this point it's actually working! Then I stuck it back in the cup so it would keep it's shape.

Move on with my day. Wait for it to dry....

Finally it was dry, I couldn't find any red paper that I had planned to use. But there was a nice sheet of tissue paper laying on the floor. Works for me! Glued that on. Coated both sides with my fake mod podge. Made a mess. Stuck to my fingers. Didn't turn out so pretty. Whatever. I didn't really care at this point. Back in the cup to dry.

Fast forward again. My 5 year old spilled the entire bottle of fake Mod Podge all over the floor. But he cleaned it up... with a towel that my Aunt embroidered for him when he was a baby. Sigh. Laundry time while the bracelet dries...

I pull them back out of the cup and wouldn't you know, it was a circle... mostly. The ends almost touched. A few centimeters apart. It stayed on my wrist which was the goal. But as you can see, they didn't stay that way. Whomp Whomp Whomp.

The red one still fits (for now, we'll see come morning). One of the white ones actually fits better, and clearly the other one will never fit. I don't know why one stayed so small and the other practically went back to its starting shape. They were all in the same size glass and were closest to the bottom of the cup, ends were touching. Anyways. Pinterst Success or Fail? Ummmm We'll go with Plausible.

8 comments:

  1. They probably did something tricky that wasn't shown in the pin... like, extra heavy glue or something in the water, so that when they dry they harden. But props for trying one of the more difficult pins!

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  2. I'm impressed that you got the sticks to curve so well. That always seems to be a problem.

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  3. This pin is a total lie. Tho yours is the closest I've seen. Good going!

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  4. Awwww SO CLOSE! I think the red one's actually kind of cute, but it's super sad that they didn't hold their shape.

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  5. Props for doing two pins in one project! It seems like wood would be a really hard thing to just change the shape of so quickly.

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  6. I agree with Ashley. I think they must've left out a step somewhere ;-) Good try, though!

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  7. I think Ashley might be right, there is a trick somewhere we are all missing! Kudos for giving it a shot, and I hope the home made glue came out of the heirloom towel!

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  8. Hmmm, I remember reading about bentwood furniture that they dry it with really hot air to set the curve. I wonder if that would help.

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