Has anyone decorated their Magic Bands? Please show us the pictures!

[ARAITHEL]

I taught art for 7 years and have been doing "professional" work since 2000. Thanks for the kind complements. ;-) if you are interested in having me do your MB contact me at raithel1974@gmail.com. I'm super glad you guys like it!

 

[PinupPrincess]

I received my first set of magic bands on Friday and have been working on them all weekend!

So far I've used purple polish on my pink band and have covered it with Martha Stewart's Multi-Surface Glitter Acrylic Craft Paint (I got mine at Joann's). It seems to be holding up well and the paint is for indoor/outdoor and is dishwasher safe after curing for 21 days, so I think its should hold up well. I bought it in Sugar Plum and the shimmer looks good so far! I think I'm going to add an extra coat to it though...you can never have enough sparkle!

Now I have to decide whether or not I'm going to removed the excess outer edge. I'm thinking of slowly cutting it down and playing with it before totally removing it. So many decisions!

FYI, CoverGirl has come out with mini nail polish bottles called "Glowing Nights" and they are suppose to glow under UV light. At first I bought them thinking it was actual glow-in-the-dark polish, so I'm a bit disappointed; however, I'm thinking it will still glow under some of the lights on the rides.

I can't wait to finish and show them off!

 

[pixiepirate]

Had to share my Maleficient themed MB. I thought It turned out pretty good!

Absolutely fantastic!

My bands are being customized now and should be in the mail soon. I can't wait to start decorating. I only hope I can do half as well as some of the designs on this thread.

 

[AimeeNK31]

Figment is my fave but they are all amazing

I had the same issue with vibrant color transfer on the tattoos. I painted white on the plastic side and was able to get a decent transfer but it cracked quite a bit. I will definitely try painting the white directly on the band ad filling in around it next time.

 

[AimeeNK31]

The monorail is incredible!! Very inspiring.

 

[AimeeNK31]

So my question is.. how hard is it to cover up the original color with nail polish? Has anyone picked a totally different color nail polish than the actual band, and had success in covering it up?

I successfully turned a blue one to burgundy/garnet. You can't even tell what it's original color was. It is very possible. My suggestion is to do multiple thin coats instead of trying to obscure the original color with the first coat. It took me 2-3 coats to completely cover.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Know this isn't great, but thought maybe some might find this helpful, wanted something I could practice on, so made a paper pattern. Feel free to print it if you think it will help! (for ref. 8 1/2x11 sheet of paper)

Thank you

 

[tiffytrips]

I used the Disney nail polish Tinkerbell's fantasy in flight with the color being called Spiteuful about 3 coats! Then I finished with Sally Hansen top coat!

Thanks. I'm off to the disney store

 

[eiramenna]

Hi all - happy Monday! Our trip is in late January; I'm guessing our bands ship at the end of the year.

I read all 142 pages - WOW!

I have ideas percolating around our bands (there will be 5 of them, assuming a 2 year old gets banded, too....else, just 4).

Whether my "artistic ability" (cough, cough) is up to par to be able to actually make the ideas in my head into reality on an MB will remain a suspenseful mystery.

I'm wondering if there's a way to "pin" a post here with all the key reference information that has been shared. That way, it's all available in one spot, and doesn't have to keep being repeated every time someone asks?

Here's what I've written in my notes as I've obsessed around decorating our bands when they arrive:

1. Base coat on bare band, AND as top coat.
2. Clear base coat, 3-4 coats of polish or acrylics, 2 coats of base coat to finish
3. Decorate bands in a curved (or even closed) position - not flat - to help prevent cracking
4. Use acrylics or nail polish, either works. If using nail polish, don't use the hardening kind, gel, or quick dry kind - they tend to crack more.
5. Do not use sharpie markers - they smear when doing top coats. Oil based paint pens have been used with varying degrees of success (some report that even these smear).
6. The bands still work if the Mickey heads are covered with paint, duct tape, and crystals
7. Many report success using temporary body art tattoos and nail art decals. You can create custom temporary tattoos using paper available at office supply stores or online.
8. Printable white vinyl can also be used to create a custom decal. (not quite sure how it adheres to a band? does it work like a rub-on transfer?)
9. Some have reported good success using rub-on transfers directly on the band (no base coat)
10. Duct tape holds up well and is available in hundreds of patterns.
11. To get a clear outline around Mickey's head, paint and then remove using nail polish remover and a q-tip.
12. To get uniform dots, use a nail art dotting tool. You can also use a straw dipped in paint (lightly!) to "stamp" a perfect circle.

 

[iheartglaciers]

For temporary tattoos it seems some people have been putting it on direct and others use a base coat as a base (before putting on the decoration). Anyone experiment and see which is better?

 

[TheyThinkImCrazy]

Hi all - happy Monday! Our trip is in late January; I'm guessing our bands ship at the end of the year.

I read all 142 pages - WOW!

I have ideas percolating around our bands (there will be 5 of them, assuming a 2 year old gets banded, too....else, just 4).

Whether my "artistic ability" (cough, cough) is up to par to be able to actually make the ideas in my head into reality on an MB will remain a suspenseful mystery.

I'm wondering if there's a way to "pin" a post here with all the key reference information that has been shared. That way, it's all available in one spot, and doesn't have to keep being repeated every time someone asks?

Here's what I've written in my notes as I've obsessed around decorating our bands when they arrive:

1. Base coat on bare band, AND as top coat.
2. Clear base coat, 3-4 coats of polish or acrylics, 2 coats of base coat to finish
3. Decorate bands in a curved (or even closed) position - not flat - to help prevent cracking
4. Use acrylics or nail polish, either works. If using nail polish, don't use the hardening kind, gel, or quick dry kind - they tend to crack more.
5. Do not use sharpie markers - they smear when doing top coats. Oil based paint pens have been used with varying degrees of success (some report that even these smear).
6. The bands still work if the Mickey heads are covered with paint, duct tape, and crystals
7. Many report success using temporary body art tattoos and nail art decals. You can create custom temporary tattoos using paper available at office supply stores or online.
8. Printable white vinyl can also be used to create a custom decal. (not quite sure how it adheres to a band? does it work like a rub-on transfer?)
9. Some have reported good success using rub-on transfers directly on the band (no base coat)
10. Duct tape holds up well and is available in hundreds of patterns.
11. To get a clear outline around Mickey's head, paint and then remove using nail polish remover and a q-tip.
12. To get uniform dots, use a nail art dotting tool. You can also use a straw dipped in paint (lightly!) to "stamp" a perfect circle.

This is great! It seems to cover pretty much everything.

 

[runprincess9686]

For those of you who have made your own custom temporary tattoos, what kind of paper should I be looking for? My brother's favorite movie is Monsters Inc, and he loves the CDAs, so I know I'm not going to find those in tattoos already lol. And with making your own, how do you measure them to fit your MagicBand?

I'm sorry if someone already asked this - I looked, but most likely missed a post on this.

TIA!

 

[iheartglaciers]

For those of you who have made your own custom temporary tattoos, what kind of paper should I be looking for? My brother's favorite movie is Monsters Inc, and he loves the CDAs, so I know I'm not going to find those in tattoos already lol. And with making your own, how do you measure them to fit your MagicBand? I'm sorry if someone already asked this - I looked, but most likely missed a post on this. TIA!

In case you need something in a pinch, Party City has Monsters University temporary tattoos for 99 cents. No CDAs though :-(

 

[runprincess9686]

Yeah, when he told me those were his favorite characters in the movie, I wanted to slap him through my phone lol. But he doesn't know why I asked. I have everyone's MBs for our trip in 3 weeks and was going to surprise everyone with a decorated band of their favorite characters. My moms is tinkerbell and I ordered her a yellow band before I found this thread, so I'm worried how that will turn out. I ordered pink for myself and my daughter, and I was going to make hers Minnie mouse.. but I really just set myself up for failure lol. I will definitely keep the MU tattoos in mind though..thanks!

 

[carpentermom]

I am finishing up painting our bands. Anyone so pleased with how they turned out that they worry about messing them up on the trip? / I have covered them with a base coat, but should I put more than one coat on? I really want them to last!

 

[AliceinMaryland]

I am finishing up painting our bands. Anyone so pleased with how they turned out that they worry about messing them up on the trip? / I have covered them with a base coat, but should I put more than one coat on? I really want them to last!

I painted one of my bands and put temp tattoos on 3 other's. I also wanted them to last so I put on soooooo many coats of the clear. If I'm being honest, I would say probably 5,6,7 coats, and that is on top of the 2 base coats of clear I put directly on the band before I even painted or tattoo'd them. I think I went way over board. And in my opinion, less is better. Because I forgot to roll mine up and have them clasped when I was painting and applying the temp tattoos and painting all of these base coats on, when I went to clasp them, the creaked and crackled because it was so stiff. So then I put at least one more coat on while it was clasped to fill in the cracks LOL.

Please remember to paint or tat while the band is clasped!!!

So in my opinion, don't do too many coats. I think, at least on my bands, I could've done fine with 2 base coats then paint or temp tattoos and then 2 or 3 more coats to seal it.

 

[thumper*]

I have loved so many of these hand painted MB and just knew that's what I wanted to do.

So I got my bands out and got started. I was unable to find any base coat polish at Walmart...I couldn't believe it, so I was stuck w/ a combination base/top coat I already had on hand.

First I put on a coat of the combination base/top coat (in the band in the closed postion to the size I planned on wearing it) and let it dry over night.

Day 2 I started opening and closing the band to see if it would crack. To my amazement it didn't crack. I was a little dissapointed that you could see some brush marks so I put on another coat but very thick this time and it seemed to not show the brush marks as well but some did still show.

Then I attempted to paint my designs w/ nail polish. This was so much harder then I expected and I'm a very crafty person. Of course my eyesight isn't what it once was plus it was very hard to not shake. Note to self don't work on band after coffee. At this point I had wished I chose to use duct tape just for the ease.

I did outline a Mickey head w/ white polish and wipe off what I could then remove w/ nail polish remover. I had a hard time removing the nail polish....I think because I had on 2 heavy layers of clear coat. I ended up removing all of the clear coat on one half of the band. I still have quite a bit of work left on them but the brush marks drive me crazy.

Are there brush marks on your guys bands and we just can't see it in the pics or what did you do to prevent/hide the brush strokes?

I plan to use some gems that have an adhesive back already and plan to use super glue to help hold them down. I really don't want to put clear polish over the top of gems and possibly make them cloudy. So has anybody used super glue and did it work for you?

I will post pics when done. TIA for your help.

 

[tinkerbell2528]

I am finishing up painting our bands. Anyone so pleased with how they turned out that they worry about messing them up on the trip? / I have covered them with a base coat, but should I put more than one coat on? I really want them to last!

I only put 2 to 3 coats of base coat on all my MB. One before applying the temp tattoos n two after I've applied them. If you put on a thick coat they may take way too long to dry n if they dry u will still have problems with finger prints or smudges. Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Wood Nymph]

Are there brush marks on your guys bands and we just can't see it in the pics or what did you do to prevent/hide the brush strokes?

I used acrylic paint directly on the MB without putting on a base coat. I was disappointed that the brush strokes were obvious, too. But once the acrylics dried and I applied a top coat of clear nail polish, the brush strokes disappeared.

For my MB's - first I bought some nail polish, but it was hard to paint the Mickey heads with it. The polish went all over and it was hard to control. I bought nail polish remover with acetone, and the nail polish came off easily. So I gave up on using nail polish.

Then I found a box of old acrylic paints. These were fun to use because I was able to mix the color to whatever I wanted. The nail polish was expensive and the colors are limited. I painted the acrylic paint right on the band, without a base coat. The one nice thing about this was that the paint was very easy to remove using a toothpick and a scraping motion. I was able to paint all over the Mickey head and then carefully remove the paint up to the edge. I then put a top coat of clear nail polish on it. I'm not too concerned with how long the paint will last, since I have five bands for this trip and plan to leave one plain for swimming. I'm a terrible painter and this method worked for me. By the way, I'm using vinyl band covers so I only needed to paint the Mickey heads, not the whle band.

 

[TheyThinkImCrazy]

For those of you who have made your own custom temporary tattoos, what kind of paper should I be looking for? My brother's favorite movie is Monsters Inc, and he loves the CDAs, so I know I'm not going to find those in tattoos already lol. And with making your own, how do you measure them to fit your MagicBand?

I'm sorry if someone already asked this - I looked, but most likely missed a post on this.

TIA!

I considered ordering inkjet printable temporary tattoo paper to make some for my husband's band, but haven't ordered yet. I couldn't find any of the paper locally.

I did play around with images that he liked, shrunk them and printed them out on regular paper to see how they fit on the band.