Hello people of the twitterverse and beyond! I’m back after a long break from moving to my new home. I’m all settled in though so I thought it appropriate for my comeback to be a new nerdy DIY!
Last week during the 2016 Olympics I saw the premier of the official Star Wars: Rogue One full trailer. Let me tell you that I am super excited for this movie. And in celebration of this new amazeballs addition to the Star Wars universe, I though it would be fun to do something related to it. Rogue One is the story of the people who stole the plans for the newly developed Death Star!
The Empire is taking over the Galaxy yet there is a group of people who want to rebel against the evil Empire. Wether you are with the Imperial Storm Troopers, or you joined up with the Rebel Alliance, with all that stress, I think we could all use a pint! This weeks DIY is painted pint glasses!
Here are the things you will need:
- Pint Glasses
- FolkArt brand acrylic enamel paint in black and orange
- Rubbing alcohol
- printout of the Imperial and Rebel Alliance symbol
- tape
- paint brushes (preferably small ones for finer detail)
- Oven (it’s kind of important, keep reading to find out!)
This was a pretty easy and cheap (we like cheap!) craft to do. I purchased the pint glasses at the dollar store and the paint was only a couple bucks for each tube of paint! I already had the rubbing alcohol at home.
First thing you will want to do is wash the glasses with warm soapy water. This will make sure anything that was on the glass when you bought it is now vanquished! Also, you want to make sure they are totally dry before you paint on them! Yes, you can paint on glass! How rock and roll is that? Okay, maybe not rock and roll, but it’s pretty awesome. Set your glasses aside and go to your computer. You know, that big box thing sitting in the corner collecting dust because you do all your internet stuff on you phone? Yeah that thing! Google the Imperial and Rebel Alliance symbol. I put mine into a word document so I could resize them because I suck at photoshop! Hooray for me! Once you’ve got a size that you like that will fit your glasses, print and cut them out!
Now you will want to put the symbols on the inside of the glass and position it somewhere in the middle of the glass. You want to make sure wherever you position it, that you keep it at least 3/4″ down from the top of the glass. Acrylic enamel paint is not something we want to be ingesting! When you have it where you like it, tape it down so it can’t go anywhere! Mwahahahahahah…..ahem…An evil laugh seemed appropriate right there. Anyway, on to the painting! STOP! Before you paint, rub down the area you will paint with some rubbing alcohol. This will remove any dirt or grease left by your hands. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled painting!
Take your paintbrush and paint over the top of the symbol. See what I did there? I’m using the picture as a guide to basically trace over because I suck at freehand anything! Ta da! You will have to paint several layers for the symbol to be opaque, letting each layer of paint dry before painting the next layer. Once you have achieved the desired opaqueness, let the paint dry for 24 hours.
Now we need to cure the paint to make it more permanent. Put the glasses on a sheet pan (mainly so they don’t tip over in the oven) and place it in a COLD oven. Let me emphasize again, a COLD oven. Turn the temperature to 350 F degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Once you’ve reached 30 minutes, turn off the oven, but leave the glasses inside the oven to cool down with the oven. The reason you start in a cold oven and heat slowly and then cool slowly is to temper the glass. This prevent the glass from cracking and therefore breaking because of drastic temperature changes.
Once the curing process is completed, you are ready to enjoy any variety of beverages. From a nice frosty beer to whatever that blue milk is that Luke Skywalker and his aunt and uncle drink. To take care of your new impressive glassware, I would recommend hand washing instead of the dishwasher. I’ve read articles that say once you cure it you can put in on the top rack of your dishwasher but why would you take the risk to ruin all that hard work?
Did you enjoy this nerdy tutorial? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter @thenerdygirlexp or @luckynerdgirl with #TheCraftyGeek and be sure to check out Star Wars: Rogue One in theaters December 16, 2016!
Oh and if you haven’t seen the official trailer yet, here you go!
TheNerdyGirlExpress 