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

[stormer]

I was thinking of trying tattoos this time. I did nail polish last time, but my artistic abilities are really limited. If I do a base coat first and then apply the tattoo, is there a way to get it off if I mess up? Will nail polish remover take it off and still have the band look ok?

 

[Kiwigirl839]

Status Report

Our bands held up pretty well.

All were done in nail polish and sharpie. I did not put a top coat over the sharpie as some had warned about smearing. In hindsight I wish I had. The minute my son was coated in sunscreen the sharpie transferred onto everything like a tatoo....It also got a blushish tinge and I had to constantly re-color his accents.

My daughter's band was pristine the entire trip (all nail polish).

My band has some minor cracking at the flex points - probably the way I painted them and then wore it. I got loads of compliments on my band because I was the one always paying for things.

My Husband's band is pristine and still looks fabulous.

So the only thing I would do different is find a way to seal that sharpie marker. I had lots of fun decorating and I had put tons of glow in the dark paint that made for a distraction on the VERY dark rides that made the 5 yr old a little worried. The minute his band lit-up in the dark he didn't care that he couldn't see.

 

[Practical2aFault]

Status Report

Our bands held up pretty well.

All were done in nail polish and sharpie. I did not put a top coat over the sharpie as some had warned about smearing. In hindsight I wish I had. The minute my son was coated in sunscreen the sharpie transferred onto everything like a tatoo....It also got a blushish tinge and I had to constantly re-color his accents.

My daughter's band was pristine the entire trip (all nail polish).

My band has some minor cracking at the flex points - probably the way I painted them and then wore it. I got loads of compliments on my band because I was the one always paying for things.

My Husband's band is pristine and still looks fabulous.

So the only thing I would do different is find a way to seal that sharpie marker. I had lots of fun decorating and I had put tons of glow in the dark paint that made for a distraction on the VERY dark rides that made the 5 yr old a little worried. The minute his band lit-up in the dark he didn't care that he couldn't see.

Thanks for the update !!!! Especially that update on what happened with the Sharpie ink. Both our sons bands are just sharpie right now and I tried to test some Acrylic Spray on a small discarded piece of band I had trimmed off my own ( small wrists ) Well I probably didn't let the test sharpie ink dry long enough before hitting it with the spray as it immediately made the ink run. I know a few people on this thread have mentioned it is possible to seal it but I think the ink has to cure for several hours first.

 

[Practical2aFault]

I was thinking of trying tattoos this time. I did nail polish last time, but my artistic abilities are really limited. If I do a base coat first and then apply the tattoo, is there a way to get it off if I mess up? Will nail polish remover take it off and still have the band look ok?

Some people on the thread have mentioned that is the reason for using a clear base coat first , That it is much easier to remove with nail polish remover and start over if needed. Someone said they tried to use a colored polish directly on the band first and then tried to remove it but it altered the color of the original band since they did not know about the clear base coat going on first.

Also make sure it's a true "BASE COAT"in clear and NOT a "Top Coat "! Base and top combo polishes can work but a strictly Base coat has the most flexibility when it comes to being able to bend the bands.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I don't know how I didn't know about this trend before my last trip, but I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at everyone's bands over the last few days. Congratulations on all the awesome designs!

 

[Tomh]

Thanks for all of the GREAT tips here!!!! I am having a go at decorating our bands from last summer to use this year. I finished the first one.

 

[ThistleMae]

I've already tried this myself. Not with that exact brand but I believe my findings will hold true anyways.

1- Sorry, but no it won't. The other paint seems to cover up the ability for the glow paint to "charge". I did however, Manage to get a thin layer of clear glitter paint over the top and still get a full glow.

2- depends on the paint.


This is how mine turned out:

These came out great! Did you use just regular glitter nail polish on the band itself. How many coats?

 

[ThistleMae]

Have been moderately successful with using acetone remover after discovering our blue polish was rather thick after applying it to DH band. Attempted to thin the layers on both mine and his and I think if you are using Q-tips you can smooth it a bit but only really remove a layer if it's only a few layers thick. The real trick is remembering where you left off - and yes starting with a clear base coat and finishing with the same seems to look the best. Still working on ours - will post pics when they done.

I've tried both nail polish remover and straight Acetone (can buy it at Lowes/Home Depot). The acetone works best. I've used it 3/4 times on the same old band just to test it. It did not damage the band. The nail polish removes completely but the marker/ink leaves some traces behind, even when using the acetone, just very light.

 

[ThistleMae]

We have used sharpie on nearly all our bands. Just remember to used it AFTER the clear coat or other polish is dry. Will work fine on top, but will smear if coated over.

Oh.....good follow-up! So coat first....then use sharpie! I imagine it will come off easier too, if you clear coat first. I had some problems getting the sharpie off the band itself, it left very light images that didn't come completely off with acetone.

 

[ThistleMae]

As a follow-up to another post about sharpie's.....someone said if you do not top coat it, sunscreen will smear it!

 

[kaybird]

I read that about the sunscreen. We have never had that happen, but they are quite dry when we get there. I do sometimes have to go over it again if it fades.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

These came out great! Did you use just regular glitter nail polish on the band itself. How many coats?

The only glitter on the bands that I painted on is a single thin coat over the glow paint on the black and the pink. The glitter on the sides of those bands are actually vinyl decals from myfantasybands.com. The paint that I did use was all acrylic with an acrylic high gloss sealer on top.

 

[akela]

Just curious, has it been established that Clear Acrylic High Gloss Sealer as a top coat has worked best for a top coat? I'm using nail polish and tattoos to decorate and don't want any cracks, of course... Thanks~

 

[stormer]

Some people on the thread have mentioned that is the reason for using a clear base coat first , That it is much easier to remove with nail polish remover and start over if needed. Someone said they tried to use a colored polish directly on the band first and then tried to remove it but it altered the color of the original band since they did not know about the clear base coat going on first.

Also make sure it's a true "BASE COAT"in clear and NOT a "Top Coat "! Base and top combo polishes can work but a strictly Base coat has the most flexibility when it comes to being able to bend the bands.

Thanks!

 

[momimouse27]

We finished our bands yesterday. My daughter's band(the red and black on top) was a redo. She attempted to freehand a Rapunzel lantern painting and it didn't go as planned. In the end, it looked like a 4 year old had bedazzled it(there was too much glitter polish and stick on beads involved!) Since it was done completely with nail polish the first time, we took off the whole thing with nail polish remover. I was shocked it all came off. But when we redid it, it was done with a fine tip sharpie. My son's(bottom right, Minecraft) was also done with Sharpie and my mom who painted it tried to spray with acrylic sealer and it ran badly. So, acrylic sealer not good.

Not sure how they'll hold up. Interested to see.

 

[OnlyDisney]

I cannot believe that I hadn't heard of this before today! I'm so ready to decorate my DS and my bands! I'm a little nervous though.

I have some rhinestone mickey heads with sticker backs I plan on putting over the magic band mickey head and a sticker or two. I've read that I need to do a base coat first, then put stickers/rhinestones on, then a top coat.

Should I use super glue to stick the rhinestone on even though it already has a bit of sticky already? Do I put the top coat over the rhinestones or go around them? Does it matter if I use base coat, top coat, or clear nail polish? I'm not sure what the difference is among the three. I have one called Nicole Top Coat Plus that's a couple years old, would this be OK to use?
Also, I'd have to make a special trip to the store for super glue, but I do have 2 part epoxy. Would this be OK on the magic bands?

 

[Tomh]

Finished the 2nd magic band today. This one is for DS11 who happens to be a Minions freak.

 

[Tomh]

I cannot believe that I hadn't heard of this before today! I'm so ready to decorate my DS and my bands! I'm a little nervous though.

I have some rhinestone mickey heads with sticker backs I plan on putting over the magic band mickey head and a sticker or two. I've read that I need to do a base coat first, then put stickers/rhinestones on, then a top coat.

Should I use super glue to stick the rhinestone on even though it already has a bit of sticky already? Do I put the top coat over the rhinestones or go around them? Does it matter if I use base coat, top coat, or clear nail polish? I'm not sure what the difference is among the three. I have one called Nicole Top Coat Plus that's a couple years old, would this be OK to use?
Also, I'd have to make a special trip to the store for super glue, but I do have 2 part epoxy. Would this be OK on the magic bands?

So, provided you are not on the far side of POR, would it make sense to just hop in the POFQ queue instead of the POR queue at closing time?

Lemme see what I can do to help I used a combo base coat / top coat. I've read that using a dedicated base coat is the way to go, but too late now hahahaha. I wouldn't worry about the super glue, use the sticky that is on the rhinestones, THEN . .. seal them, and the stickers down with several nice coats of top coat.

I emptied nearly an entire bottle of basecoat / topcoat on 3 magic bands, giving each one a single base coat, and multiple top coats to seal everything together nicely, and give it that nice shine.

 

[feistygalkmc]

Finished mine and DD bands! Put one light spray coat of acrylic sealer on dd band so the tattoos wouldn't smudge. Need to seal my band this weekend, only one more to go! For dd band I painted it a light pink then used a makeup wedge to apply the purple metallic paint the same way I painted the sky type background on my Esmeralda band. It didn't photograph very well but the color is beautiful! I decided to leave my face unpainted, I like the look of it that way and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to reprint the lines right again in the face if I painted over them. Love them both! Oh one other thing I did on DD band is added a couple of hidden mickeys with some glow in the dark acrylic paint. They still charge and glow very bright with the acrylic sealer over them. I may go ahead and just paint over the top of the sealer also.

 

[mizarmour]

Thanks for all the great ideas! I love reading this thread. I'm not very artistic, so I resorted to nail polish and adhesive rhinestones. I wanted to post the pictures, but I'm a newbie and don't know how.