Whenever we want to make a handicraft using useful materials, we must have some characteristics. Our creation must also be attractive, utilitarian, resistant, and easy to clean.
Every time I go to a housewares store, I look for napkin holders, but most of them are made of glass or metal. Sometimes when I find acrylic or plastic ones, their designs don't appeal to me. So I decided to make one of my own, and this turned out to be quite a fun adventure.
At home, I have some old CDs. Touching the texture of their material seemed like an appropriate material to make my napkin holder. So I looked for some materials and started to make this wonderful project.
4 CDs
acrylic paints
cotton
alcohol
brushes
scissors
wax paper
ruler
silicone gun
silicone sticks
indelible pencil
masking tape
CDs have two sides. One is shiny, and the other has a paper cover.
We place adhesive tape on the opaque side and firmly remove it. In this way, we remove the opaque layer of the CD.
Once we have removed the opaque film from the CD, we clean both sides with alcohol.
Sometimes the surface of the CD is not completely transparent, but for this craft, this does not matter much since we will paint it and this will be disguised.
The design of my napkin holder was semicircula,r so they had to be cut precisely.
Make a 2 cm x 2 cm grid on a piece of paper. Put the CD on the grid and mark with an indelible pen the size of the faces that will form the napkin holder. I traced a half circle of 12 cm x 6.5 cm.
Once the line is drawn on CD, cut it with scissors.
This way, we make 4 semicircles of equal size.
To make the base of the napkin holder, we will use the leftover parts of the CDs we cut to make the semicircular pieces. Using the grid, we trace a rectangle of 9 cm x 3 cm. We must make two rectangles. Cut with scissors.
To decorate the napkin holder, we will use a curious technique where we will fix the color through heat.
You can combine it with the colors of your choice. I love sea blue, so I also placed portions of this paint in the semicircle. I also used some green colors.
It does not matter if the entire surface of the semicircle is not covered.
Carefully take another semicircle made with Cd and place it on top of the face semicircle that has the paint on it.
Press carefully and remove the excess paint. Repeat this procedure with the rectangles we previously made.
In this way, we make two semicircles and a rectangle. Place the pieces on a metal pan covered with waxed paper.
Place the metal pan in the oven at 180ºC for 30 minutes. The heat will cause the paint to dehydrate and strongly fix the parts together.
Let the pieces cool well. Place silicone on the edge of the rectangular piece and glue it to one end of one of the semicircles. You can glue it, leaving half a centimeter from the edge, or place it flush.
Once the rectangular piece is securely attached to the semicircle, place silicone on the other edge of the rectangle and attach the other side of the napkin holder.
This napkin holder has a nice design. It makes me feel happy to place it on my table and put my napkins in it.
By heat setting the paint, we achieve a glossy surface without using an acrylic sealer. In addition, by fusing the two semicircle pieces made of CDs, each side of the napkin holder is thick and resistant.
All images are property of the author
(Camera cell phone: POCO X3 Pro, Xiaomi)
