May 24, 2011

Magnet Tablets How-To

As promised, here is a quick tutorial for making a magnetic board and figurines (like these) for story time.

Step 1: Marry a crazily talented guy who can whip up adorable drawings of anything at all at the drop of a hat. Barring that, pick some backgrounds and figures to go on them and draw some yourself, or even download some free clip art from the interwebs.

Step 2: Digitize and colorize your drawings, in whatever order works better. Then print all of this out on some magnetic ink jet printer paper (I used Avery brand, which worked quite well). Then paint a thin layer of Mod Podge to seal the printer ink.

Step 1 - Mod Podge Magnets

Step 3: Cut out the figurines. In my excitement over Misha's supercute animals, I actually cut them out before the Mod Podge and it was a mistake. Trust me and don't make my mistake. No matter how cute cute cute your little friends come out.

Step 2 - Cut Out Magnets

Step 4: Use some tin snips to cut a piece of sheet metal to size. I bought a 12"x26" sheet of 26 gauge steel from Lowe's and cut two 12"x9.5" pieces from it to go with my 11"x8.5" backgrounds.

Step 3 - Cut Sheet Metal

Step 5: Cut out a piece of fleece with about a 1/4" allowance on each side. Cut out whatever backing fabric you'd like to use for the lap side of the magnet board, with about an 1" allowance on each side.

Step 4 - Cut out Fleece and Fabric

Step 6: The edges of the sheet metal are sharp enough to cut through the fabric, so you have to tape them with thin strips of duct tape (or electrical tape would probably work as well).

Step 5 - Tape Metal Edges

Step 7: Center the fabric and the metal on top of each other. Fold the outer fabric over to the edge of the metal and then over again onto the metal.

Step 6 - Line up and Fold Fabric

Step 8: Use hot glue (or any glue that will bond to metal) to glue the fabric down.

Step 7 - Glue Down First Side

Step 9: Fold up and sew down the corner.

Step 8 - Sew Down Corner

Step 10: Keep going around, gluing down each remaining side and sewing down the corners. And now you're done! Throw on your magnets and let the kids have at it!

4 comments:

WYSIWYG said...

Awesome: so creative, personalized, and doable. Thank you and a belated happy birthday to Jakey's parents as well. Two years of pouring into a precious little one are equally as festive for you!

BINTUHAN SUMATERA WILD CIVET COFFEE said...

wow... it's great... i like it

Anonymous said...

Hi...I love all your work.Wish i was this creative. Your magnetic boards look awesome and fun. I understand that the figurines are printed...the background with mountain and water...what mateial is that? is that printer paper?

Anna said...

Thanks everyone! To answer the question - the background is also printed on the same magnetic sheet as the figurines. I just set the printer to print without margins.