These fridge magnets are made primarily from wood scraps, old Dragon magazines, and environmental angst.
A few years ago, Devon gifted me his dead-tree collection of Dragon magazines. I had no idea what to do with so much awesome, so I did the only reasonable thing: I shoved them into a dark corner and moved on.
Fast forward to a few months ago, when I was feeling bad about the trash we generate with our hobbies. We try to be environmentally conscious, but there’s no denying that a lot of stuff ends up in a landfill. In this case, I was throwing shade at the drawers full of tiny wood circles, squares and rectangles Devon amassed while he was cutting his painting racks on our Glowforge. Even he felt bad, which is why they ended up in drawers instead of the trash.
That was the moment I realized I needed — NEEDED! — magnets made from Dragon art.
For basic magnets, all you need is a sturdy base — in this case, wood — art, adhesive and a magnet. I used strong ceramic magnets applied with E6000 adhesive because magnets that make STR a dump stat are the worst.
I aged some of them with Distress Oxide Inks and Deco Art One Step Crackle, which gives the magnets a nice rough texture that’s hard to see in the above picture. With others, I applied hard UV resin to create a glass-like finish.
I went a little extra with Golden Soft Gel Matte to soften the paper’s glossiness, and I used spray varnish to seal the pieces without leaving brush strokes. If you use spray, do so in a well-ventilated area, preferably with a good respirator.
Resin will yellow the paper over time, so varnish the pieces unless you want that look. I varnished all of the magnets, even the ones I distressed, to give myself control over the aging process.
I used the same basic process to make a mountain of magnets, earrings, pins, pendants and buttons, which will be the subject of future Maker Mondays.
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