2 posts in one day! To an imaginary audience because no one knows about this blog yet, haHA! But anyway, I just wanted to do one tutorial real quick before I start listening to my lectures on the Digestive System and Urinary System! Woohoo! Nephrons, livers, bile ducts, oh my! I did this a while back because I saw it on this other blog that I don't remember the name of but I will post it once I find it again. It's this amazing woman from Sweden, or Norway, or New York, or SOMETHING. Anyway, she is very etherial and has lavender hair and a super hot boyfriend and she does really amazing avant-garde DIY that is very strange and opposite of what lots of people like but she makes you, somehow. She is the kind of person who would be like, "Ok, so here is how you make a latex jumpsuit" and then you would say, "gross", and then she would post pictures of herself in her beautiful latex jumpsuit and you would be like, "oh my god, please let me have a latex jumpsuit of my very own". So I am obviously obsessed with her and she made this plexiglass stuff and I did too. Except she did necklaces and I didn't like those. But I LOVE arm cuffs in all forms, including this. And it's all extra good because you can see your arm INSIDE the cuff, so that's sexy right, because forearms are the new clavicle.
This is the end product of my efforts to tempt you into trying it yourself. I promise it's like the easiest thing ever and super cheap especially if you convince the Ace Hardware guys to give you plexiglass scraps for free (use your womanly wiles - they don't see many ladies in there).
Ok, so you need the following things:
-Plexiglass (just ask the guys at the Hardware store, tell them that you are using it to mold for jewelry purposes and they will be like, oh yeah, that stuff does do that, ok let me show you where it is, and then ask them if they have any scraps, and they probably will, and if not, its super cheap so THERE)
-Box-Cutter
-Ruler
-Permanent Marker
-Oven Mitts
So go to the hardware store and get your Plexiglass. Get some pieces of it that are bigger than 15 cm. wide and 20 cm. long. I did 13x17 cm pieces and they were a little small so I would go bigger. You can always experiment by wrapping a piece of paper or fabric around your arm and measuring. That is smart. Next time I will do that. I was just too gung-ho about this whole thing and got carried away.
You don't need a saw to cut Plexiglass, which is SO great. You just have to measure out your chunk of the stuff, I would say go for about 15 cm. wide and 17-20cm long depending on the circumference and length of your forearm. Don't make it too long, you won't be able to move and then you really be a mannequin. Measure it with a ruler and make straight lines marking it out with a permanent marker.
Now keep your ruler on there and score the line a bunch of times with your box-cutter. Please be careful and don't stab yourself. If you have a straight edge that sticks on the top of your glass and stays there better, that is great. If not, be safe. Score that line till you have a little valley of all the times you have scored it and your arm feels a little tired because you are working hard - probably 10-15 times up and down. Now take it to a flat surface with a straight edge and line up the edge with the line you scored. Now LEANNNNNNNN down on that piece of plexiglass that is sticking off the side until it SNAPS. It will be scary at first and it will make a big noise but don't fear, it's normal and you are almost finished.
Now score all your other lines and pop them off until you have your measured rectangle.
In the end, I ended up having this exciting pile:
NOW, heat your oven to 450 degrees. Wait till it's pre-heated, you want it to be really hot. You then place your pieces on a cookie sheet, don't worry about any of it melting on to it, it won't happen.
Now put your pieces in the oven for 5 minutes, seriously just 5 minutes.
Now eat something in your kitchen or something, pet your dog, I don't know, just stay around the oven and put on some oven mitts. Now take your pieces out and they will be all pliable and SO not plexiglass like, it's insane. You can do whatever you want to them for about 30 seconds so kind of have an idea of what shape you want before you take them out.
I went with a regular curved shape in the middle but pushed the ends kind of in and up to give it a more interesting structure. Also, try to make it a little bit bigger where your arm would get bigger as well. Unless you have beautiful, uniform-thickness forearms, in which case, WAH. I would suggest doing ONE at a time because you won't really have time to shape both. By the end of the 30 seconds, the glass will be pretty much set in whatever shape you made. You can put it back in for a little bit more to get it pliable again, but if you do it too much, it will crack and you have to start from square one. They usually get cool little bubbles in them too, which adds character and makes them even better, in my opinion. Here is what mine looked like when I was finished:
Mine was a tiny bit too small, so I'm going to make them again with bigger dimensions, but overall they were a massive success. I would suggest as a last step to sand down the edges because they are sharp and I gave myself a massive butt scrap when I was pulling my pants up, which was hard to explain.
Here is another picture of the finished product: 
The possibilities for this stuff are seriously limitless! I love the cuffs because they can be great worn on skin, but I've worn them on top of sweaters and long sleeves too and are great that way too. I am thinking of trying to stick things into the Plexiglass when it's hot and then shape it that way too - coins, knickknacks, feathers, whatever. They took me literally 30 minutes from start to finish and I think I spent $2 on the Plexiglass. So THERE.
Love you all! Mannequin Arms Unite!
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