If you follow our blog then you've seen our posts about Derby Lite San Diego roller derby inspired fitness skating. You may be wondering what is so crafty about skating? A lot! Not only can you create your own outfits, but there's a lot you can do with things like your skates and helmet to make them your own! I am a Certified Fitness Instructor for Derby Lite, with the first classes ever on the West Coast starting, so I needed a helmet redo!If you are doing any sort of roller derby type skating, you need a helmet. Your helmet not only protects you from head injuries, but its one of the main focal points to your derby ensemble. it's the perfect accessory to use to show who you are and let your style show! So, now that I'm teaching a roller derby inspired fitness skating class, I thought I should have a new helmet, or at least a restyled one! What to do? I've always loved metal flake paint and those fancy paint jobs on some of the classic cars, so I decided to try and duplicate that on my helmet. I know I could go to an auto paint shop and have the metal flake done there, but I decided to see what my options were for a DIY job. I found a few tutorials for various ways of getting a glittery effect. One tute looked time consuming, but it had, by far, the nicest finished product of all that I had seen. The resin really brought out the shimmer of the glitter. I found the one for me!! I had a couple of weeks before my classes were to begin, so I bought my supplies and got started!
Here's the tutorial that I found on YouTube.
Materials I used:
Glitter (I chose black, fuchsia, iridescent white, gold, & pink)
Envirotex Pour On Resin (bought at Michael's with coupon)
Sponge paint brushes (small)
Disposable latex gloves
Small plastic cups for mixing resin (found these at Smart & Final)
Plastic stir sticks (the ones for stirring coffee)
Styrofoam head (or something to place your helmet on while it dries)
Masking tape
Wet/dry sandpaper
Exacto blade
Spray paint (if you are a changing the original color of your helmet)
I followed the tutorial as far as the "how-to" part goes. Tape off all the holes and use a plastic bag to cover the inside of the helmet so it doesn't get sticky from the resin. The X-acto blade is used to trim the resin from the holes once the helmet is dry. I found some nice glitter on sale at Michael's, so I picked up a bunch of colors. I hadn't decided what color I was going to go with at that point. After looking at everything for a few days I decided that I would do my everyday helmet in black and my extra helmet in red. I wear red lipstick often, so I thought it would be fun to have a matching helmet! For my black helmet I mixed several colors of glitter and then added an iridescent glitter in layers to bring out the colors underneath. The video says to do one or two coats of the resin, but I wanted a finish that really had some depth to it, so I did five each with different colors of glitter. The final layer was very thin with only a little bit of glitter mixed in. In between resin layers I used the sandpaper to smooth out any uneven spots. Be sure to wipe down the surface with a damp cloth after sanding. You don't want any residue left on the helmet.
Here's the before photo of my black helmet.
Here's the after glitter version of the same helmet! It looks a lot more glittery in person, especially under the lights. The helmet stickers were added after it was completely dry. I make those to order and also customize shirts with skate names, so everything matches! I'm happy with it and will, more than likely, do my next helmet too! If you want to make a helmet for yourself & have somewhere to use it, sign up for the next Derby Lite SD Beginner session!
Visit us on Facebook and get all the latest info!
facebook.com/DerbyLiteSanDiego
No comments:
Post a Comment