DIY: Refurbishing your iphone case

Happy Lunar Year everyone! 

Gon Xi Fa Tsai to all my asian friends and welcome to the Dragon year. =) 

This year is a little gloomy for me. All my family is out of town, so I'll have to miss out on all the feasting that usually happens at my house annually. I'll have to put off eating a whole plate of nian gao till perhaps next year. 

However, my mom is coming back home later this week, so we'll have a mini belated celebration then. Better late than never. 

On a totally different subject, I DIYed my old iphone case yesterday. 

For those who have clear iphone cases (because you wanted the white Iphone like I did and found it counter-effective to purchase a black case), you'll know that it gets REALLY dirty in a matter of just a few months. We're not talking about little scratches, and stains that can be removed with a little bit of water + soap...we're talking about a full fledged STAIN. The whole case turned literally green. Not very aesthetically pleasing. 

I keep telling myself that I would need to buy a new case, because the dirt & grime on this one was driving me absolutely insane. However, I couldn't bring myself to whip out 30$ for a case. 

So, I decided to refurbish it. 

I pulled out all my old Vitrae paint (paint for glass/plastic/plexi) paint jars, and started painting on it. 

One problem: when vitrae dries up - it remains slightly tacky to the touch. Ew. Not something I want to be handling on a daily basis. 

So I set the whole case with a Matt (I wish I had a shiny one instead though) setting spray that was at once permanent, water proof and that dries within minutes. 

and Voila! a brand new iphone case. 

Now, if I had to redo this...here's what I would've done differently:

• paint the back first, let it fry overnight and then work my way back to the front  and sides 
• when spraying the setting spray, coat the back first, let it dry FLAT...and then coat the front, and let it dry FLAT once again. I had some issues with the paint leaking because I dried it hanging at first. 

I hope this inspires some of you to refurbish your old Iphone (or any other phone) cases before splurging 30$ for a new one =) 

Have a happy dragon year and a happy Monday!