The best thing about being an artist is you can always turn your talent or skills into something that gives you extra income. For example, I know someone who is converting his drawing into keychains and earning extra money from it. But how to make keychains with your art? Please follow our step-by-step guide below.
What You Will Need:
- Keychain Ring, Keychains, Phone Straps, Colored Paper
- Pliers, Scissor, Hole Puncher
- Clear Scotch Tape, Glue
- Your Drawing
Step 1: Prepare Your Art
The initial step is to prepare your drawing. Meaning it should already be finished and should be ready to transform into a keychain. Then, you will need to fold the paper into half where your drawing is located to make it stronger and sturdier.
You can use glue to stick the two sides of the paper together. Make sure that your drawing is in front and is in the middle. The fold should only be on the sides of the drawing. If you like, you can also stick a colored paper at the back for added durability and an excellent color at the back of the key chain once it is made.
Step 2: Covering the Art with Scotch Tape
Once the glue has dried, you can now proceed with covering the drawing with clear scotch tape. It should be done on both the front and the backside of the art. But, what is the purpose of doing this procedure?
The primary purpose of this step is to protect the drawing, which will be the primary part of the keychain. Once it is turned into a keychain, expect a lot of threats coming from the outside, so you need to make sure that the drawing will be protected all the time.
The clear scotch tape will not only protect the art but also bring other benefits. One of those benefits is to increase the sturdiness of the drawing. When covering the art, make sure that the tape is flat and free from wrinkles so that it will look nicer.
Step 3: Punching a Hole and Cutting the Drawing
The next step is to punch a hole where you want to put the keychain ring on the drawing. The usual location of the hole should be on the upper-middle portion of the art. Of course, you can use a hole puncher in doing this step, but make sure to first identify the whole’s location before proceeding to do it.
Once you have put the hole in the drawing, you can now proceed in cutting the image. You can have the option to leave a small border during the cutting process. You can also cut the image alone with the need for a border. It is up to you and your preference. Of course, use the scissor to do the cutting process.
Once you finish cutting, you should see the final result of your art. The drawing will be the main part of the keychain that you will be making. Check the drawing and make sure that it is sturdier enough before proceeding to the next step.
Step 4: Putting the Ring, Phone Strap, and Keychain
The next step is to put the other parts that comprises your keychain. You can put the ring, the phone strap or the keychain to the drawing. You can get your pliers while placing the ring into the phone strap or keychain in the hole.
Use the pliers to open the ring slightly to allow you to put the keychain in it. Once the keychain is in the small ring, you will then proceed in putting the ring into the hole of the drawing before closing it using your pliers.
When closing the ring, please do it slowly because you might deform the ring. The ring should return to its original form after you close it. Yes, it can be a challenge, but it is doable because a ring is softer and easy to bend using the pliers.
Step 5: Checking the Keychain
After placing the ring and the keychain, you have already made your personalized keychain using your art. But before selling it or giving it to your friends, you must ensure that the quality of your keychain is perfect.
Please check if the ring is sturdy enough to support the image and the keychain for a long time. There are different types of keychains that you can use in this project. You can use a regular keychain, a phone strap, and other similar chains.
You also need to make sure that the drawing is durable. The durability or sturdiness of the image is very important to make the keychain last longer. Apart from sticking the papers into different layers, there are many ways to make the image durable. If you can find a rubberized surface, that will be better but will be more expensive.
Conclusion
If you have a talent for drawing, you can continually transform your art into something useful. One way is to learn how to make keychains out of your art and turn your art skill into something that is useful. It will probably give you a chance to earn on the side while doing what you love best as an artist.