Personalised Washi Phone Case

Hi everyone! 

Do you like washi tape? If you do, then this post (and our other washi posts) is for you, because we're going to show you how to make a personalised washi phone case. They take ten or less minutes to make and the result is really cool. Enjoy!

You will need:

1 transparent or mostly transparent phone case

1 pencil

1 ruler (optional)

1 plain sheet of white (or a different colour of your choice) paper or card

1 pair of scissors

2 rolls of differently patterned washi tape

All of the above items are easily obtainable - you can purchase clear phone cases, pencils, rulers, paper, scissors and washi tape on online stores such as Amazon, and in most real shops.

1. Lay the phone case on top of the paper, with the back of it facing downwards and the open side facing upwards. Next, pick up your pencil to draw the perimeter of the transparent part. If this is a completely transparent case, you can simply trace around the outside of the case onto the paper, remembering not to include the camera section in your outline. However, if you have a case that is not completely transparent, like the one we used for this tutorial, you will need to trace as accurately as possible around the transparent area. We did this by lifting up the case, estimating where an edge would be, then putting the case back down and seeing how close to the edge it was, moving the line if it wasn't very accurate. Keep doing this draw-compare-move method until you have an outline that is more or less accurate.

2. Cut out your outline along the lines so that you have a paper template of the transparent part of your phone case.

3. Time for the fun, creative part! First, make sure your template is the right way round - you don't want to create a cool design only to find that it has to face your phone because of where the camera hole is. Take your two rolls of washi tape and decide which is the paler, or slightly less vibrant, one. Hold onto this one and put it near your template, scissors at the ready. Unpeel it slightly and stick this end at the very top of the template, horizontally. Then unravel the tape gradually, sticking it down as you go along, until you reach the other edge, when you need to cut this strip off with your scissors. Keep doing this in neat horizontal rows until you reach the bottom. If there are any ends of tape that don't quite fit on the template, simply fold them around the other side and no one will know!

4. Some might be happy with the way the template looks at this stage (it does look a lot better in real life than in photos), but since this is a tutorial for personalised washi phone cases, we will show you how simple it is to make it special to you. Take your other roll of washi tape, the more vibrant/darker one and work out how many initials you want on the case. We did it with just the first letter of a first name, but it would also work with two initials if you were prepared to do a little more fiddly work, which could involve splitting tape in half lengthways. Once you know how many initials you will do, figure out how you will make the letters out of washi tape. If you have a letter that is all straight lines, like the 'I' we put on the case we made, these are not too difficult, but if a chosen letter has a curve, you might like to overcome this problem by turning the curves into corners (for 'S', imagine a '5' on a digital clock) or by cutting a few small squares of tape and arranging them, in mosaic fashion, in a curve.

5. When you know what letter(s) you are doing and how you are doing it/them, you can start sticking the second type of tape onto the horizontal stripes, in the way you have just planned. 

6. You have now finished the template! Congratulations! The last, and easiest (hopefully) step is to insert the template in between the transparent part of the case and the phone, with the pattern facing outwards. The transparent plastic should make your pattern shine and really stand out. You should be proud of your personalised washi phone case!

We hope this post has been helpful and that you've enjoyed making your quick and easy, but very professional-looking, phone case! Now your design will last forever, because the plastic protects it from scratches or peeling. One of the really good things about it is that, once you have your plastic phone case, you can change the design inside at any time if you fancy something new.

Variations:

-use different patterns of washi tape

-try a different number of initials

-have a picture instead of an initial

-try having the stripes going vertically

-put stickers on top of the washi tape

-try using more than two rolls of washi tape

-...the possibilities are endless! Have a wander in your imagination and think outside the box!

Little note: sorry about the bad pictures of the making of the phone case. If you have just scrolled down all the way here, reading the instructions before making it, then don't let it put you off - the real thing looks a whole lot better!