https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/hair-chopsticks-2 • Posted by Jessy
I love hair chopsticks, but no way in hell was I paying more then $3 for pair for "sticks". No matter how pretty they are. I had a few odd pairs of food chopsticks laying around. I'd grab a pair at the mall food court or I'd save the free pair they give you at Sushi places. I'd never use them, to much of a pain, so I'd bring them home. So now I thought I'd put them to good use. FYI The pairs I used in this how to, were never used. That would be kinda gross. I don't recommend using ones that have been used. Wood, no matter how much you clean it, does retain small amounts of bacteria and germs and all that.
I love hair chopsticks, but no way in hell was I paying more then $3 for pair for "sticks". No matter how pretty they are. I had a few odd pairs of food chopsticks laying around. I'd grab a pair at the mall food court or I'd save the free pair they give you at Sushi places. I'd never use them, to much of a pain, so I'd bring them home. So now I thought I'd put them to good use. FYI The pairs I used in this how to, were never used. That would be kinda gross. I don't recommend using ones that have been used. Wood, no matter how much you clean it, does retain small amounts of bacteria and germs and all that.
First you need to get your sticks. These are some of the free pairs I would get at various food places.
If they aren't separate, then go ahead and break them apart. If you want a clean even break, then take a box cutter and carefully cut on the line of the break on the sticks.
Then take your fine grit sand paper, or nail file, and sand the sticks down. You want a nice smooth finish. Rough edges will catch in your hair and maybe even leave slivers in your scalp.
If your sticks don't have a very pointy end, you can shave a little off with the box cutters, and then smooth it out with the sand paper. The same with the shape of the sticks. If there too square, you can soften the edges with the sand paper.
You can try like I did to drill a small hole in the top of the stick to hang a small charm off them. If you don't want to try that, then skip to step 11.
Get your rotary drill and used the smallest drill bit you have and very VERY carefully drill a little hole in the top. I went in as far as the drill bit would go. Don't be alarmed by the burning smell.
You can also go through the side like I did on this pair. I used a bigger drill bit on that one.
Take a small piece of wire and put a little dab of hot glue on the end and quickly stick it into the hole. It's okay to have a little glue come out, just wipe it off and smooth it out with the sand paper/nail file. If you do this after you paint it like I did, then just dab a little paint over the glue.
Now take your pliers and make a tiny loop at the end. This will be were you hook your charms or beads after your done painting. If you want to keep paint off it while your working, wrap a small piece of saran wrap, tape, or even wipe a smudge of Vaseline around it.
If your doing a side hole, then just use a large jump ring and slide it through the hole and pinch it shut. But wait to do that till after it's all painted.
Not get your paint and give it a flat base coat of your color choice. On these ones I did white. For this pair decided to go with a black and white spiral design.
After several base coats of white. I cut several thin strips of painters tape and wrapped it around the sticks.
Then I went over with two light coats of black paint.
Then before the paint fully dried, I carefully pealed away the painters tape. If you peal the tape away when the paint is fully dried, it'll sometimes peal away the paint. Which mine did on one spot. So now on to the touch ups.
After going over both sticks for a few touch ups it's now time to take your spray sealer, mod podge gloss luster, whatever you want and seal it over the paint. You don't want it to chip.
If you choose to do hanging charms, you can hang then on once the sealer is all dry. I wouldn't use anything to heavy or the sticks might not stay in your hair very good.
And you should be done.
I did a green and black zebra print on this pair.
Poka dots!