A few weeks ago I decided I was going to make custom cuff links for the Groomsmen. Truth be told, I had no idea where to begin. My search for cuff link parts only brought up actual cuff links. Eventually I realized I needed to look for cuff link blanks. I found a set of 5 on Ebay for $4.99 and immediately ordered them.
After taking a look at other custom cuff links I convinced myself I needed to use resin. Although that would have probably produced a much higher quality piece, I don’t think now is the time to be experimenting with resin. In addition to being expensive, it’s hazardous if inhaled and lord knows what else happens when mixed wrong.
I spent days searching for an alternative and yesterday I found one. I kept thinking I needed something to encase the image which I would then glue the blank to, but I couldn’t find any in store that would work. I later realized all I needed was some varnish or a flat clear marble, anything I could use the protect the image with. What we found were clear epoxy circles for $2.50 that looked just the right size.
I printed up some tiny circular images. At first we weren’t sure which ones we wanted to use. Since the UNSCDF ones appeared the most elegant we went with those. I then cut out a strip of 10 and ran it through my Xyron which added adhesive to the backside. Cutting out the tiny half inch circles was the most time consuming part. It was important to cut it as perfect as possible since any error would reveal the silver disk on the blank.
After placing the stickers on the blanks I covered them with the Epoxy circles (which were a lot softer than I expected.) It’s very easy to cloud them with fingerprints so you may want to use some kind of plastic to press them down with. I just used the plastic film they came on.
So there you have it. 5 sets of UNSCDF cuff links for under $10. Again, they aren’t the quality I was hoping for, but considering the time constraints and our limited budget, I think they’ll do.
