Introduction: Old Beat Up Guitar to Artistic Wall Piece - Comic Edition

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About: Where to start, love getting creative and making new things and reusing old things for projects. Ive made 4 Ironman suits and always looking to make and design new randon wall pieces Always happy to chat abou…

Hi All,

Decided it was time to catch up on some of my projects and finally get around to uploading them all.

Being close to Christmas, sometimes home made gifts and re using or re purposing old items can be much more appreciated than an expensive gift, saving the penny's is also a plus lol

Background info for the for this project:

Now I have done this a few times before, using an old guitar which I had sitting in the loft catching dust and using it to create something different, to much of a friends evny a simple walking dead strip added to my old ax was a great display item in the living room

Supplies

Mod Podge / PVA glue works but not as well

Paint Brushes

Scissors

X-acto Knife

Step 1: You Will Need......

So for this you will not need alot:

  • An old Guitar, if you dont have one, cheap second had ones can be found on sale groups on FB etc for anything from £5 upwards - ( make sure its not an old Gibson or previously owned my anyone of Rock Royalty )
  • Either some comics or printed comic images (but anything works), again please if using comics check they are not worth any value first, anyone who finds themselves cutting up a 1st issue, key issue or worse may have a shock when the value is looked up lol
  • Mod Podge / normal PVA will work but Mod Podge is always worth the investment
  • Paint Brushes
  • Scissors
  • X-acto Knife

Step 2: Prep

Take your old comics or images and start to cut out the panels and pages that have cool images or scenes on them.

You want to go for ones with a lot of colour (unless your going for a black and white effect) and try to choose different sizes and styles. It will help you later on if you have more of a mix of sizes and shapes. Save the covers for later.

Hint: sometimes the best images and text aren’t actually in the comic panels themselves, but in the adverts sections

Step 3: Applying the Images....

Now you have your cut outs, start by painting a thin coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface of the guitar (or the object) you are decorating.

Once you have spread the coat evenly, start layering comic panels and cut outs all over the surface.

You want to make sure that the pages are stuck strongly to the surface, so you might want to have your paint brush handy.

Once you have the surface completely covered, brush another layer of Mod Podge over ALL of the comic cutouts.

Hint: Overlap the edges with your cutouts. This will give you total coverage, instead of having empty gaps along the sides.

Step 4: Getting Stuck In

Next, take your comic book covers and cut out the titles, characters, and any other cool and colorful pictures that stand out to you. In this case, we cut out the titles and a few of the characters (Again, sometimes the ads have great character images you can use for this part).

Next, making sure that the surface of the object is still covered in a wet layer of Mod Podge, place the titles and characters around the surface. This effect will make the titles and characters look like they are leaping from the surface.

The bright colors of the cover pages will make these cutouts stand out more, and pop out to the eyes. Brush one, final layer across the entire surface of the object and allow to dry.

Hint: Spread them out, making sure the action covers the object’s surface

Step 5: Finishing Touches

Lastly, once the object is completely dry, you’ll want to go over all of the edges with an X-acto Knife and trim everything so that there are no over-hanging edges.

This will make everything look polished and crisp giving it a really professional look

Hint: Take it nice and slow. Sometimes the pages will start to rip if you go too fast, so make sure you slowly cut around the edges so your end project looks nice.

Step 6: Guitar ASSEMBLED!!

Sorry couldn't resist

And that’s it! Not too hard at all, right?

Now you, or in my case (my friend) can have a totally awesome present that cannot be purchased in shops

The cool part about this project is that you can choose any type of object, big or small, and make it your own and give new life to old objects.

Also as I said earlier you can use any type of comic book or graphic novel to give it your own special touch, but if you don’t want to ruin your comic books? Print out images on your computer for a similar effect!

Hope you all enjoy