Fridge Magnet DIY – Textured Cells using Bubbles

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If you’re looking for a really easy but super satisfying craft project for this weekend, follow this tutorial for making DIY Fridge Magnets using dish soap bubbles to create textured cells. These magnets are very easy to make and look amazing – and would make an excellent gift for anyone in your family. It’s honestly extremely addicting once you do it – you want to keep doing it.

You might already have some of the necessary tools to make these at home, if you ever do your nails with a UV light.

Something you might not know, UV resin is basically the same thing as UV Nail polish. So, you can use both interchangeably.

While I do have UV resin as well, sometimes it’s just easier to brush on some nailpolish and so I figured I would try this project using that.

If you’d prefer to use UV resin or only have that – feel free to do that instead.

It’s really, really easy to do these – and while I did it on magnets, alternatively, you could use this technique to create:

Jewelry Pendants for Necklaces, Bracelets, or Earrings
Coasters
Keychains
Resin Art

Here are a few photos of the variations I created:

Tools You Need

If you are following my tutorial (not using UV resin) – You will want some or all of these tools:

A tupperware container to put water and dish soap
Magnets which are flat to decorate
A UV Curing Light
No Wipe UV TopCoat
Grey Transparent Gel Nail Polish (or black if you want opaque)

Optional – based on how you want to decorate the magnet:

How to Create the Magnet

Take the magnet you are about to paint and set it on top of the other magnets to hold it loosely in place. (This is optional but was very helpful for me to not have the magnet sliding around constantly.)
Paint your magnet with the UV nailpolish of your choice* but do not cure it using the light yet. *This should be a darker color to provide a good contrast for the other colors you will put over it.
Place a small amount of water (like 1/3 of a cup) in a tuperware with a lid, but don’t close the lid.
Put a few drops of dish soap in the water.
Close the lid and shake the tupperware until you see lots of soapy bubbles.
Open the lid from the container, scoop out some bubbles and place these on your wet polish, being careful not to get water on it, and also not touching the polish with your hand. Just blob the suds on, covering the whole thing if that’s the look you want. For bigger cells, use bigger bubbles, for smaller ones, use the more condensed ones.
Once the bubbles are positioned the way you want them to be, cure the polish for at least 2 minutes.
When you remove the magnet, it might have bubbles on it still – carefully dry these with a napkin provided the polish is cured fully and not tacky.
If you want more bubble texture, repeat steps 2-7.
Once you have the texture you want – start to decorate these with whatever you like the most. You could experiment with any of these or anything you prefer to use. Some ideas:
- Mica Powder
- Chameleon Flakes
- Acrylic Paints
- Holographic paint or powder
- Nail Polish
Hint: Leave a bit of black or your darker color visible – this gives a nice contrast between the vivid chrome or hologram/sparkle colors.
Paint the top of the magnet with the no-wipe clear coat, then cure this for at least 2 minutes until it is dry.
Repeat the top coat step until the top is smooth and the bubble crevices cannot be felt when you run your finger over the top.

And that’s it! You’re done!

Video Tutorial

Fridge Magnet DIY – Textured Cells using Bubbles

MORE:

If you are interested in a different video about making magnets, which doesn’t include UV Lights or Polish and might be more suitable for a project done with kids – check out this post: