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Red Crutches!

Six weeks is a long time to be on crutches, to make it a little better I decided to decorate them!

I started by searching Pinterest and Google for ideas. Mostly duct tape crutches came up, I took them into consideration, but I also found colored crutches that you could order online. They were a bit more than I wanted to spend, but I liked the way they looked a lot better than the duct tape ones. Finally I found a way to get the look I wanted myself. I found alcohol ink! It is awesome and can stain metal.

Soon I ordered alcohol ink, an applicator for the ink, and zebra print crutch covers on amazon.

I started by taking my standard crutches and taking the adjustable part out and unscrewing the handles. I wish I had taken a picture of them at this point to show what I mean but totally forgot.

Next out comes the ink! It comes in three packs, each bottle only has half an ounce, which made me nervous, but I ended up using only a quarter of one bottle for both crutches.

The applicator comes with pieces of felt that velcro on, so I velcro-ed a piece on and squirted some ink on to it, I choose the watermelon colored ink. Then I got to work.

I started with the bottom piece of the crutches (the adjustable part I had removed), then moved on to the rest. After I covered the majority of the crutches I took the felt piece off of the applicator and just used my hands to squeeze it into some of the nooks and cranies. 

Next I put them back together.

Up close, see how it still retains it's metal shine.
Next it was time for the crutch cover, because zebra print always makes things look better (ok not ALWAYS, but a lot).
The Finished Product
I think this is about as good as crutches get, considering they are still crutches.

Update: The red was rubbing off a little so I covered them with modge podge, which sealed the color better. I put the modge podge on using a sponge, and it is important to pat it on and not swipe. If you swipe/rub it on the red will come off.






Comments

  1. ElizabethJanuary 26, 2013 at 11:15 PM

    Those are brilliant!! I would never have thought of the alcohol ink.

    ReplyDelete
  2. life with a flareJanuary 27, 2013 at 8:41 AM

    Me neither! Until I found it on google I had never even heard of it,

    ReplyDelete
  3. anettoApril 11, 2013 at 6:22 PM

    Great idea and a new to me technique also. I'll remember that for the future

    ReplyDelete

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