How to Put Newsprint on Nails

This will teach you a fashionable trick for fun and easy nails, perfect for a night in when you have time to rifle through the daily newspaper.

To get started you will need:

· Rubbing alcohol

· A shot glass or other small shallow dish

· A nail color of your choice, a light color works best

· A clear top coat nail polish

· Old newspapers

 

· A cup of hot tea or hot chocolate—just to set the mood

 

Paint your nails with two coats of your chosen color, remember lighter colors work best. Once the two coats are on, you should wait for your nails to thoroughly dry, about 15 minutes should be adequate.

· While waiting for your nails to dry, you can be looking through the newspaper and picking out what you would like to have on your nails.

Go through the newspaper and pick out images and texts that you like--remember that since this is a transfer, the text will be backwards. This is when you can get really creative-- you can do your favorite comic characters, different fonts, horoscopes, and more.

· Make sure to pick out black prints on a white background. If the background is gray your print won’t stand out as well on your nail.

The rubbing alcohol is the critical step to in this process; it creates a surface that the print will stick to. Pour a little rubbing alcohol into a shot glass or small dish and quickly dip your finger, immersing your entire nail, into the glass. Have a piece of newsprint ready to go.

· Do not consume rubbing alcohol! It is very dangerous if ingested!

 

Immediately after dipping your fingernail, press the piece of newspaper firmly onto your wet nail print-side down. Keeping the print in place, gently rub the back of the newspaper to help transfer the ink. Then remove the paper from your nail.

· Don’t keep the paper on your finger too long or the actual newspaper itself will adhere to your nails. This will happen when the alcohol begins to dry.

· After removing the newspaper, your nail will still be tacky so be careful not to touch the surface.

· You can only apply a print once to your nails, so be careful when you are apply them—however I think even the faded or crooked text looks good!

 

Repeat this process until all of your nails have your desired print on them. Wait for the rubbing alcohol to dry and then go over each nail with a clear top coat. The clear coat may take extra time to dry so remember to be patient—this is where the drink comes in handy!

· Use as few strokes as possible, as the brush will smear or remove some of the ink if gone over too many times.

· This is true for fingers too, refrain from touching your nails until after the clear coat has dried or your fingers will remove the ink.

You now have trendy unique Newsprint Nails!

· For my nails, I used a combination of crossword puzzles and answer keys, different styles of random text, a wavy pattern, and a cartoon figure.

· I tried this on my little sister using her favorite cartoon characters—it was an instant hit!

· Try using images that express a certain holiday or event.

Experiment with styles, be creative, and enjoy!