| Have you ever looked at your increasing file of | | | | I wanted to see if I could laminate the completed fridge |
| pictures and wondered what to do with them? No | | | | magnets so an A4 sheet of labels was fed through |
| doubt you have considered making your own greeting | | | | my laminating machine. It was a mixed result. The |
| cards - I certainly have. I've also produced for family | | | | laminate took in most cases on the plastic labels but, |
| and friends my own desk calendars and recently I | | | | after I had trimmed the magnets, the laminate on the |
| began looking at producing my own fridge magnets | | | | magnetic side peeled off. That was fine in some |
| after my wife had taken some photographs of her | | | | instances but in others it led to the laminate coming off |
| grandson and wanted a souvenir of a special occasion | | | | the front of the magnet as well. However, the |
| to give to his parents. | | | | unlaminated magnets looked good but I did find that |
| I started exploring the fridge magnet project by the | | | | having followed the instructions and produced images |
| simple expedient of looking at my own fridge door | | | | that were smaller than the backing, I didn't like the |
| where I had collected a variety of magnets over many | | | | amount of white border and preferred to trim the final |
| years. There were all sorts; some with just names and | | | | magnet to the size of the image. This I did with a sharp |
| addresses, some with emergency phone numbers, | | | | craft knife. This is, of course, a personal preference |
| some with calendars, some with pictures, some with | | | | and, on reflection, I think a narrow white border would |
| information and others that were simply souvenirs. | | | | look good. |
| There was even one with a picture embedded in | | | | I also decided to try a different approach to producing |
| Perspex from the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway in | | | | laminated fridge magnets without using one of the |
| the Lake District in England. | | | | fridge magnet kits. Once again, I set up a template in |
| There were also differences in how the printed side | | | | my desk top publishing program with the intention of |
| was attached to the magnet; some had a magnet that | | | | laminating the finished magnets in some business card |
| covered the whole back while others used a small | | | | size laminating pouches that I had. I decided on an |
| piece of magnetic strip. And, to add to the differences, | | | | image size of 55x90mm and set up the template |
| some were laminated. | | | | accordingly. Once printed, I cut the individual images |
| My next step was to investigate some of the kits | | | | and laminated them in the business card pouches. As |
| available for producing fridge magnets. I ended up with | | | | this was an experiment, I also printed a second sheet |
| one that included enough material to produce 20 | | | | which was laminated in an A4 pouch and then cut into |
| magnets. It included two inkjet printable plastic label | | | | individual images. The business card pouches worked |
| sheets and two die cut magnetic material sheets. It | | | | best as they totally enclosed the images. Occasionally, |
| also had a template to enable my images to be placed | | | | and it was only occasionally, the guillotined laminated |
| in the correct position for the individual labels. | | | | versions showed signs of delaminating. |
| I began by scanning the template sheet and loading it | | | | I had bought a roll of self-adhesive magnetic material |
| into my desk top publishing program (I use InDesign but | | | | from a craft shop and stuck a small piece of this to |
| any similar program will do). I then prepared the images | | | | the back of each image before putting them on the |
| and resized them to 84x46mm - the template | | | | filing cabinet in my office. They looked great but the |
| rectangle is 90x52mm and the manufacturer | | | | following morning, all but one of the pictures were on |
| recommends that you allow 3mm all round the image | | | | the floor with the magnetic strip still on the filing drawer. |
| for ease of lining up. The pictures were then placed in | | | | Then I remembered the rubber cement that I use to |
| the rectangles on the template and words added. I | | | | mount photographs for framing. It is a very versatile |
| printed the result out on to plain paper so that I could | | | | means of pasting photographs as, if only one surface |
| ensure that everything was in its right place before | | | | is pasted it is easy to remove the photo from its |
| printing on to the special plastic label sheet. | | | | backing while if both surfaces are pasted and the |
| Once the images had been printed on to the plastic | | | | cement is allowed to dry before being joined together, |
| labels, they have to be lifted from the backing sheet | | | | a permanent bond is achieved. |
| and stuck to the magnetic material. The plastic labels | | | | And, using the latter method, I was able to make a firm |
| have a self-adhesive backing and the easiest way I | | | | attachment of the magnetic strip to the laminated |
| found of attaching them to the magnetic material was | | | | fridge magnet and hand my wife the souvenir fridge |
| to insert a piece of non-stick paper over the magnetic | | | | magnet she had asked for. |
| material so that I could just attach the top of the image | | | | When making fridge magnets, consider producing an |
| label firmly in its correct position. Then I could ease the | | | | oversize one, say about the size of a postcard, that |
| non-stick paper down the label and gradually press the | | | | includes your picture and, beneath it, a calendar for the |
| label to the magnetic material. In this way, I managed to | | | | year - it is possible to find programs that produce |
| get most of the labels straight and without bubbles. | | | | calendars that you can use. Have a look on the |
| The non-stick paper I used was a sheet that had been | | | | internet. |
| a backing sheet to some labels. | | | | |