Plasti Dip Paint by Number & Embossed Pot Luck Utensils

I’ve seen some pretty neat ideas online using Plasti Dip, many for the handles of tools, silverware and utensils. Plasti Dip comes in a few primary colors and black, but I purchased the PLASTI DIP Rubber Coating Color Kit for creating custom colors and it occurred to me that I could craft something with the just the clear base as well. (And it turns out that you can also buy Clear Plasti Dip without the color kit!) My inspiration for a project came last week after we purchased a 1972 Holiday Rambler Vacationer travel trailer off of Craigslist for jaunts to the beach and other spontaneous camp-outs. It’s in really nice shape and I’m looking forward to kitsching it out. The interior is just as you would imagine- wood paneling and faux wood paneling, avocado green upholstery, and harvest gold appliances. I’ve no plans to take it out of its era, I’m embracing the 70s full on with this trailer. To start, I have been going through my paint-by-number collection looking for just the right ones to display. Then it occurred to me that I could use an image of one of those paintings in a Plasti Dip project. So I purchased a set of six bamboo kitchen utensils at Home Goods for under $4 and got to work.I used my desktop printer/copier to copy sections of the painting reduced to 40% to fit nicely on the lower section of the handles.I traced both front and back of each handle to the back of the color copies. The handles are quite different one from the other so every side needed to be traced.  I then trimmed out individually with scissors.Once cut, the paper was laminated to the handles with Mod Podge.Once coated and slightly dry, I gently pushed the paper through the hole areas to allow the utensils to be hung on hooks if I so choose at some point. After the Mod Podge had completely dried, I was ready to dip the handles following the directions on the can of Plasti Dip. I dipped each handle into the can of clear Plasti Dip to just above the paper image, so as to seal it off from any future moisture. I used a small dowel to poke through the dip puddling into the holes to keep them open.I suspended the dipped utensils from small clamps along the clothesline by a window in my barn studio set up just for drying crafts, and allowed each coat to dry. I dipped the handles only twice as I think that the clear can get a bit too foggy if over dipped. Drying time between coats is 30 minutes and final drying time is 4 hours. I kept a good eye on things the first 5 minutes or so after hanging, as this is when drips start to happen if they are going to and can easily be wiped away from the bottom of the handle before they form into rubbery icicles.The final pieces make a really fun serving set for our little “Kitsch-along”. Another set for the trailer and for taking to pot-luck events were made by applying our name to utensil handles using dimensional alphabet stickers from the craft store.I mixed yellow with just a dab of blue and black to make an avocado green color.I used a sponge brush to paint the Plasti Dip over the letters and along the front and back of the handle. What appears as too much shrinks down quite a bit when dry.I covered these utensils with three coats of Plasti Dip, with drying time between each.Since these will be used in the travel trailer, there’s no concern of them becoming damaged in the dishwasher. Though they may hold up just fine, I think it might be best to hand-wash dipped items just in case.When using Plasti Dip, be sure you are working in a well ventilated area- the chemical fumes can become quite overwhelming otherwise. Once dry, there is no odor to speak of from the finished pieces.