All Things For Decoden Beginners
The Cream
There are creams that you can buy online from various shops, and if you feel inclined to do so, go ahead by all means! BUT, making your own cream is cheaper, faster, and you have more control!
The creams are all silicone-based, so you want to purches 100% silicone caulking from Amazon/your local hardware store. Make sure that the chalk is not antifungal (unless you’re planning to do your bathroom or kitchen, in which case probs go with this). There are three types of caulk:
- White (goes well for mixing in pastels + you have white cream ready to go)
- Transparent ( goes well for making any stronger colors like navy blue or red + for making glittery creams)
- Black ( I have not used this, but heard you can use it if you want, just black cream)
Colors:
- Mica powder (great for giving your cream a perly shine, best used with the transparent caulk for the translucent pearly effect)
- Silicon colors (great for creating strong colors with the transparent caulk + pastels with the white caulk) - use tiny drops. You can always add more for stronger colors!
Making the cream
Make sure to use reusable plastic cups. Buying them in bulk is cheaper, as you’ll be going through a lot
Caulk gun - the cheapest one you can buy will work great. You will need this in order to get the silicone out of its container and into your cup.
Popsicle sticks - I’ve seen this used a lot, but I prefer using my painting palette knives for this (they also help me pour it into piping bags more easily). Always start with small amounts of mica powder or silicone colors! If it’s too pale, you can always add more to the mix, but you can never undo it. The same goes for salt and cooking, so yeah.
Get a normal mug that you won’t miss. Invert the piping bags as much as you can, place them in the mug, and start pouring your cream in. Even the cream out in the bag and make sure to tie the end nice and tight!
The piping tips and the bags
For the bags, I would go for the cheapest option, as you will be going through a lot of them, so no need to splurge. If you are clumsy like me, you can also get dual-cake piping bags to make the dual creams without getting angry at GOD HIMSELF.
For the piping tips - Number 20 and Number 18 are good for starting! However, if you’re already buying the piping tips, you might as well get a set! A recent secret option I found is Russian piping tips, which help you create amazing-looking flowers. I use metal tips because I find them easier to clean.
Palette knives - for smoothing out the cream
Cake scraper - for smoothing out larger surfaces at once + you can get some funky ones if you want to do waves and swirls
The assembly of the piping bags
Get a piping bag. Put the piping tip in. Cut off the plastic at the end of the bag so that the tip can come through and make sure it’s tight. Snip the bottom of the piping bag with the cream in it and put it in the bag with the piping tip. Done!
Pro tip - always have a piece of paper or carton close by, as you’ll want to make the first few dollops there. The logic is the same as pancakes - the first one will turn out crappy, but the second and third will be perfect!
The phone case
Any transparent phone case will work. Make sure that you scratch the hell out of the back of the case! The more scratches, the better the cream will stick!
I use a knife (do not do this), but sandpaper works great!
The charms
The general ones can be found on Temu, Amazon, and AliExpress. The search words I used were:
- cabochon charm
- resin charms
-slime charms
-nail charms
-dool house charms
-earrings (for very specific charms I used, think knives and guillotines, more goth-y stuff)
For more unique ones, check out Etsy!
If you want anime or Sanrio figurines, search Temu/AliExpress/Amazon specifically for figurines!
Glitter is also great, make sure to apply it by dipping a makeup brush into the glitter then tapping the brush over your case!
The ‘’Let it cook’’
Make sure you leave your finished case in a cool and well-ventilated area for at least 48h! If it doesn’t dry well it will leak, fall off and generally make you cry.
The clean up
Kitchen wipes - I always have a box handy of those already moist kitchen/bathroom wipes. Makes cleaning little messes easier and works well on the palette knives as well.
Qtips - for cleaning the areas around the camera lens hole, as you will have cream in there
Silicone solvent - I use this for my piping tips. I let them sit in there for an hour and then I clean them with the tube cleaning brushes. If you use a tip too many times without cleaning it properly the left over silicone will deform the exit of the tip and you won’t get sharp lines when piping.
Gaming pad - I do all of my work on a gaming pad that I won’t miss. Keeps my tables clean from silicone.
ALWAYS WEAR A MASK AND USE GLOVES WHEN DOING ANY OF THIS! GOOD LUCK