Easy to make cracked glass gem galaxy magnets.
Recently Pinterest has been showing me a lot of cool projects made with dollar store glass gems. I’ve seen garden decorations, luminary jars, jewelry, and even a random kitchen back splash. It all looks so cool. I knew I had to jump in on the glass gem band wagon. So, I impulsively decided to make some glass gems into Galaxy Magnets for my fridge when I couldn’t find a free magnet to stick up something up this weekend.
You may not know, but my kitchen has a Star Wars theme, so I wanted to tie it in with my glass gem magnets. That, my friends, is how I came up with the idea to make cracked glass gem galaxy magnets.
They were super easy to make, and I’m thrilled with the way they turned out.
So, let’s get started.
Supplies needed for Galaxy Magnets
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- 1 inch clear glass gems – I got mine from the Dollar Tree
- Various Nail polish in shades of purple, blue and black
- Round ceramic magnets – check out the ones I always use below
- E6000 glue
- Cookie sheet
Cracking the glass gems
Since these magnets are galaxy themed, I thought it would look pretty darn cool if I cracked the glass before I painted them. When I was a kid, we did this with marbles, so I knew it would look cool with the glass gems. Plus, I thought that the cracks in the glass would give the magnet more dimension and the cracks might look a little bit like stars.
I’m not really sure if they look like stars, but I still love the look of the magnets with the cracked glass.
Start by preheating the oven to 425 degrees. Lay as many glass gems down onto your cookie sheet as you want to create. I made 7, for no reason at all.
Once the oven is hot, bake the glass gems for 20 minutes.
While the gems are baking, put some water and ice into a plastic bowl.
As soon as the 20 minutes are up, put the glass gems into the ice water. They will instantly crack.
It’s really pretty amazing how they crack on the inside of the glass and the outside remains smooth. I’m sure it’s possible that the glass could break but mine didn’t. They all just cracked in their very own unique pattern.
Making the glass gem galaxy magnets
Once your cracked glass gems have completely cooled, it’s time to get creative and paint the back of them with nail polish.
I used all the shades of purple, blue and black. You can see how I painted them each differently in the picture below. Honestly, it was just random.
I really liked taking the screw in the picture and running it through the wet finger nail polish to give it a starburst effect.
Once you’ve finished painting them, let the gems dry.
Now, all that’s left to do is glue magnets on the back of them.
You’re going to need a pretty strong magnet and a strong glue. These are the same magnets I’ve used for Perler Bead magnets and I use E6000 for all the things. You can, of course, choose to use something else, just make sure it’s going to be strong enough to hold. The last thing you want is a shattered galaxy magnet on your kitchen floor.
Put a dab of the glue on the back of the glass gem and then add the magnet. Push down on the magnet to make sure you are going to get a good bond. The E6000 will set after about 30 minutes, but it does take about 24 hours for it to completely dry.
So, let your beautiful magnets dry and then they are ready to use.
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