Crafty nerds assemble!

If you are a superhero fan like me, I have a cheap craft for you. Express your nerdiness with some paper keychains!

Supplies

thick cardboard
thin cardboard
scissors
glue
acrylic paint
paintbrush
map tack
keychain or string
pencil, ruler, round objects
optional: file / sandpaper

Step 1: Paper Tips

What kind of cardboard am I using?

Thick cardboard: can be found at the back of notepads, big calendars or in packaging

Thinner cardboard: from cereal boxes or similar packaging

If you can't find thicker cardboard, you can glue multiple pieces of thinner cardboard together.

If you have a file or sandpaper, you can file down the edges of your keychains before you paint them.

If your cardboard has a print or a glossy layer - try tearing it off! It will give it more texture so that glue and paint will stick much better.

Step 2: Green Lantern - and the Basics

I used round shaped objects and a ruler to draw the Green Lantern symbol. Then I cut it out with nail scissors (nail scissors are just the best!).

Additionally I cut out two more circles for the background.

To glue all the pieces together you can use a glue stick or a thin layer of liquid glue.

Before painting all of the keychains I poked a hole with a map tack.

Step 3: Painting (Method 1)

You can either glue the pieces together first and then paint, or paint and then glue.

With most of the keychains I went for a more distressed look. I glued first and gave everything a black basecoat with acrylic paint. Then I dry brushed more colors on.

Step 4: Batman

For the Batman symbol I freehanded 3 elliptical shapes that fit into each other.

Then I turned the smallest one into a bat. You can simplify the bat as much as you want to make cutting easier - the Batman symbol has so many variations anyways ;)

Step 5: Painting (Method 2)

This time I painted the pieces separately first and then glued them together. That way you get a neater look.

Step 6: Wonder Woman

For the Wonder Woman symbol, I drew 4 parallel lines and sketched out the rest looking at references.

Cut that out and glue it to your base - I made mine rectangular. The rectangle felt less sturdy than the circles from the other symbols, so I added more cardboard layers to make the piece stronger.

Here again I started off with black acrylic paint and dry brushed some gold and red on afterwards - being careful to keep the black gaps in the logo visible.