Duct Tape Case / Skin for the New Ipod Nano

Just bought a new Ipod Nano? Cool huh? Now you are broke? Yeah figured. Want to protect your investment from harm? Cheaply? Thought so. Read on Ipod lovers. Oooh yah this my entry for the Universal Laser Cutter Contest, and the Homemade Holidays Contest so if you like it, rate me +, then tell your friends to rate me +, then tell your family to rate me +, then go on TV and say to rate me +....

Step 1: Stuff You Will Need

Materials needed are easily gathered throughout your habitat:
Ipod
Duct tape, 1 or more colors
Xacto knife
Scissors
Clear plastic linens bag, the type sheets and stuff come in, or plastic freezer bag, needs to be clear enough you can see your screen through it.
Work surface
Paper
Wax or Freezer paper

Gather materials.

Making Front:
Use your knife to carefully trace outline of Ipod onto a piece of the bag, this will be you screen/ front cover.
Once traced cut out front with scissors.

Step 2: 2, Dimensions and Duct Tape

Now tis time to cut the tape and make the back.

Peel off 2 strips of duct tape that are longer than the Ipod is wide.
Tape strips front to back to make a square of material that is larger than 6.8cm X 8.2cm, see picture notes.

Then cut tape material so that it is 6.8cm X 8.2cm.

Stick about .75 centimeter of the clear plastic front onto a narrow edge of the tape, try to keep it all strait. At this point it is a good idea to work on a piece of wax or butcher paper to prevent sticking.

Flip tape/front assembly over so sticky side is down, (USE BUTCHER PAPER!) and lay Ipod on top.

Fold up long sides of tape, and press front down on top, see picture.

Step 3: 3, More Taping

Trim away excess on bottom.

Use excess strip of duct tape, or another piece, to finish framing the front by taping bottom by the play/pause button, see picture.

Now cut another piece of duct tape in the color you want the case to be, it should be about 6.8-7cm long.
Meet the long edge of the tape to were the tape under the front is at the top, see picture.

Then smooth the rest of the tape onto the sticky back and fold up sides, see picture.
Cut another piece of tape with the same dimensions and tape to back to completely cover exposed tape, trim excess to .5cm and fold over to make clean edge at bottom of case.

Use a strip of tape to finish front bottom edge, see picture.

Step 4: 4 Triming

Now you have yourself a crappy duct tape case. To make it contest grade we'll add trimming to the edges.
Start by cutting a strip of duct tape, should be about 1.5cm wide and 25cm long, see pictures for good way to cut strips.

Starting at a bottom edge, carefully tape the edge of your case, smooth one side front and back.

Continue to wrap all the way around, the corners are rather tricky, don't press down until you are satisfied with the position, trim excess.

Cut another strip, or use excess and trim the bottom edge, folding over about .25cm to produce nice clean edge.

trim up corners and make them look nice and viola! a cheapo durable duct tape case for your Ipod.

Embellish as desired, I stuck the Apple decal that I got with my Ipod on the back of my case.

Step 5: Notes:

This technique can be used for just about any Ipod or mp3 player, but you will have to vary dimensions.

The Ipod stays in quite nicely from the friction with the duct tape. Depending on what you use, screen quality through the front cover is pretty good (linens bag) to crappy (freezer bag). The click wheel works just fine with either

If you make a cool case, post it please and I'll make a section of other cases.

Happy Listening (oh and duh watching)! :D

Constructive criticism and comments welcome!

Live long and prosper,
RocketScientist2015