Making a DIY Phone Case Using Only a Glue Gun

Unless it involves a prank, people usually don’t associate smartphones and hot glue guns. Putting a dropped phone back together may be the first thing that comes to mind, but while there are plenty of hacks where a glue gun comes into play, cell phones are common enough that an upgrade will precede a desperate and makeshift glue repair. The latest glue gun hack has nothing to do with repairs, but everything to do with upgrading.

For those who buy their phones and then stare blankly and indecisively at the many options for cases, the video below helps avoid that process. We’ve shown you how to make a phone case from a balloon as well as a DIY screen protector, but this glue gun phone case takes minutes and the possibilities for personalization are endless.

There are already a lot of ideas out there for matching a phone case to a style, personality, or mood, but many of them require that you actually purchase a case as a blank canvas to doodle on with Sharpies or bedazzle to your heart’s content.

By using a glue gun, baking paper (parchment paper) and tape, anyone can create a unique case without setting foot in a phone store. The video’s narrator displays one case with regular glue, but then goes on to use glitter glue and even shows how you can stick most anything on to take the decorating and accessorizing to the next level.

Follow these simple steps to make your phone case:

  1. Turn off your phone and place it face down on parchment paper.
  2. Using a scissors, cut around the phone leaving enough room that you can wrap it like a present.
  3. Wrap your phone neatly and tightly in the parchment paper and tape it together.
  4. Using a pen or pencil, outline the camera lens, light, charging port and buttons on the paper so you don’t glue over them.
  5. Create your personal design with any color glue and stick on anything accessories to crank up the personalization. Be creative and make sure the glue connects in several places to give the case strength.
  6. Allow ten minutes to dry before carefully popping the phone out of the glue and unwrapping it from the parchment paper.
  7. Use a scissors to clean up any rough edges.

Prime candidates for this hack include people who frequently pick up the cell phones of others or experience chronic phone case envy, but probably the best candidates are families with the same cell plan, and likely the same phone. This hack is a great way for kids or teenagers to create their own case (with parental supervision, of course) or even multiple cases. It’s so easy; they could have a case for every day of the week! If anyone in the family happens to get bored with their case, break out the glue gun.

One of the best parts is that the glue dries in ten minutes so no one has to wait very long for their finished product.