How to Make Custom Laptop Skins

Laptops were once ordinary, with solid colors and bleak tones to every laptop lid cover, common to every brand. Now laptop covers are full of vibrancy and are abstract in nature, drawing people in with their stylized features. To make something seem like your own is to personalize it in a way that speaks about you.

Now, that is possible with customizable ways to make your laptop look different every single time. Custom laptop skins are now a thing of the future, with different techniques, art works, themes, textured variations and more. If you're tired with the way your laptop looks, then you're in the right place.

A laptop computer skin is a cover that can be stuck or clipped onto the front of your laptop lid. Available in all sizes, colors, prints and thematic variations, these skins allow you to personalize images to match your very own sense of style. Laptop skins are usually made from vinyl or plastic that are detachable and can be reused later.

They are also available in different textures, to give your laptop cover a different feel to it than ordinary laptop fronts. Fabrics mimicking the real thing, give laptops a whole new look. Photographs and images can be added to an interface that allows one to upload them and make adjustments where needed.

Read the instructions carefully or ask someone who is familiar with laptop skin usage, on how to apply it. Wipe your laptop lid cover clean with a damp cloth, make sure it is free from dust or any dirt. This ensures that the sticker is put on without some areas of the sticker being unable to stick on well. Some skins come with a back sheet that peels away.

Make sure no air bubbles form; it indicates that you haven't smoothened out the sticker properly. Laptop skins come in all dimensions and can be made to fit the size of your laptop cover. This implies that one is 'modding' - slang for modifying your hardware or software.

There are companies that deal in personalizing laptop covers to fit your mood or your take of what is vogue. Skins are featured under titles like Animals and Nature; Music and Entertainment; Flowers and Flourishes; Pop and Retro; Solids and Shapes; Patterns and Wallpaper; Ultrasuede and more.

However, the cheapest and most cost saving method of having custom laptop skins is to make one at home. It's simple, fast method and easy to experiment. Here are steps to get started.
Step 1
You will need - Sheet of vinyl cling or adhesive laminate, small paintbrush, strong glue, permanent marker, tape, magazine cut outs or images of your choice and scissors.

Step 2
Trim your cutouts/images according to your liking before you start gluing them on. Measure the dimensions of your laptop lid and make the desired cuts. You can use a rotary cutter to get those perfect edges, avoiding jagged laminate from protruding. Before proceeding to the next step, make sure it fits the frame by holding it against the lid.

Step 3
Using adhesive laminate, peel the corners and set it down on the image carefully (the image should be slightly smaller for adhesive to stick without coming off the edge in an untidy fashion, if so trim it). Press on it to avoid bubbles from forming. Keep doing so until your whole laminate is stuck on well. For vinyl cling, tape it onto the lid first.

Step 4
Take your cutout/image that you picked out and measured accordingly, (refer to step 2) and use the glue to stick down your image onto your laptop lid after you've glued on the cling. Press down to avoid air bubble formation.

Step 5
Using the paintbrush, dab a thin film of glue onto the image but do not overdo it as it will cause it to wrinkle. Then place laminate adhesive onto the laptop cover and again press down to avoid bubble spots (this is a method of double layering your image). This gives it double adhesive action (laminate+vinyl) to make it pop.

When you want to move on to other image ideas, repeat the process or use one layer of adhesive by placing it directly on your cutout/image, strictly as per your liking.

Laptop skins are in and can be constantly played with to come up with anything from the simplest of designs to intricate detailing or even your own designs if equipped with graphic visualizing experience. The next time you frown at your laptop or wish you had a new one, remember that all you need to do is pimp up your laptop lid and voila, brand new.