How to Make Your Own Flash Drive Skin

If you have a plain flash drive (also known as a "USB stick" or a "zip drive"), you could consider protecting it or decorating it with a "skin." You can buy a skin from any store that sells electronic accessories, but you can also make one and save money. There are several ways you can make your own flash drive skin, two of which are with contact paper and even "Lego" blocks of a certain size.

Instructions

1. Contact Paper

   • 1
     Wrap a piece of contact paper (clear or in the color of your choice), sticky-side-out around the outside of the flash drive. Make sure that the edge is slightly below the rim of the encasement so that it won't interfere with the cap. Wrap it around once so that the edges stick together and it fits snug against the flash drive.
   • 2
     Trim the excess from the bottom of the flash drive and leave a 1/4 inch long flap on one side of the bottom. Fold the flap over and attach it to the opposite side so that it covers the bottom of the flash drive. The stickiness of the contact paper will hold it in place.
   • 3
     Wrap another piece of contact paper around the flash drive and first layer, just like you did in Step 1, only this time the sticky side needs to be facing down. Cut a 1/4-inch long flap at the bottom and attach to the other side to form the bottom. Now you have a skin that you can slip on and off of your flash drive.

   Lego Blocks

   • 1
     Apply a pea-sized amount of a clear, fast-drying glue, such as Super Glue, Gorilla Glue or E6000 glue, evenly across one broad side of the flash drive encasement. Keep the glue near the center so that the glue doesn't get on the end that you insert into the USB port.
   • 2
     Press a thin "Lego" block against the side where you applied the glue. Lego blocks are 5/16-inch wide, which will cover most of the width of a standard flash drive. The kind of Lego blocks that you need are the ones that are thin (1/16-inch-thick) as opposed to the ones that are 1/2-inch thick. The blocks should also be long enough to cover the length of the flash drive encasement, but it's okay if the blocks are a little longer. Glue another block to the other broad side.
   • 3
     Apply glue to the skinny sides of the encasement and press skinny Lego blocks (1/8-inch-wide, 1/16-inch-thick) to these sides. Wait 24 hours for the glue to cure before handling your newly decorated flash drive.