Print Your Own iPhone Case

Before you say it, I know. iPhones. They're everywhere. We are consumer zombies with our faces shoved into our glowing smart phones. But at the same time, I think it's fascinating to have this kind of technology literally at our fingertips. I saw a tweet awhile ago (wish I could remember who said it) that said: think about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and now realize that that sh*t exists and is called an iPad. And with that thought, I decided to make my phone into my own Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Check out how under the jump.


If you don't want a printed image, there are lots of other options. A Beautiful Mess did a tutorial on how to make your own iPhone cases with fabric and pretty paper right here. They also painted on the inside of their case, which made me cringe because scratches?? There's also this tutorial for a case covered in pearls that's kind of cool.

If you do print, all you need is a clear case (which you can get for very, very cheap) and a printer. Oh, and your phone. Ideally you can do this with any phone that can fit in a clear case. I just happen to have an iPhone.

The good thing about iPhones is that Apple has all your phone measurements available right here. I took those measurements and made a rough template.

Download template here (for an iPhone 4, sorry 5's and 3GS's and every other type of cellphone)

You can use the the template to trace your paper or fabric (or just trace your phone). You can also do what I did, which was open the template in Photoshop and crop photos to size.

I also printed a tree of Gondor and X Files cover because I was apparently feeling nerdy.

Make sure you cut a hole big enough for your camera. The hole on my template wound up being just a tiny bit too small (a tiny bit = a couple millimeters) but resizing the camera hole is easy with a pair of scissors. I also didn't round the corners on mine. At first I didn't do it because I wasn't sure how much to cut, but when I put the case on I liked that it kept the paper in place.

Then just fit the paper inside your clear case!

So there you have it! Super easy. Template, trace, cut. Boom. Take your phone on intergalactic hijinks. Maybe meet an alien with two heads. Just don't let a Vogon read you poetry. Too many references? Sorry, I just love that book.

-lisa