Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Halloween Needle Marbling

Hello! Can you believe I'm getting a post out in the morning? Me neither! 

Today I am showing you a new technique for me. It's called needle marbling or needle dragging, and it is harder than it looks! I used this YouTube tutorial for instruction, but it does take a lot of trial and error to get it down. Liquid Jelly also has a different type of needle marble tutorial that you should check out as well.

Of course, I had to make it Halloween appropriate!



So basically this involves putting on really thick layers of polish in stripes, and then dragging a needle lightly through them to create this tie-dye effect. Seems easy, right? Well, I had some troubles, including bald spots, colors that wouldn't drag, flooded cuticles, wobbly lines... it goes on. But I'm pretty pleased with the effect, overall!



I used OPI Skull and Glossbones, OPI Funky Dunkey, and OPI Who the Shrek Are You. I am really getting a lot of mileage out of these Shrek polishes, aren't I?


I think I would do a better job with this if I were to try it again. I think this is truly a "practice makes perfect" technique. Have you guys tried this before, and for those of you who have, did you have an easier time with this method?

I swear I must have redone my ring finger at least 8 times, haha... O_O

Share:

21 comments

  1. Love it! You'd never know you had any issues with it- the effect is purple, and I love the colors you chose to represent Halloween!

    I haven't tried it yet but I may have to give it a shot now

    ReplyDelete
  2. I tried it for the first time the other day and had the same problems- but yours look so much better! The girl I was doing it on had tiny nails so I kept flooding the cuticle- I might try this on another friend that has larger nails- thanks for the tips! hehe

    ReplyDelete
  3. awesome!! you know my trouble with it. i plan to retry. Love your design!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This looks fantastic! I've never seen this technique before but I'm going to have to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  5. oh Sarah - you are aaarrrgghhhh so ***ing amazing. The bat nails distressed me this morning cos they were too bloody good, and now this. Man i wish i had your skills. Gggggrrrr xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. This turned out great Sarah! Much better than anything I would have been able to do as my first attempt. ^_^

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you all! :D Let me know if you give this method a try so I can check it out!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've seen some tutorials on YT but never tried it.. Looks really nice so i will definitely try one day.. First I have to master water marble technique.. First try was a total failure :(

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG! Wow! These are great! LOVE LOVE LOVE the colors!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have way more success with this technique than with water marbling! Here was my first try with it: http://quixiinails.blogspot.com/2011/06/61611-mani.html

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you all!

    @Alyssa, I think you had better luck with this than I did, yours look great!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I only tried it once with a tooth pick but I got annoyed at all the bald spots so I didn't complete it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is a really cool idea! I may not be loving the color combo-but the technique is a cool one!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I do dry marbling quite often and instead of a pin/needle I use a long skinny clean striper brush. I find it works like a charm - no bald spots or anything, and gives me smooth marble-lines :D

    ReplyDelete
  15. @7bridges - OMG that is an amazing idea. THANK YOU!!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment! Please avoid link dropping and spamming. I reserve the right to remove any comments that I feel violate this policy.

© Chalkboard Nails | Phoenix, Arizona Nail Artist | All rights reserved.
Blog Design Handcrafted by pipdig