Custom Dyed Cell Phone Faceplate

[TheMainMan]

So I decided about a year ago when my first Sony Ericsson W810i phone broke that as much as I loved the phone it needed a facelift. I picked up a replacement off ebay and decided to order a white replacement shell while I was at it. The replacement phone had wear and a broken camera so I created a hybrid of the two phones and put the silver center from the white shell in between the black front and back. I held onto the white front with the intent of dying it Sony Walkman orange. Yesterday, I finally got around to dying the faceplate.

It was unplanned but I was wearing my TBCS t-shirt and my S.O. thought to include a shot.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07015.jpg

I used a disposable aluminum pan and red and yellow Rit-Dye powder. There are a ton of guides out there on forums ranging from RC cars to Xbox mods to some on dying watercooling tubing and keyboards.

Here's a shot of one of the first dips.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07017.jpg

It was a gradual process for me as I didn't want to warp the faceplate. I would dip it in the dye for ~15 secs then run it under cold water to rinse. This is after about 7 dips.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07016.jpg

I made a drip tray so that I had somewhere to put the phone when transferring between the stove and sink. It really helped keep the mess down.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07020.jpg

After about 20 dips you could see the colour getting closer to where I wanted it.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07019.jpg

I tried it with a second faceplate that was new as the scuffed spots on the old one didn't take the dye well but I got careless and warped it by keeping it in too long. You can see the light spots of the scuffs on the bottom of the left one.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07021.jpg

Comparison of unwarped vs. warped!
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07022.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07024.jpg

This is pretty close to what the colour looks like in person, a nice vivid orange!
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07027.jpg

My array of parts laid out across my laptop cart. There are parts for almost 3 complete phones, enough working parts for two functional phones.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07030.jpg

The old black plate will be going onto the spare phone.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07031.jpg

Side by side of the two phones.
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07033.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07034.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07035.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07036.jpg
http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/TheMainMan79/Custom%20Phone%20Faceplate/DSC07037.jpg

All in all, I'm really happy with how it turned out. My phone is really distinctive now and the orange almost perfectly matched the existing accents. The whole process took about two hours to setup, dye both face plates, and then clean up.

Oh, and the orange makes texting 3000% faster!

[OvRiDe]

Mods ALWAYS turn out better with a TBCS shirt on!! :D

I think the phone looks GREAT! Nice work on the dye job and color choice.

[Fuganater]

How do you have a TBCS shirt and I don't???

[TheMainMan]

@OvRiDe - Thanks! The colour still surprises me sometimes when I pull my phone out of my pocket.

@Fuganater - I bought my two TBCS tshirts when they were available in December of last year. I don't know if there are any still available or if another production run is being considered. Here's the thread (http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25074&highlight=t-shirt).

[billygoat333]

awesome work man! I keep thinking about trying that rit dye stuff... might have to bust it out for my mod.

[TheMainMan]

Hehe, that's a big part of the reason I did this. I'm hoping to be able to dye some of the toolless bits of my case to match the rest of the theme. I was surprised at how easy it was, the next thing I need to try is lightening already coloured pieces. I figure that as long as the piece can be replaced, the dye is really cheap and has a good effect.
Good luck if you do!