Shrinky Dink Shrink Plastic DIY

 I was so happy I could have cried when I stumbled upon this Pinterest pin showing how to make your own Shrinky Dinks.  I had completely forgotten about the existence of the things.  Now.... suddenly ideas were EVERYWHEEEERRREEEEE.

I've actually had quite a few fails since starting shrink plastic (whole blog full of fail coming next week) but I'm still determined to have fun with it and get some good non-fail results.







First step however was getting me some shrink plastic. Any plastic with a 6 in the recycling symbol works.  I actually found catering tray lids at a store for only 40 cents a piece so I just grabbed a bunch.  I wanted to know what size to make things to have them shrink right, so the first project was a shrunken ruler.












While I was at it... I figured might as well make at least quarter inch notches also.  In case I ever need more exact measurements.

After that I wanted to add something else for scale.  I sat and tried to think what I could use and **ding ding lightbulb** I signed my signature on it.  Then I looked at it for a few seconds and thought, "Oh wait, I'm putting this on my blog.  Probably not too good to put your signature just out there for everyone huh?"







So, I scribbled it out and then put my fake signature instead.


Next, I popped on the last few episodes of the new season of OITNB, and I got my doodle on.  I did a black design on one side, then added the color on the other.  I didn't realize how much the black smudged when I flipped it over.







WHAT I LEARNED FROM EXPERIMENTING

Color on only one side.  Bake shrink plastic with color side up.

Use parchment paper or an extremely smooth cookie sheet.  Parchment paper is better because you can grab a curled or pre-folded up edge to quickly get the plastic onto a flat cooling surface.

Oven Temp: 325 degrees
Bake Time: 2ish minutes




Watch the shrink plastic when you put it in the oven. It will bubble up, then flatten back out.  Once it flattens back out, let it bake another 30 seconds.

Immediately Take off cookie sheet and put onto a flat cooling surface.

I also put my ACOA book (HUGE ass book) on top of my cut outs to flatten them out more.

Colored pencil on clouded shrink plastic looks way cooler than the recycled kind for charms and earrings.

However, if using the clouded plastic, remember to write backwards so that you can see it forward through the clear side.


Draw your design on a piece of paper first to perfect it.  Once you have it the way you want, you can trace it onto the clear plastic.

<--- See that tin foil?  Don't use tin foil unless you are a mother fucking sorcerer and can get it completely flat and smooth.  All the wrinkles did show up on these practice cut outs.

This is also handy for making multiple copies of the same thing.

Hole punch for tiny holes.

Compass for circles.... because who can real draw a circle. Doesn't matter on the recycled plastic anyway because circles do not shrink equally.



Little pieces of shrink plastic, or long thin pieces are hard to work with.  The little ones sometimes turn sideways when they bubble, and the long thing ones curl up over onto themselves.

Anyway, my charm and ruler came out pretty good.  Looks like the recycled plastic shrinks to a little more than half its original size.  Seriously, use that parchment paper.  I burnt the shit out of my fingers trying to grab these off the cookie sheet.

I already started adding it to a hippie string with a few more charms I've made.

:) Like, comment, tell me what you think.  show me your shrinky dinks..... the shrink plastic kind.  Perv.

See you next Tuesday!!!