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Lay a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and pack your goodies. They make the perfect last-minute personalized gifts! Shrink plastic is my new favorite craft material.
Shrinky Dink Pins
On a flat cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper, lay your cut out plastic pieces with the colored side facing up. This brilliant shrink plastic charm bracelet is created by tracing over clip art with a sharpie and colouring with posca paint pens. If your design does not entirely flatten, make sure it is is good and hot, and then place an acrylic block or another ceramic tile on top of it, to flatten it while it cools. With larger designs like our heart, the shrink plastic can curl up on itself and look like it will never be flat.
By taking these precautions and selecting safe materials, you can enjoy crafting shrinky dinks without compromising your health or the environment. This ensures that the crafting process does not pose any health risks, especially when the finished products might be used by children or come into contact with food. When selecting plastics for crafting projects like shrinky dinks, it is crucial to prioritize safety by choosing materials that are non-toxic and food-safe. Their self-contained nature makes them perfect for workshops, classroom projects, or family crafting sessions. Pre-cut shapes or provide stencils to save time, and use a classroom oven or toaster oven for controlled shrinking. Pair your purchase with permanent markers or colored pencils (also available in-store) for immediate creativity.
How to Use Shrink Plastic Sheets
If you’re new to crafting with Shrinky Dinks, it’s a good idea to do a trial run with smaller pieces. Each medium can produce different results, and it’s important to experiment to see what crafting style works best for you. Their aim was to create a fun children’s craft that utilized a plastic material known as polystyrene.
In just a few minutes, usually 1 to 3, they begin to curl, twist, and then flatten as they shrink. If your piece is curling too much during baking, placing another piece of parchment paper on top can help keep it flatter. You will see the plastic curl up and then it will flatten back out.
Spring Shrinky Dink Patterns
The piece will unshrink and unfold flat. Lay your baking sheet on the table with your shrink art on top. Stay away from water based markers or waxy colored pencils or crayons that won’t hold the colors well after heating. The more common method we have seen is in an oven or toaster oven. The hard little plastic shapes and characters that are so fun to make as keychains or charms? My passions include teaching others to be creative and learning as many new things as possible about crafting technology!
However, sometimes you’ll notice the smell of “hot plastic” while your projects are baking. Bookmarks might be one of the easiest Shrinky Dink projects, but it might be one of the most fun, especially for children! With photos printed on shrink-plastic sheets, you can make keychains of favorite family vacation photos, or a whole charm bracelet full of family portraits. Before printing any photo onto the inkjet sheet, you’ll need to make a small adjustment first.
First, I cut the sides off of the cups/boxes, so I was working with just flat pieces. These provide larger pieces of plastic, as the entire top and bottom surfaces can be cut free. When I had satisfied myself that this actually works, I went ahead and made plans for obtaining something with bigger, flatter pieces of plastic, namely, deli containers.
Supplies You’ll Need
Don’t freak out if your DIY Shrinky dinks start to curl up. Also remember that the plastic will shrink up to about 1/3 the original size of the designs. You’ll need a good pair of scissors to cut out your shapes and you can also use a hole puncher if you’re planning to make your DIY shrinky dinks into charms. When using recycled #6 plastic, you’re likely to only find smooth surfaces.
- If you were a child in the 1970s or 1980s who enjoyed arts and crafts, you probably remember Shrinky Dinks.
- Line a pan with parchment paper and place your shrinky dinks color side up on the parchment.
- On top of creating perfect personalised embellishments, you’ll also discover that the mysterious shrinking process provokes childlike delight every time, whilst producing elegant and sophisticated results!
- Preheat your toaster oven to the recommended temperature of 325°F (163°C) and keep a close eye on your project.
The kits we used to use as kids came with rough sided plastic that you could easily decorate with the included colored pencils. To make this project, you’ll need to gather together just a few supplies. The lid that came with it was mainly a nice, flat piece of #6 plastic. In fact, I bet you’ll start looking for it just about everywhere once you make this project. Shrinky Dinks were one of my absolute favorite things to do as a kid. You can also use colored pencils, acrylic paint, markers, and inks.
Shrink plastic will curl shrinky dink plastic up in the oven, but it should flatten out as it bakes. If shrinking your shrink plastic sheets in the oven, use a flat surface like a baking tray, and place a wide wrap on top to help keep them flat. Initially, your shrinky dink will curl up, but keep heating, moving the heat gun around, and it will flatten out as more of the shrink plastic shrinks fully.
