A shrinky plastic project
Readymade magazine sent me a sample of their shrinky sheets awhile back (you know—that Shrinky Dink stuff from when you were a kid). And I've finally gotten around to trying them out. I know I'm going to make Readymade very happy when I say this, but OH MY GOSH, IT'S SO FUN! I used some of my own designs (you might see more soon; stay tuned!), and here's the result.
How to make:
1. Inkjet, draw, or paint on the sheets.
2. Cut them out.
3. Hole-punch them if you want.
4. Bake at 325ยบ for 2 or 3 minutes on a piece of cardboard.
They'll curl up and then flatten out in the oven. After you take them out, you can mash them flat with a spatula when they're still hot if they didn't flatten quite enough. My printouts were about 230% larger than the finished product turned out. I wanted the circles to end up 1.5 inches in diameter, so I printed them at 3.5 inches.
There were two kinds of sheets in the sample kit: white and clear. The photo above shows the white kind. Below are the clear ones followed by a side-by-side comparison.
If you want to make some too, you can buy the sheets in the Readymade store, at Dick Blick, or just google for inkjet shrink film.
57 comments:
Sweet. Those are awesome!
I love your designs too.
they are so great! I think you should sell them in your shop
Oh my gosh! I used to love that stuff. your designs look great too. I'll have to try some. I am a designer too.
L
Oooh! So fun! I didn't know they could be printed on with an inkjet... a world of possibilities!
Awesome! I haven't used my sheets yet, but now I can't wait too. Those look great.
these things are sooo addictive! yours are gorgeous! i love the designs! a good tip i found online, draw a ruler out and shrink it down and keep it as a reference. that way you'll always be able to tell the size it will shrink down to. :)
These are so pretty. I've tried a couple of times but mine are just icky. I think I need the printable stuff.
they are awesome! love your blog. Have so many interesting things to do.
;) hugs
Those are soooo cool!! I agree that you should sell them in your Etsy shop. They'd also make great stocking stuffers (hint, hint). I was gonna say you should put some Shrinky Dink sheets (I like the white best) on my Christmas list, but I don't really know what I'd make with them... and your designs are soooo much better than anything I'd do. Then again, maybe photos would work good??? Hmmm....
Can't wait to see what else you come up with using them! Hurry and do more! ;-)
Love,
Mum
Photos would definitely work. Just be warned that the colors get more intense when you shrink them, so you'd have a pretty major color shift. Which you could compensate for by lightening your photo first.
i love me some shrinky dinks! you can also get the paper at Michaels!
Wow! Those look amazing...I can't wait to try those out. The designs you've put on them are beautiful.
What a cool idea this is ?? I want to get me some and make something soon. thanks for sharing.
WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA! Seriously, I love it!
So fun!
Jess, I've been looking at your site for a couple months now, and I love it. I love your sense of style and color and your art is so good. This looks like it was a really fun project and your designs are awesome, you are very inspiring! And I love your timewasters!!! Thanks for all the great ideas.
these came out so well! your patterns look awesome. you should make earrings with these! i would buy them! :)
How strong is this stuff after its heated? It looks like plastic....but you buy it in paper sheets?
The sheets are plastic, and when they shrink they get thicker. The end product is hard and not at all bendable once they've shrunk.
I have official "shrinky dink" plastic, and whenever I try to make key chains, they snap eventually (especially around the hole). Are these thicker than the "shrinky dink" sheets?
Beats me. I haven't seen a genuine shrinky dink since I was 10. Sorry, I don't know!
So cute! Your designs look wonderful.
CUTE! I bet the small ones would make cute pendants.
What I neat idea. I've just bought a new colour printer...hmmm the possibilities are endless.
how fun is that?
i think i might try it just because it shrinks. why does that sound so fun to me?
these are so cute! i can't wait to try this.
Great designs!
When you talk about inkjetting them - do you actually put the plastic through the printer?????
Yeah! It's a flexible sheet before it's baked... just put it in your paper tray and your printer will feed it right on through.
I get my mom to send official shrinkydinks to Australia because I use them for pet tags. I'm a font snob and refuse to let my cat wear one of those metal hammered things - it's Century Gothic and Century Schoolbook for my furball! I think she buys them at Office Depot. I also use them to make my branding tags for when I sell crafty stuff. Let me know if you want to see pics of either.
Sure, if you've got pix handy, I'd love to see them! I like seeing people's projects.
I had a hunt for photographic evidence and could only find ones that were taken from far away. My cataloguing system leaving something to be desired. But you can get the idea.
1. Branding tag I use for all my crafty endeavours:
http://www.whatabouthoney.com/wah2/?p=116
It reads: "made especially for you by little elves".
2. Pet tag for my dad's dog Buddy (now deceased):
http://www.whatabouthoney.com/wah2/?p=25
The top bit says "my name is" and the bottom line is the phone number. I make much smaller ones for cats but can't find a photo of one just now.
Hey Erin, thanks for sharing! I especially like the doggie tag. If I had a dog, I would make him a shrinky tag like yours. :) Nice work.
So great! And thanks for the desktop DL! *B
Those are soo amazing! I think I'm going to get those shrinky sheet :)
Your designs are really good!
I just read a post that referred me to your site. How funny! I just did this for my birthday party last week. These are seriously so cute.
Okay, I just bought these because I was at Michael's and couldn't resist. Wouldn't it be fabulous if you had some downloadable designs in your awesome style?
But then, also, I realized some of the free clip art from the dover books would be great, too. I think you're the one who referred me to that, so I'm going to see what's there, and maybe make gift tags or Christmas ornaments!
Do you punch the keychain hole before or after the shrinkage?
Before.
What paint did you use? I find acrylic just flaked.
Also how did you manage to print on the shrinky with out the ink running? Did you pre sand it?
I cannot wait to give this a try.. I have been seeing shrinky projects all over the place.. and the fact that you can PRINT on this stuff.. the possibilities are endless!
Thanks for sharing!
Sarah, no paint or sanding. Just inkjet printing onto the sheets. They're made specially for printers, so there was no problem.
one question: when you print your designs and bake it on the white shrinky sheets, will the design be shown on both sides, or just on one side? if the design will be shown only on one side, how do you make it so that the designs are double-sided?
thanks =)
Just one side. I think you could either print your sheet, flip it over, and print on the other side (honestly I can't remember what the sheets are like, so I'm not sure if you can print on both sides or if your design will get messed up.) Or glue two together back to back? I made these a long time ago, so I'm sorry I'm not more help!
I've been using Shrink Plastic for quite some time. My favorite thing to make are Love Bug Bees. I've got some on my blog and Etsy. Check em out!
www.thinkyshrinky.etsy.com
www.thinkyshrinky.blogspot.com
These look great!
I know this was a long time ago...
but did you have any problems with warping?
I have used a couple different brands of shrinkable plastic and whenever I try to do circles they turn into ovals after baking. But yours look like they turned out pretty circular.
Yes, they come out of the oven a little bit curled, but I just pressed them flat with a spatula and they stayed flat.
Dear Jess,
Can you please tell me how can I transfer mu own design and print it into a shrinky??
PLEASEEEEEE
THANK YOU
CHU
Dear Chu,
The instructions are in the post you just read.
Yes, thank you, hehehehe.
Can you kindly tell me what kind of plastic did you use?
Also what brand of printer did you use?
Thank you very much
I noticed that you used a clear plastic and a white one. The clear plastic what brand is it, please and also what brand is the white one?
Thank you very much
It's me again...
Did you change the original color of the design before printing it in the shrinky?
What did you use ?
Thanks...
I used shrink film that Readymade Magazine sent me from their online shop. However, this post was written a long time ago and it appears that the shop no longer exists. Both the white and the clear were the same brand, but I don't remember what brand it was. Sorry! But all shrink film works the same way. Just make sure you buy film for an inkjet printer, if that's what you have. I have an older HP PSC 2210 all-in-one inkjet printer. I did notice that the printed colors looked a little more vibrant and intense after baking the film. But since I didn't care what color these pieces turned out to be, I did not adjust any colors before printing. Hope that helps you!
Wonderful designs.
Thank you so much for p
Thanks for sharing :)
I'm loving these designs. Thanks for sharing.
I absolutely love this idea!!!! I love everything about it!
Wow, so pretty!! Wish I could get shrinky paper/plastic here I South Africa... Beautiful!!!
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