Shrink Plastic (Shrink Film - Shrinky Dinks) and Ink Jet Printers

O.k....not sure what happened to the original post ~ blogger must be getting into the shrink plastic mode because it randomly shrunk various portions of my text....it's all readable now ;) Sorry about that!


In the last post I spoke about using a variety of color mediums on sanded and unsanded shrink film ~ now I'd like to discuss running the shrink plastic through your ink jet printer.

(NOTE ~ do not EVER run shrink film through a laser printer...the heat will melt the film and possibly ruin your printer!!!!)

The mfg. of shrink plastic offer regular old shrink film at a reasonable price but many also offer an ink jet variety which can be quite a bit more costly. They say it has some sort of coating on it which makes it possible for the ink to stick to the shrink film. This may be true but I don't buy it ~ literally - LOL!! You can run regular old shrink film through the printer with a bit of sanding before hand! It works very well and it's far less expensive than the special "ink jet" shrink film.

Sanding the Shrinky Dink Material....

I know it might not seem like it but the type of sand paper you use makes quite a bit of difference. I like to use the finest sand paper I can get. My favorite is 400 - Wet/Dry Automotive or Finish paper (the black stuff). This sandpaper roughs the surface up enough to give the ink a tooth to grab hold of but minimizes the feathering (spreading out in the little lines) and offers up a nicer finished product (IMO). In a pinch I will use 220 (brown) or 150 grits if I run out of the other. (Yes, I'm a sand paper aficionado - LOL!!! I have lots of each type cause you never know what a project will call for!)

You can actually see a real difference between the 400 and 220 in this photo.

No matter what sandpaper you use you'll want to sand in a cross hatch pattern...sand one layer horizontal then tilt the shrink film and sand again on a diagonal.

After you have sanded the shrink film, you MUST wipe away all of the dust particles from the film. You'll gum up your printer heads otherwise and we sooooo don't want that!

Ink Jet Printed Images on Shrink Film....

O.k. now that you've sanded and cleaned the shrink plastic, it's time to run it through the printer. Remember you need to print on the sanded side of the shrink film ~ trust me, I've run them through on the wrong side and kicked myself for wasting the darn ink more than once ;) Always double check to be sure!

Now, this photo shows three images printed on 3 different surfaces of the same sheet. (you can click on the photo to get to a larger image to see more closely what I'm talking about below...)

Wonder Woman is printed mainly on the 220 grit sanded are ~ you'll notice the right section has been printed on plain unsanded shrink film. Notice the feathering in the lower left hand corner by the USA 39. That is why I like to use the 400 grit as my first choice.

The monarch butterfly is printed again on an unsanded area of the shrink film. Notice how the colored portion of both the butterfly and WW bead up and give a grainy appearance. This will transfer to the finished example. It doesn't shrink down that far to give a smooth appearance.

Finally the pointing finger is printed entirely on the 400 sanded area. Notice how there is virtually no feathering at all and you have sharp crisp and clear lines. THIS is why I LOVE to use the 400 wet/dry sandpaper. It yields a remarkable image every time!

It's time to shrink!!! Cut the images out and punch a hole in each piece if they are going to be used as a charm. I use a normal office hole punch ~ once shrunk it leaves a nice hole small enough not to be ugly but large enough to get a jump ring through.

The following are just some fun pics of before and during the shrinking....
Trim your images and place on parchment paper on your baking sheet.... (not sure why they recommend putting in on parchment paper and not directly on the pan but I always do it.)

Pre-Heat your oven to anywhere between 250 - 400F degrees (121 - 204C) I like to go somewhere in the middle ~ usually 325F (162C).

Now watch em wiggle...

You know they are done when they are completely flat again... If by chance your shrink film in it's contortions sticks to it's self use a bamboo skewer or something to pull them apart and let them finish shrinking. Be careful if you use your fingers...they are WAY hot and WILL burn you!! I know from blistering experience on this ;)

And the results....

The butterfly printed on un sanded shrink material....

Pointing Finger on 400 Grit sanded portion....

Wonder Woman printed partially on 220 sanded area (L) and partly on unsanded shrink film (R)....

and a couple more examples (both printed on 4oo sanded shrink film)....

Before....

and After....

This is looking at the charm from the opposite side that it was printed on.

After the image has cooled spray it with a layer or two of some sort of sealer...Spray on or brush on work great. This just protects the ink from being scratched up with use. I normally use a spray sealer like Krylon's Crystal Clear.

Now, something else I did want to mention about printing images is the glossy or back side of the image always looks better than the side that it was printed on. It's a good idea to print a mirror image on the shrink film if you are incorporating words or text on the shrink film. This way you will be able to read it from the back side...which of course I forgot to do on the WW & Campbell's soup examples. Remember to do as I say, not as I do (sometimes) - LOL!!! It's easy to forget about this obviously but you'll end up with a much nicer finished project if you do.

So there you go...more fun info on shrinky dinks, shrink film, shrink plastic....or whatever you want to call it ;)  It's all fun stuff!! Tomorrow I'll be sharing some finished projects using various shrink film pieces :)

Hope you tune in then!