More Shrinky Dink / Shrink Plastic Charm Examples

I know I promised these last night but the guys got home from the farm so late and we still hadn't eaten dinner yet so here they are now....

Leaf Bracelet

I wanted to point out how you can take warm shrink film and bend n hold... It creates movement and adds to the overall effect. Takes it a couple notches above some of the "kid" type projects. These leaves were stamped with Chalk Inks then bent while warm.

Eggs...

I have a real thing for eggs lately ~ I love em!

Mmmm mmmm good!

Happy Birthday Card

Now, you might think these charms are only for jewelry...WRONG!! I stamped a couple different sized flowers, punched holes in the centers ~ melted & shaped then stacked them and added a brad to hold them together! I tucked in a few leaves and added the butterfly! Very fun and looks awesome!

There you go...several more ideas to get your juices flowing!!

And I have to LOL @ Brian's comment about persuading him to purchase some shrink film ;) That's what I'm here for - LOL!!!!!

Shrink Charm Examples...

Hey everyone!

I hope you've had a wonderful Thursday! A few people asked if the colored pencils and paints are permanent once the shrink plastic has been shrunk. Yes it is...it gets a little bumpy from smooshing all that color into one tiny area but it most definately is there to stay. If you're worried about it getting scratched or marred on something going to be used often remember you can always give it a shot of clear acrylic sealer. It will protect your charm from any harm.

Things have been wild here so I didn't get as many examples finished as I had hoped ~ I'm going to try to work on a few more tonite after supper (yes, the guys are STILL out at the farm and we haven't had dinner yet!) If I get them finished I'll post them asap :)

Here are the shrink plastic charms I DID manage to finish....

Super Heros!!

If you notice the edges of these charms have a cool postage edge to them. If you cut your image out of the shrink plastic using deco scissors you'll get an awesome finished edge every time. I personally like the postage edge (used here and on WW) as well as the deckle edge cut myself.

Wonder Woman

Yellow Finch (I think)

The Yellow Finch is already spoken for but if there is anyone interested the two super hero goodies are up for grabs!! If you'd like the necklace or bracelet all you have to do is post in this thread or in any of the shrink plastic/shrinky dink threads this week and you'll be entered to win one of them :)

You will have until 5-17 to post ~ at that time I'll draw two winners out using Random.org!

Good luck friends and I'll be back with more charms (hopefully soon)!

Tomorrow I'll be sharing a couple other jewelry related techniques using shrink plastic scraps from other projects! Next week I've got a couple more cool shrink plastic techniques to share as well so stay tuned to this...inky channel ;)

Supplies:

Grafix Shrink Film - Clear

Whew...what's up with the font sizes?!?!

Goodness, I don't know if it's coming out funky on your end but I had the hardest time trying to fix the font size on that last post...I went in 6 times to make everything come out readable.

Everything was micro size ~ it just looked like colored lines on my screen. Even after I super sized it it still came out micro sized?!?!

Have any of you had that happen? Any ideas on what happened or why it is doing that? Oh well, we'll see if it was a passing thing or if blogger is having issues.

Sorry about any confusion the initial look might have caused you...lots of photos with colored lines - LOL!! A whole lot more to it than that!

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!

Color Mediums & Shrink Plastic...To Sand or Not-To Sand?!?!

I know I said I had some examples for you today but I thought of something I wanted to share first...how various mediums (ink, paints, dyes, colored pencils, etc.) react on shrink plastic or shrinky dinks.

(NOTE: I wanted to add here that I refer to the shrink stuff by several names ~ Shrink Plastic, Shrink Film, Shrinky Dinks, etc ~ Not to confuse people because various areas refer to in under these different names. I want to be sure that if someone searches for a particular type of shrink material they will get here no matter what they call it.)

First let me begin with the shrink plastic it's self....much of the time you will get shrink material that is smooth like a transparency ~ other than being a little stiffer they are hard to tell apart. Anyway, there are two schools of though on how to add color to a shrinky dink. Some people just add color as is while others feel you must sand the shrink plastic to get a nice finished color.

Now, I am on the fence. For some mediums I feel it's a must to sand before inking but for others it's just fine without. (more on this subject in a bit)

This brings me to today's post...I thought it would be good for you to see the difference (or no difference) between sanded and non-sanded surfaces.

The question of the day.....

To Sand or Not To Sand

NOTE: The following shrink plastic tiles have a medium added to an unsanded area (left) and the same medium on a sanded area (right). I tried a wide variety in hopes I might hit upon something in your stash! Also, I didn't show Sharpie Markers because they work great anywhere...sanded, unsanded, colors, etc. They make an excellent color medium choice when working with shrink film / shrinky dinks!

((Please excuse the cat hairs in some of the pics...it was all I could do to keep our kitten from running off with all of the tiles before I took the photos. I think you might even be able to see her shadow in a couple of the pics!!))

Lumiere Paints

Versa Fine Ink

Archival Ink

Ancient Page Ink

Brilliance Ink

Color Box Chalk Ink

Staz-On (forest green)

Adirondack Acrylic Dabber Paint

Adirondack Alcohol Inks

Colored Pencils

Glimmer Mist

For the most part I can't tell a difference ~ I don't think it makes a whole lot of difference either way. So if you feel you need to work out a bit of frustration and want to scratch the heck out of something then sanding is the way to go...other wise I'd just go for it as is.

That being said there are two color mediums that show a notable difference ~ those are the Colored Pencils and Alcohol Inks for very different reasons....

The Colored Pencils skim across the top of a non sanded piece of shrinky dink. It leaves little specks of color here and there while the sanded side gives a nice smooth color transition. I much prefer to sand when using this type of color medium.

The Alcohol Inks on the other hand spread out and show each individual scratch on the sanded side. I like the spreading out but I'm not so keen on the scratches... Another issue I have with Alcohol Inks and Shrink Film is that once they shrink the colors become SOOOOO intense that it turns most colors black. For this reason I choose to add my alcohol inks AFTER I shrink the film, never before. You can control the color outcome far better after the fact than you can before it shrinks.

I hope this answers some of the questions about what you can and can't use on sanded and unsanded shrink film surfaces.

I will cover preparing shrink plastic for use with an ink jet printer.

Till then friends...TTFN!!

Shrink Plastic ~ a.k.a. Shrinky Dinks! - Mfg. & Figure Shrinkage

When I asked what everyone would like to see Shrink Film, Shrink Plastic or Shrinky Dinks was right up at the top of the list so I thought I'd start off with some of the basics today.

This is the fun stuff from the 70's that we all fell in love with.... I remember coloring and shrinking some of those fun and funky charms myself ;) Check out these way cool retro commercials I found on You Tube.... 1979 Glow in the Dark Shrinky Dinks and Puffy Fuzzy Shrinky Dinks. Dang it's so wild seeing those commercials now ~ they used to be so "hip" - lol!!!

Here are a few other mfg. of shrink plastic ~

Lucky Squirrel

(I have some of this and it works fine)

Micro Format

Poly Shrink

Grafix Shrink Film

(I have this and it works great!!)

Aleene's Shrink-It (UK)

Aleene's Shrink-It (USA)

Now, not only are there loads of mfg. of shrink plastic the varieties that are on the market are just as numerous.... Clear, White, Matte, Black, Ink Jet, and even a wide variety of colors (blue, green, red, purple, etc). Normally I buy clear because I can make it matte or white if those are needed...it's pretty hard to make it clear ;)

No matter what type of shrink film you purchase (or may already have in your stash) it all shrinks differently. Normally they say it shrinks anywhere from 50-75% of it's original size. If I have a new or different type of shrink film I always make a test strip...

1. Cut a piece of the shrink film, measure and document the measurements on the film it's self.

2. Heat to shrink and re-measure....

As you can see ~ this piece shrank from 8.5" x 2" to 3.5" x .80" ~ or about 59% overall.

By creating this type of test strip you can guestimate how small your finished pieces will be by doing a little bit of math...

How to determine the approximate shrinkage of a shrinky dink or shrink plastic piece....

Original Size........... 8.5"

Multiply by %........ 59%

-----------------------------------------------------------

5.01" (reduction in size)

THEN.....

Original Size............ 8.5"

(-) Size Reduction.. 5.01"

--------------------------

Approx. Finished Size 3.49"

Tomorrow I'll be back with some examples on how to make basic charms :)

Hope you stop in and see what I've come up with!

Word or Phrase Book!

Today's gift idea is way cool and once you know how to do it VERY easy :)

I'm sure you've seen those books you can alter that have a word or phrase on the ends of each of the pages. They are way cool but often expensive, hard to find or they don't have just what you need. Trust me, I know this feeling well...that's precisely why I came up with this tutorial!!

Well now you don't need to search any further!

You can make your own phrase/word book in a very short period of time!

Supplies:

Chipboard

Die-cut Letters or Alpha Stencils

Pencil

Scissors or Exacto Knife

Binding of Your Choice (Ideas: Bind it All, Book Rings, Ribbon, Twine, Fibers, etc.)

Paint, papers, photos etc to decorate the finished book

NOTE: Just a few words about the letters you use to make the book ~ If you have an electronic Die-Cut machine available you can vary the size of letters used anywhere from 1" up. These machines offer a great flexibility when designing these books but don't fret ~ you can print desired text off your computer using some sort of design software (whatever you have will work) and size it as needed. Simply print onto cardstock, trim the letters and you have ready made stencils! Pre-cut die-cut letters and the plastic alpha stencils work too!

So there are plenty of options to vary the font style and size.

Instructions:

1. Determine how large you wish the finished book to be. I am using 2 1/2" letters so I cut my pages to 3". No matter what size page/letter you use add an extra 1/2" or so. So for example your letters are 4" tall, cut your pages 4 1/2" tall, etc...

Cut the necessary pieces of chipboard to size (the amount will vary depending on your word or phrase.)

2. Trace the letter(s) onto the right hand side of each page.

You'll have something like this...

3. With a sharp pair of scissors or an exacto knife, cut out the letters. When you get the the left side of the letter where the page is ~ simply cut part of the way down on each letter and round the pages off as shown in the photo.

4. Align the letters so they over lap just a bit.....

5. When you have the letters aligned, flip the book over and mark where the last page falls on the other pages - in this case I marked where the 2nd M fell on the O page and first M page. Trim off the excess pages.

6. Your word should now be properly aligned along the letter edge and all meet on the left edge as shown.

7. Your pages are now ready to be decorated and bound. How you do so on both accounts is totally up to you. You could use paint, pattern paper, rubber stamps, dye sprays, etc. Use whatever you have in your stash! Binding is also your choice ~ you could use eyelets and some sort of fiber, ribbon or book rings, you might use a bind-it-all or some other binding system if you have one available, or maybe you want to use a fancy book binding stitch. Whatever you choose, remember to have fun!!

I added a couple more pages to my book, painted and added Distress Stickles. I used the Bind-It-All to bring it all together. It's now ready to add photos, collage images, text, etc. There really are no limits!

I hope you enjoy this little idea and give it a try :)

Well, not sure if I'll get to post tomorrow or not. My oldest son is bringing his new girlfriend here to "meet the parents"! Of course he just told me this after he got off work today so now I need to pick up the house, think up a nice menu and fix a stunning meal.

He say's it's no big deal but you know ~ first impressions and all...

If I don't see you before, Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there...Hope you have a wonderful time with your family!

Gift Idea ~ Stamped Mug

Happy Thursday Everyone!

I hope you had a good day...

I wanted to answer a few questions about the tiles before I get to today's gift idea.

What type of sealer do I use and where can I find it?

I have a couple different types I use most often ~ Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic Sealer and Patricia Nimocks Clear Acrylic Sealer. Both work very well. They can be found at most hobby or craft stores as well as Wal-Mart, Meijers, etc. I think they are like 4-5.00 a can. It's been a while since I've bought any so I can't remember for sure.

How do I string the tiles?

I will take some step by steps tomorrow ~ it's easier to show you than it is to try to explain it...it sounds more confusing than what it is.

What did I do to the back of the tiles?

I left these tiles colored but you could stamp on that side as well or add collage images, ephemera, etc. Really whatever you want to do would be cool.

Who made the alpha stamps ?

Those are "Collage" #Y507 from My Sentiments Exactly...love them ~ they are my most fav. alpha stamps I have :)

On to today's project...Stamped Mug

Today's project is a bit tricky to get the hang of but I have a little trick I use to help make it much easier.

We're stamping on a mug ~ yes, a round slick surface!!

EEEEK!!!

I know, made me shutter too when I thought of it but I figured out a great little trick to make it much easier...no more skidding across the surface! Now, this trick only works with unmounted or acrylic stamps ~ you'll see why when you look at the photo below.

STAMPING ON SLICK SURFACE TIP/TRICK

I promise if you use this little trick stamping on a slick surface will no longer be a nightmare!

Place the main image in the center of your acrylic block. Ink with desired color(s) of ink. Next, quickly position a border stamp above and below the main image. DO NOT INK the border stamps. Stamp the image as desired.

Basically the two un-inked border stamps become grippers to keep the stamp from skidding across the surface of the glass. It works like a charm!!

If you don't have border stamps several small stamps work just as well ~ actually that's what I started out using till I remembered I had the stitches stamps.

Now it does take some practice stamping on a curved surface ~ not much I can say to help you there ~ just give it a couple tries... If you mess up, wipe the ink off and give it another shot. I tried 3-4 times before I was satisfied.

Stamped Mug

Any undecorated mug will work for this project, I found mine at Dollar Store but I'm sure they have them all sorts of places.

Supplies:

Archival or Staz-On Ink

Stamps

Cut & Dry Nibs

Mug

Heat Gun

Krylon Acrylic Sealer

Instructions:

1. Wash the mug and let it dry completely. This just removes any residues that may have accumulated on it during the mfg. process and after.

2. Position and ink stamps as shown above. Carefully stamp desired images onto the mug.

Mistakes - If you're quick you can wipe off Archival Ink before it sets using a stamp cleaner...not sure if it works with Staz-on or not but I would think if you used the Staz-on cleaner you could remove that ink as well. Let the cleaner dry before attempting to stamp again.

3. Once you have your images stamped where desired, heat to set. I know both of these inks dry pretty quick but I think setting with heat just helps them cure quicker.

4. Using a Cut & Dry nib, color in desired areas of the images by picking up a bit of ink on the nib and coloring as normal.

5. Again, heat set the ink for a minute or so.

6. This step is very important ~ since we're stamping on something that will be used frequently it is very important to seal your mug. I use Krylons Crystal Clear but you can use any acrylic sealer. You MUST apply the sealer in very light coats or the inks will get a fuzzy look to them. I don't spray the sealer directly on the mug. I spray a light mist slightly above the mug and let the sealer fall onto the glass. You will need 2-3 coats letting the sealer dry between each coat.

Let the mug cure for a day or so.

That's all there is to it!

Now, you can use any images, alphas, text you want...just think of the possibilities!!!

Personalize with a name, favorite subject or poem, etc...

These make great gifts for everyone :)

Mother's Day Gift Idea ~ Bamboo Tile Cuff Bracelet

Hey all!!

Today was a great day ~ we moved the last of the chicks out to their new chicken house which is where they will reside until late fall when they will move in with the "big" chickens (1 1/2 year olds).

This evening Dh and I walked to the field behind our barn to see how the oats were coming along and as we were walking along the fence line we found 3 morel mushrooms!!! If you've never had any they are delish! This is the only time of year they are available and somewhat elusive so we were pleased to have found what we did. (I have a photo of them and will post it tomorrow.) Of course we came right home and fried them up ~ mmmmmmmmmm What a treat :)

Today's gift idea uses bamboo tiles, Archival Ink, a few stamps and a length of jewelry hemp.

To color the tiles I simply rubbed them on the pad of the desired color of Archival Ink. Archival Ink drys fairly fast but I heated each tile to dry it quicker.

Next I stamped a design on each tile using the same color of ink, again heated to dry.

Finally I stamped the letters on each tile. Now this could be any word, name, etc.... Totally up to you what you add to the tiles.

After the tiles were dry I sprayed them with a couple of coats of acrylic sealer to protect the ink and add a bit of gloss.

Once the sealer had dried I strung them on some hemp jewelry cord, braided each end and added a couple of beads for decoration. Honestly the braiding took longer than it did to make the tiles!

You can use any number of tiles you need to vary the length of the bracelet. The width of each tile is approximately 1 inch wide give or take a bit which will give you a pretty good guestimation on how long the finished bracelet will be. For example, mine is just about 8" long. Of course the ties can be used to add additional length if necessary.

So now you have a cool cuff bracelet for your mom or anyone else you might need a gift for :)