SHRINKY DINKS PLASTIC   Written by Design Team Member - Sharon Jeffs

Shrink Dink plastic or Shrink plastic is a great way to make individual and unique embellishments for your scrapbooking page. There are many different types available as well as different colours. The two main types you can get are –

• sanded
• un-sanded

The unsanded is fantastic for creating little embellishments such as buckles, flower buttons, etc. Once you have shrunk the shape you can even apply paint to the top surface for added effect.

Sanded plastic however, is the most useable as it can be written on, coloured and stamped.

Some examples of how I have used shrink plastic –

• Use a large letter stencil to trace and cut out letters, once shrunk you have letters similar to KI icicles. Put a hole in the top before shrinking and you can hang them on your page.
• Cut out a tag shape and stamp an image.
• Use jumbo shape punches (I use the Retro Flower) to create cute embellishments.

(I love to thread these to the background using a bead in the centre or a fibre knot, etc)

• Make inspiration plaques by printing directly onto the sanded surface (Make sure you leave inkjet printed work to dry for a couple of hours before shrinky then the heat will heat set the ink).
• Cut into tile shapes and print letters onto each one.

How to use -

1. Firstly, if you bought unsanded and intend to apply colour then you will need to lightly sand the top surface evenly until it appears opaque.

2. Next, cut out the shrink plastic into the desired shapes you would like allowing that the plastic shrinks to 1/3 of its original size. Eg. If you want a 3x3 tile then you need to make a 9x9 square. Don’t forget to add a hole if you want to hang your shape. A standard stationary hole punch will do the trick.

3. Create your design.

• If making a letter, I find it best to mark a mirror image onto the sanded side of the plastic. That way, when you have shrunk the shape you will have the letter on the glossy side and the image is protected by a top layer of plastic.
• When stamping directly onto the plastic it is recommended to use permanent stamp pads such as Stazon or Brilliance pads, however, I’ve used pigment pads and after leaving them to dry for a couple of hours they’ve still been successful.
• A good tip I have found when stamping pictures is to stamp the image on the glossy side of the plastic using a Stazon pad then colouring the image in on the sanded side using texta’s. When the plastic is shrunk I have lovely clear defined black lines with no smudging or colour runs!
• Colouring you image can be done using the following items –

* Colour pencils

* Tombow texta’s or similar

* Aquarells

* Chalks

* permanent inks – parchcraft inks are perfect!

4. Bake/shrink your plastic using one of a few different methods.

Oven – Instructions on the pack.

2. Hair dryer/Heat gun – Place the plastic onto a heat proof surface, sanded side up. Apply heat directly above your shape and watch as it curls and contorts before settling down to a smaller shape. Occasionally the edges of the shape may stick together, if this happens, simply pull them apart while still hot. You may also need to flatten the shape before cooling by placing something flat over the top and applying pressure.

Here are some examples of what I have made using Shrinky Dink plastic:

Below are two examples of how I have used these on layouts: