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It may seem strange but the very first time I played with Shrinky Dinks was this week. I never played with them as a kid which my dad thought was strange considering “your mother was always melting one thing or another that wasn’t food in the oven when you were growing up”. Sadly, Shrinky Dinks weren’t on our menu.
So here I am in my thirties and I bought two different type of the things out of the kid section at the craft store. What more? I was absolutely freakin’ giddy and started playing with those babies within minutes of coming through the door.
My first creation are these too cute bird earrings. Fortunately I had some foresight and went through the catalog of birds and eggs at the Graphics Fairy and found two pics I wanted to use. Had I not done that who knows what would have happened. I’d probably have been printing up every darn thing I could find.
For this project you will need:
- Shrinky Dinks for Inkjet Printers
- Printer
- Oven
- Pliers
- 2 jump rings
- 2 earring findings
- Seed beads
- 2 head eye pins
Take your shrinky dinks and run them through your printer. I used this bird and this bird from the Graphics Fairy but I made them black and white…
Be sure to make your images washed out – as they shrink up they will get darker.
Cut them out of the plastic, taking care because it can be kind of brittle. On my second bird I accidentally broke off the foot, so I wound up cutting them off the fella’ above, too so they would match.
Use a hole punch where you’ll want your earrings to connect.
Before you print you’ll need to figure up the math because they shrink down to 1/3rd their size. I thought I did the math right but my birds are actually a bit too big for my liking though they aren’t too big for everyone (I don’t care for big, big earrings but some do).
Put in the oven per the package directions and keep a close eye. Mine said 3-5 minutes and they were done in 3 on the nose which didn’t allow me much time to sing my cool shrinky dink song… (it was unimpressive, anyway) Let these hot little suckers cool before proceeding.
Take your pin and string on about 10 seed beads. Take your pliers and roll the end up into a circle, but don’t close it all of the way, yet.
Put your earring finding into the loop you made and then close up.
Use your jump ring to connect your shrinky dinks and the end of your earring. Close the jump ring up and these babies are ready to squawk. Was that awful? It was, wasn’t it?
Hope your Thursday is fantastic!
That's unfortunate that your song got cut short, but I'm glad that your earrings worked out in the end!
Mine said 3-5 minutes and they were done in 3 on the nose which didn't allow me much time to sing my cool shrinky dink song…On my second bird I accidentally broke off the foot, so I wound up cutting them off the fella' above, too so they would match.
I absolutely love the lurid lobster it's just different enough to be a little bit odd in an amazing way! Thanks for sharing :)
I finally got round to trying this out! I didn't think my earrings looked nearly as good as your ones, but I was quite pleased with the necklace… Thanks for the inspiration!
Tiny teapots and lurid lobsters: shrink plastic experiments
Hey, Lauren. I did some research and found this post about alternatives to Shrinky Dinks. The one who posted the question is also from South Africa! I hope that this helps :)
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=61293.0
I am from South Africa and am quite intrigued by what a 'shrinky dink' is. I've never heard of them and am wondering what materials are used. Looks really cool by the way :)
I've heard about using food wrappers but never tried it. Maybe that will be my next shrinky adventure! And I'm sure you were lovely in your brooch! :)
Amazing, amazing, amazing! Also in my 30s and now totally inspired and off to the craft section of the toy shop at the first possible opportunity…
(As a child, the closest I got to this was putting crisp packets into the oven and watching them shrink. Though I seem to recall I did wear one miniature Skips pack as a brooch once!)
Thanks, Caitlin!
Funny, I use a bird drawing book and trace them onto the Frosted Ruff'N'Ready shrinky dinks, then use Sibley's bird guide to draw/color in the details. Each takes about 1 hour- and you just print the dang things out. Who would know?! Amazing. Super cute, btw.
That is very kind, Stuart. I am sure she will love them!
Very unusual! Will make some for the girlfriend, think she would be most impressed :)
Thanks, Armande. I'm matchy, matchy in a lot of ways – but not with shoes, earrings or accessories apparently! :)
Cool and unusual earrings! I love how they are each different and yet they are clearly a matching set.