As a kid you were given shrinky dinks to over come your boredom when it came to bad weather and not being able to get outside of the house.
Well now you can go back to being a kid again with this fun project.
Now lets learn how to make some shrinky dink jewelry.
Before you go out and buy anything you most know there are three different kinds of paper.
1.Regular white
2.Frosted
3.Printable
They are all 8" by 10" sized sheets.The
frosted and
regular white come with ten sheets. Only the
printable comes with six sheets(so use wisely).
Its better to get them at the craft store then to order online.
They are most likely in the scrapbook or children's craft section.
Printable is the easy way to make shrinky dinks but there is a catch when putting it in the printer. You have to make sure that the rough side is facing the area its going to be printed on. It is not printed on the rough side it will come out very runny and will smudge.
Frosted works best when traced or drawn on and give the dink a stain glass look to it.It also makes really cool Christmas ornaments. Just like the printable paper it also works best on the rough side. It works on both sides of the paper as well.
Regular white is easy to trace but you have to let it dry for a few seconds so it does not run or smudge.
Materials you will need:Jump rings
Hole puncher
Different colored sharpies
Once you have designed your shrinky you will need to punch a hole with you hole puncher. Then you will need to cut out the shape of the shrinky and get ready for baking time.
Now you can use both your regular oven or toaster oven but trust me its easy and simply to just use your toaster oven. Pre-heat your oven from 275*-300* F(which won't take long for the toaster oven).
Now the steps call for a cut rectangle shape from a brown grocery bag but I have done this many time with the grocery bag and all my shrinkys come out stuck to the bag or when I peel them off the paper rips off and gets stuck to the back.
Here is an alternative to the paper bag.
The pan that fits inside the toaster oven works find but don't put the shrinkys on it just yet. Take a rectangle shape of aluminum foil and smooth it over the pan so it is nice and flat.
Then once you have everything ready place your shrinkys in the oven.
Once again it says you can leave it in for 3-5 minutes but I don't suggest it.
Just keep an eye on it but don't freak out at the wonder of its shrinking.
It will uncurl its self and lay flat in just a few seconds.
Now if it appears that one side of the shrinky does not go down flat.
WITHOUT Burning yourself push down so it lays flat.
Turn off your oven and everything cool off for a few minutes.
Once they have cooled down take your jump ring and place through the area you hole punched. Close it with a pair of needle nose pliers and there you have it.
Shrinky dink jewelry for earrings,necklaces and what not.
Thank you
Krista Moreno
