In the Name of the Moon

Shrinky Dinks.

If you don't know what these are you're possibly too young for quite a few things, or you spend too much time on a phone/computer/electronic device and what are you doing on my blog? I'm kidding. I live on my computer too. Don't worry. I assume if you are here you're looking for a craft. A simple one at that.

Well you can't get any simpler than Shrinky Dink charms. Seriously it's very simple. However it does take a little precision.
For the record this is a new craft to me. I had no idea what I was doing. Be WARNED: DO some research first. I'm still perfecting this as I go because I didn't look things up.

I had to learn the hard way:
to lighten up the brightness of my images or they bleed and get really dark when they shrink.
that if I want a certain size charm then I may need to make my images bigger.
that my printer hates the shrinky dink papers size that comes in the little Joann's craft refill packets.
touching the image will smudge it.
finding a proper sealer or it'll fade

Anyway, lets begin. Find a picture that maximizes your sheet of plastic.
I used a rip from the sailor moon games so I'd have little 8bit figures.
I then opened them in gimp cuz I'm too poor for photoshop lol and brightened the image. for me my chosen number was 111 but it might be different for you.
After brightnening the image I resized it till it looked like it would print. This might take some work on your part. Everyone's printer is different and I can't figure out how to set my margins for mine.

Once it was set to a decent size and I didn't feel like my printer would cut it off in a weird place I sent it to print.
A lot of people online will say you can only use this or that type, but I use the generic refill packets from Joann's crafts cuz it was the easiest to get a hold of. I'll be looking into finding bigger sheets though.

After it's printed you'll have to trim it. Make sure you hole punch first or your might make a mistake like I did and cut your edges too short leaving no room for a punch. With the punch already in it'll be easy to cut around it.

After all the trimming is done the heating can begin. Lay your pieces out on a baking sheet. For now I'm using a pizza sheet. Not such a great option really cuz the edges curve but it works. A flat sheet is best. Put a piece of paper on it and make sure your put your cut pieces with the rough side down or the plastic might stick to the paper.

As the pieces go in the over at 350 degrees you'll notice they'll curl in on themselves and even flip. Don't freak out this is all how it works lol.

When they look as flat as they'll get or they stop shrinking pull them out and try to get something heavy on top of them quick. I haven't managed to perfect this yet so mine still curl a bit. The baking part takes me about 1 maybe 2 minutes? However all ovens differ so play around.

When they are done a cooled then you can put little o rings on them for necklaces or what not.

Have fun!

As always, Feel free to ask questions, leave comments, etc. I"m always up for a chat!