Shrink Art Final Thoughts...

​Working with shrink art this month has been quite a learning curve.  I remember making shrinky dinks when I was a little kid- but I'm 38 now so that was a long time ago.  I watched a few tutorials on-line and jumped right in practicing on recycled plastic with my fashion camp kids.  I would not say that I have mastered the material; however I have definitely improved and practiced.

A few things that I have noticed while working with this new (to me) material that I want to share in case anyone out there is also interested in playing around with shrink art.

(BTW- CLICK HERE to go directly to my series if you don't feel like searching 'round the ol' web site)
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Yay, recycled jewelry!

Recycled Plastic:
I used a variety of plastics, from recycled to-go containers to special sanded surfaces ordered from Amazon.  If you can find a sturdy clear plastic container with the #6 by the recycling sign, go with that.  That seems to shrink pretty quick and even and is really thick once it cools.  I used that for making jewelry with the fashion camp kiddos and we all loved it.

(Also note, for that plastic I used a heat gun because I had not yet purchased the small convection oven.)  

There were little to no fumes with the convection oven compared to the heat gun. 
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If you opt for the heat gun- VENTILATE! (ventilate in general...but especially with the heat gun)

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CLEAR PLASTIC:
I bought some basic, clear, shrinky dink film from Michael's with a coupon and really liked it.  In fact, it was my favorite.  Smooth surface- had a real 'stained glass' look when completed.  At my Michaels they sold two types of clear plastic, one was around $7 and the other was around $14.  (I used a coupon, of course, so got them for 40-60% off those prices)  I read on the packaging of the more expensive pack that you could actual add images via printer...but I didn't get into all that.  Also, the cheaper packet was pretty much the same- just marketed more to kids (there was a charm bracelet on the front and the color scheme was youthful) But really- same stuff.  Buy the cheaper one. 

​CONS: I was limited by what Sharpie Markers I had, with no option to go over them with Prismacolor.

From Michael's- these were my fav!

Ordered from Amazon- not bad.

​SANDED PLASTIC
I also ordered some sanded plastic sheets...and I have mixed reviews.  I like the way the Sharpie colors looked on the frosted surface, seemed even brighter.  And because one side was sanded, I could use Prismacolor colored pencils on top of the Sharpie for a little more color depth.  But once baked the surface was pretty grainy on the sanded side- not too bad if you flip the piece to the back, though.  Baking the sanded plastic was fine, no real issues.

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​WHITE PLASTIC
This was my least favorite plastic to work with.  By least favorite...I mean that I hated it.  It seemed super-streaky when I was going over it with Sharpie; I am sure due to the opacity.  (Especially when you compare it to the sanded and clear plastics) Not only that- I didn't like the way that it behaved during the shrinking process.  When I baked the white plastic it really seemed to shrink fast, and curl almost too fast for me to intervene with a spatula or chopsticks, which was my 'save' for the other plastics.  Not only that, but I wasn't crazy about the thickness of this plastic compared to the others.

Gurl, NO.

Going forward, if I create more shrink art pieces I will work with clear or sanded- or heck, maybe just the recycled plastic!

​I enjoyed drawing the pieces more than the actual baking process, to tell you the truth.  I mean, the first batch or two I was like, 'oooooh, ahhhhh'. But after that- kinda felt like a chore. Keep in mind I don't like to even cook food (I prefer cleaning to cooking) so that might be part of it.  I was always happy with just the pieces pre-bake...then stressed during the baking/shrinking process...and then many times a little frustrated after it was all said and done.  I re-did almost my entire first week of work because I was so shocked by how much the pieces actually shrank...and after that I just tried my best to 'fix' any issues as they happened- hence my chopstick and spatula method for trying to jump in an help guide the shrinking process.  I didn't catch it a few times; there were some pieces that started to fold onto themselves in the convection oven.  I thought about re-doing them...then just decided to let it be...and to let it be a part of the learning process.

The shrink just got REAL.

Am I am master shrink artist? '_______________ (insert curse word of your choice) NO!'  Will I keep making shrink art?  Yeah, probably.  Mainly for small jewelry pieces.
 
And that brings me to this-how do I display them?  I decided early on NOT to punch holes in my daily works, I was adamant that I did NOT want them to become pendants, etc.  I wanted them to be small works of art.  In my mind I think I was thinking of some type of clear Plexiglas display, so that the light could shine through.  But then the issue is still how to attach them even if I find the frame that I want.  I know that I can always attach a hanger/wire with some clear glue...so it is still an option.  And then a tiny voice offered up another idea.

​Nope, not a tiny voice in my head...a real one- my private art student, Dakota.  She mentioned they would make fun ornaments.  I started to envision the gals with the flicker of white lights behind them...and loved the idea.  I usually have a tree in my studio- looks like I have some one-of-a-kind ornaments to hang on it this year!

​So...I did learn some new things this month.  When I wasn't stressing about the shrink factor and the fact that I wasn't posting final pics throughout the process...yeah, in between all that I had fun.

My lil' muse!