These charms can be used for earrings, necklaces, or whatever you'd like. They are made out of plastic recycled from a to-go container (#6 plastic). The directions below are for 2 matching ones, which could be earrings. Because plastics & pens vary, you might start out with a test piece so see how much your plastic will shrink, and how your colors come out. Or just jump right in! It's only trash.
If you want more ideas and info, I did a whole bunch of experiments on my blog:
EDIT: and I did a Christmas ornament tutorial here: Santa Shrinky Ornaments:
This was the first project I tried, and I've updated the instructions based on what I learned on the best techniques.
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Signing UpStep 1Materials
Plastic: It needs to be marked #6. Many to-go containers seem to work. Look for the number inside the recycling triangle. I used salad to-go boxes from my local pizza place.
Sharpie Markers in a variety of light colors, plus black.
Scissors
Hole punch
Toaster (or regular) oven, preheated to around 250 degrees F
Polyurethane for sealing (optional)
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(I tried importing some shrinky dink plastic, but it was seized at customs)
We also don't have those little lables, Our plastic container are bare. Maybe I just need to put this on my to-do list when I travel overseas.
Thanks,
R
If you spray too heavy or too close, or yes, it could get interesting.
It's nice too, because it's dry in about 10 minutes.
:-D
I had to use a normal oven but it took minutes until they did anything at all. Such a long time made me weary to keep them in too much longer after they fell the first time.
I would guess your plastic was too thick or just manufactured in a different way.
Try again with another sample. (and always do a test piece with scrap prior to spending a ton of time on making something cool, to find out your material doesn't perform as expected.)
thx!
That's why I recommend doing this in a ventilated area, or even outside with a toaster oven you don't care about. To me the risk of doing this very occasionally is acceptable. But of course everyone should use their own judgement.
If you don't want to use #6, you could use actual purchased Shrink Plastic (aka "shrinky dinks") to the same effect..
Just thought I'd let ya know! :-)