A shrinky plastic project

Readymade magazine sent me a sample of their shrinky sheets awhile back (you know—that Shrinky Dink stuff from when you were a kid). And I've finally gotten around to trying them out. I know I'm going to make Readymade very happy when I say this, but OH MY GOSH, IT'S SO FUN! I used some of my own designs (you might see more soon; stay tuned!), and here's the result.

How to make:
1. Inkjet, draw, or paint on the sheets.
2. Cut them out.
3. Hole-punch them if you want.
4. Bake at 325º for 2 or 3 minutes on a piece of cardboard.

They'll curl up and then flatten out in the oven. After you take them out, you can mash them flat with a spatula when they're still hot if they didn't flatten quite enough. My printouts were about 230% larger than the finished product turned out. I wanted the circles to end up 1.5 inches in diameter, so I printed them at 3.5 inches.

There were two kinds of sheets in the sample kit: white and clear. The photo above shows the white kind. Below are the clear ones followed by a side-by-side comparison.



If you want to make some too, you can buy the sheets in the Readymade store, at Dick Blick, or just google for inkjet shrink film.