Original Shrinkles, Shrink Art Sheets Black Classroom Pack for 5 years to 99 years (50 Sheets)

Product Information

Shrinky Dinks were invented in 1973 by Betty Morris and Kate Bloomberg, two housewives in Brookfield, Wisconsin, as a Cub Scout project with their sons.

You can combine stamping and die cutting with shrink plastic to great effect in your card making as in this card from our pal Sarah Jackman Read at Kraftdesigns. Shrink art, Shrinky Dinks, or Shrinkles is a toy and activity kit consisting of sheets of polystyrene which can be cut with standard household scissors. Before using my oven for food I turned it on to 400 degrees and let it bake for about 20 minutes to get rid of the smell. I think these zipper pulls would make the cutest Valentine’s -attach a note that says “You pull at my heart! We have had the best results by keeping the bulk of the design as outlines, and only filling some of the shapes with solid colour.Check out many more cool adult craft ideas and a comprehensive list of the types of crafts you can do at home, including these easy air dry clay ideas. Adding colour allows you to test out techniques with everything from gel, glitter and felt pens, to alcohol markers, coloured pencils and even wax crayons.

As soon as the image has finished shrinking, quickly place an acrylic block or ceramic tile on top of it to help flatten any curled edges. My son needed to make his 5 1/2 inches long and I (an adult must do this part–it is hot and you must work fast! Prior to heating, the plastic sheets can be colored with felt-tip pens, acrylic paint, colored pencils, etc. If there are no specific guidelines that comes with your shrink plastic sheets, this is what we would use. The shrink plastic is quite brittle, so it is best to use small, sharp scissors for this, though most rough edges will be hidden once shrunk.

You can then use any colouring materials you like – we are using food old colouring pencils in our tutorial! Usually, the plastic sheet curls up at first but will flatten out as you continue heating and the shrinking becomes more uniform across the shape. When heated with the Easy-Bake Oven, a conventional oven, or a heat gun, the plastic shrinks and becomes thicker and more rigid, while retaining the colored design. It was the 70s (before computers, tablets and mobile phones); we were visiting relatives, and the adults wanted the kids out of the way whilst they talked and drank.