I have been wanting to make Shrinky Dinks and then, last week, fate stepped in. My friend, the art teacher at the junior high, bought a craft oven. She is planning to make Shrinky Dinks with her students next year and she wanted to do some testing. I jumped at the opportunity to experiment!
I used frosted plastic sheets and drew on the frosted side. I tried Pitt pens as well as colored pencils with stamps. Here are the sheets before baking.
The pieces were baked in the craft oven for 20 minutes where they shrink to one-third of their original size. I was so excited to see the results and here they are.
The color pencils turned out so vibrant, which I am really happy about. I decided that I like the clear side better than the frosted side, which means that the writing is all backwards. I still think those pieces look good though. I plan to wire wrap the small written pieces into some sort of jewelry. The rectangular, colorful pieces will be links in a bracelet (I hope).
My friend has let me keep her craft oven over the summer while the school is closed. I will be in Shrinky Dink making heaven. As part of my next test I plan to use tracing paper to attempt backwards writing. I also want to use markers to see how the color compares to colored pencils. So many experiments to try!
-christina
