Crafty Author – Shrinky Dinks!

This might bring back some memories for some of you. Back when the world was young and I was in primary school, there was this awesome craft we did using Shrinky Dinks. All the kids drew something, then traced our hands or what-not, on this special paper and then our teacher went to the lounge and shrunk them in the oven! I remember just loving doing that.

Well, despite the fact that the world has entered an entirely new age since then, Shrinky Dinks persist. And for the Crafty Author, they offer an excellent way to create easy, attractive and fast swag that is very swagalicious.

Up at the top of the post you can see some finished versions. I put tiny ones on tiny keychains links, the sort you might put your spare keys on or just hang off your regular keychain. I put the larger ones on a standard sized keychain. Ain’t they cute?

These also make an excellent alternative to the Killer Book Charms if you find that project too daunting. These are far easier.

BONUS: Because my instructions are often looooong and very complete, I’ve added the Super Short Tutorial at the beginning for those who don’t want the full instructions. I find them useless, but some people are more crafty than I and only need the quickie instructions.

Super Short Instructions:

• – Print your images on Shrinky Dink for Inkjets
• – Cut them out and punch a hole in them
• – Shrink them in the oven
• – Sprinkle embossing powder on them and bake them again
• – Brush DuraClear Gloss onto the back side of the Shrinks

Now for the long instructions…..

What You’ll Need:

• – Shrinky Dink for Inkjet Printers – This is important! Don’t get regular Shrinky Dink. Yes, I know regular ones are less than half the cost of inkjet ones, but they won’t work and can mess up your printer by smearing ink everywhere. I don’t get it on Amazon. The price difference isn’t significant from Michael’s, but the Michael’s coupons make me feel like I’ve scored a huge victory, so I buy them that way. Otherwise, it is between 12 and 13 bucks for 6 sheets of the stuff.
• – Your photo-manipulation software, printer and printer ink
• – Image of your front book cover
• – DuraClear Gloss Varnish. Yep, you’re using that stuff again. It’s usually way cheaper at Michael’s, assuming your local one carries it.
• – Small flat edged paintbrush, no wider than a half inch.
• – Embossing powder – I’ve linked to one that is about a gazillion times cheaper than buying at Michael’s. Okay, not a gazillion, but so much that it makes me want to spit. And it turns out that it’s fan-freaking-tastic. I’m fighting the urge to buy a crate of it before someone realizes it’s awesome and jacks up the price. Get the glossy ultra-high clear. Don’t be tempted by holographic or anything. You’ll see why in another picture, because yeah, #LFMF. I’m easily distracted and click-happy. I’m sure I’ll figure out what to do with all that other embossing powder.
• – Toothpicks
• – Hole punch – This is more important than it sounds. Don’t use that cheap-o one that creates rough holes because those will become exaggerated after you shrink them. I went ahead and bought a good one and am very glad I did. Major difference in the final product, plus I use it for all sorts of Crafty Author projects. You need a 1/4 inch one. But I think I might try for one at 3/8ths of an inch as well soon.
• – Whatever findings you’ll need to attach them. For keyrings on Amazon, you can easily wind up with crap. These are the ones I buy and I’ve been super happy with them, but I’m not entirely sure they come from the same supplier every time. They are much more expensive at Michael’s! For the 12 mm rings, I have to get them from Michael’s. I just close my eyes and it hurts less to be gouged like that. They’re also fun to attach to a ribbon as bookmarks and all sorts of stuff. (Let me know what creative usage you come up with.)

 Create Your Images:

• – Just like in the tutorial for Killer Book Charms, you’ll be using photo-manipulation software but this should be easy. Open up 2 new images, being sure to leave the pixels per inch at something like 300 and the size at 8.5″ x 11″ and a transparent background.
• – Open up your high resolution image of your book cover. The one you uploaded to Kindle should be just fine.
• – Resize your cover (but don’t save it like that!) to three inches tall. A three inch book cover makes about a 1.5 inch tall charm including the borders and white space above it. That’s just right for key-chains.
• – Copy that and paste it as a new layer onto one of your newly created blank images.
• – Do your brightness and contrast adjustments now. Lighten by 50 and increase contrast by 10 for best results. That won’t work exactly with every book cover though, so keep track of what you do so you can adjust the next round if you need to.
• – Slide that down to the left corner of your image once you’re happy. Then copy and paste that image, the one already adjusted, and fit four across the paper in three lines, leaving a half inch of white space above each row so you have space for your holes to be punched.
• – Now you’ve got about two inches of space at the top that is bugging you, right? Go ahead and copy/paste another book cover and rotate that bad boy to slide into the top sideways. You should be able to fit two of them. (I tried some smaller ones, but they are really very tiny when they’re done. Like, earring small.)
• – Once you’ve got that down pat, be sure to save it both as the native file format and and as a .jpg. Now, open the .jpg version and copy the entire thing and paste it to your other new and blank image. Then “mirror” the image so that you are looking at the page backwards. Also lower the opacity so you can just barely see the images. That’s so that you can format whatever you’re going to create for the back side and the papers will line up in the printer correctly.
• – Create your back side. I just used a simple web address. Remember to lighten the first one and then copy from there.
• – Delete the layer that held your backwards front side from the second image or else it will print that way.
• – Test print on card stock. Admire it.

Print, Cut and Bake:

• – Once you’re happy with your layout and have successfully printed a test page, go ahead and print on the precious Shrinky Dink paper. I like to be sure the rougher feeling side is facing toward the ink.
• – Don’t touch it! Just leave it in the printer for about fifteen minutes before snatching it up and seeing what your two bucks for a single sheet got you. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees F while you wait.
• – Cut out your shrinks and then punch holes in them.
• – Be sure to put parchment paper on your cookie sheet. TIP: Put a folded double layer of parchment on the cookie sheet such that the shrinks will sort of be lifted off the sheet. I got less deformation that way. Not sure if that will work for everyone.
• – Only put a few on each time, with plenty of room between them. You’ll need to watch them like a hawk so put the oven light on. Put the cookie sheet in, then watch in horror as they curl up and get all weird, then breath again when they start to straighten out. Wait thirty seconds after they uncurl before taking them out so they get that last shrinkage in. If yours did it faster than a minute, then your oven might be too hot. They can get brown if they overcook and also brittle.
• – As soon as you take them out of the oven, press down on them with a towel to flatten them the rest of the way. If yours are deformed or skewed, they might not be fully done. Slip them back in for another minute and see if that helps. Not all shrinkies will turn out perfectly though, some will be deformed.
• – Set them aside to cool on a flat surface while you do the rest.

Shine ’em up: 

• – You’re going to bake your shinks again, this time sprinkled with embossing powder. That will give it a hard, shiny finish. While the shine is pretty, it’s also needed. One of the downsides of Shrinky Dinks is that the ink from printers will eventually rub right off, so a finish of some kind is needed to protect it from the rubbing of keys or what have you. The caveat to this is that you can only use embossing powder on one side of your shrinks, the other will just get some quick brush coats of DuraClear, so pick the side with the images for your embossing powdering.
• – This can be messy and annoying. The easiest way to do it is to have your parchment covered cookie sheet on top of your stove (since it will be hot between batches) and a piece of wax paper on the counter close to it. Put a crease into the wax paper at the center and then flatten it again (you’ll see why later). Put your open jar of embossing powder on the center of the wax paper with the upturned lid closest to you. Hold the shrink over the open jar and sprinkle tiny pinches across the surface of the shrink. You’ll have enough when you can barely see the colors of the image through the powder.
• – Using your jar lid as a spill tray, put the shrink onto the cookie sheet. Sprinkles of embossing powder have likely escaped onto the parchment. Use a paint brush to slide those to a corner of the parchment. Embossing powder will re-liquefy every time it’s heated, so it will glue future shrinks to your parchment (#LFMF moment).
• – Only put a few on the sheet at a time. Your shinks will re-soften as well so you need to be able to handle the number you have in a few seconds. Pop it back in the oven and the very moment you see the last bit of embossing powder melt, take them out and use a toothpick to poke down or flatten any edges that have tried to curl up.
• – Let them cool for a moment, then set them onto something flat and cool to finish drying. You will have a lovely, raised shell of hard, shiny clear finish when done.
• – Put a couple of thin coats of DuraClear gloss on the reverse side of your shrink to protect what you’ve got there.
• – Insert key rings and voila…insta-swag!
• NOTE: The crease in the wax paper is so that you can easily pour all the embossing powder you spilled back into the jar. 🙂