inspired ideas

Did you know that you can print directly on specially made Shrinky Dink material? Look for the package (shown on the left) on the shelves of your local craft store. It's often hidden among unrelated things so ask an associate for help. The package shows some awfully cheesy stuff but you can print ANYTHING you want on them. Just imagine how much fun this would be to shrink your own collages, logos, nametags, original artwork...there's no limit to what you can do.

Click here to download the ready to shrink graphics shown in the jewelry here. This is just to get you started shrinky dinkying. The vintage image is courtesy of Luella of Delicate Beauty who offers cds of thousands of Victorian photos and images on ebay.

Follow the instructions in the package and have fun! It's such a delight to watch things shrink!

Here are some tips for happy shrinky dinking...

Be sure to really lighten your graphics before you print them out. It will look washed out when you print it out but when it shrinks, all that ink gets together and has a party. The graphics I've shared here have been pre-lightened but you may decide to lighten them even more. Play around with it using your graphics program to see how it works.

Punch holes in the shrinky dinks before you shrink them...just be aware that the hole too will shrink.

You can use paper punching tools to cut out perfect circles or tag shapes

Try not to open the oven door...it will make too much heat escape and shrinking will take longer. Oh, but it's so much fun to peek your nose in, I know!

Use a stack of scrap paper to flatten out the shrunken dinks as soon as they come out of the oven. This will be your only chance to do so after they've shrunk.

Try decoupaging on the backside of the finished shrinky dink

Sometimes images bubble up or double over. It's just part of the fun...try not to get bent out of shape over it.

Have fun! And show me your shrunken dinks!