tutorial for shrinky dink pins

I got the shrinky urge the other day and made some more shrinky dink pins. I took photos so I could write up a little tutorial. I'm no shrink plastic expert but here's what I know. Also I'd love to start a shrinky dink pin gallery like the wee gallery. I know I've seen some really really cute pins out there. If you've seen some or have some you'd like to add please email me (hillarylang at gmail) and if there's enough interest I'll set up a gallery. And if anyone has any other tips or info to add that'd be great! Please leave us a comment.

1. get some shrink plastic. I bought a Rose Art shrinky dink kit at the Hobby Lobby. You can get shrink plastic at most craft stores, Michaels, Ben Franklin, etc. I know there are different kinds like this kind that you can send through your printer. That looks very cool! Mine is old school, just for drawing on.

2. draw your pictures. I put the tape measure in there for scale. 3/4" seems to be a good average size to start with. I use colored pencils and sharpie fine tip markers. I tried my Sakura pens again but this time realized that they smudge very easily. I had no smudging problems with the sharpies. I drew little faces with the markers and then colored them in with my colored pencils. (just regular old everyday colored pencils) Oh, and color on the rough, not smooth, side of the plastic!

3. cut them out. You can cut right along the drawings or leave a background, the shrinky plastic ends up an opaque milky white.

4. stick em. I've been using Iris Swiss Super Fine 1 1/4" pins that I found in my sewing box. Any pin with a flat head would work fine I'd imagine. Stick the pin through so that the smooth side is on top of the pinhead. That way when you place them upside down on the pinhead in the oven the rough side will be up.

5. cook. I've been following the instructions on my kit: "Preheat oven to 325 F (163 C). Put your creation onto a non-stick cookie sheet with the colored side up. Place in oven and WATCH the baking process. It takes 1-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the cookie sheet. Piece will curl and then flatten out. Bake another 30 seconds then remove. Let cookie tray and art cool for 3 minutes before touching." Mine always take just under 2 minutes. The pins go in standing upright and then come out on their sides. If I cook them too long my pins start to melt/curve. I do a few at a time instead of all of them in case I screw up a batch.

Oh, and I think since this is a craft of the 70s that it helps to do this project in a 70s kitchen like our brown and orange one.

6. all done. about 1/4" now.

7. stick them in your favorite pincushion and admire their cuteness! (this beautiful pincushion was part of my back-tack package)