Shrink Plastic
by Alix with artwork by Sherilyn Hicks

 

Materials

*Shrink Plastic
*Black dye ink pad or black acrylic paint
*For color (your choice of the following)  Prismacolor pencils, acrylic, 213 non porous ink, watercolor pencils
*Sandpaper
*Index paper or cardboard
*Clear embossing powder

Directions

Sand the plastic sheet in horizontally and then vertically. I usually do both sides, but that's optional.

Stamp with your choice of paint or ink and allow it to dry. If using the Ultimate Metallics or Crafters Ink, then put directly into the oven without touching the image. These two inks don't dry very well (if at all) on the plastic.

Color or paint as desired. You can use acrylic based paint or colored pencils. Either the wax based (like Prismacolor) or the watercolor pencils will work. When using the black shrink plastic, there are certain colors among the pencils that do not show up very well. This is because they tend to be more transparent. Yellow or the flesh tones are examples of those colors. Radiant Pearl paint, I feel, may have many uses with the plastic, but it doesn't dry until it's heated.  It gives the design a lot of sparkle.

Place the dry stamped plastic onto the index card or cardboard and put into an oven. You can also use an embossing gun to shrink the plastic, but it has a tendency to blow around.  It's hard to keep it in place without burning yourself.  Heat at 275 to 300 degrees fahrenheidt until it curls up and then lies flat.

Remove from the oven, remove from the card and cover the plastic with clear embossing powder.  Use a heavy hand here, the powder should be at least 1/16 of an inch deep and it seems to work best if it is a little thicker in the middle.  Put the item back on the card and back into the oven until the embossing powder has melted completely.  If the powder didn't cover the piece, you can always sprinkle on more powder and heat again.

Additional tips: 

It is always a good idea to make a ruler with shrink plastic.  This will give you an idea of what size your image will be when it shrinks.

If your image does not lie flat when you remove it from the oven, put a stamp or other piece of wood on top of it while it is still hot to help flatten it.

Experiment with a variety of shrink plastics.  In my experience, I have found there is a lot of distortion with the Aleene's brand.  Circles may come out of the oven as ovals, and squares into rectangles.

--Alix                   

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Copyright 2005-2006 Jacqueline Fitzgerald Graham
Last revised: April 09, 2006.
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