Fun With Shrink Plastic ~ AMNW March 26, 2009
Demo by Shirley Rufener

Are the kids getting a little bored? Then why not let them try a
new and exciting craft to keep those little fingers busy! There's
a new type of shrink plastic out there that can be used in your
inkjet printer. The kids can find pictures online of their favorite
stars and characters, enlarge them on the computer and print
them out. Then the real fun begins as they can creatively color
them in. The pens for this new type of plastic are different
than standard shrink plastic. Everything you'll need
is in the list below.

You can now watch the demo online at

AM Northwest Website

Things You Will Need

*This show's products are all available online at
CreateForLess.com (see link below)

~Grafix White 8 1/2" x 11" Ink Jet Shrink Film
~Permapaque dual point Paint Markers(by Sakura)
~IDenti-Pen dual-point permanent markers (Sakura)
~KOI watercolor travel set (by Sakura)
~Top Boss Tinted Embossing Stamp Pad
~Melt Art UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel) powder
~EK Success dual-temperature Coloriser heat tool
~Small pointed scissors (or kids scissors for small children)
~Metal pieces like zipper pulls, ball chain keychains or earring hooks
~Self adhesive magnets
~Piece of medium weight cardboard or parchement baking paper
~Piece of cardstock
~A pencil


For over 50,000 discounted products including almost everything
under the sun for your creative projects, you may visit the

Create For Less Website

The Sakura website is full of ideas and information for their
wonderful pens and other quality products. To see the art
and products you can go to the

Sakura Website

Here's a great website to print free images,many of today's designs were here

Hellokids Website

and images for younger kids are at

Clip Art & Crafts

Basic Inkjet Shrink Film Instructions

TIPS: Make sure to cut out your shape and punch any holes BEFORE
you heat the plastic. Wait until your piece is flat or slighty
curved if you'd like, before stopping the heating process.

1. First, you will need to find the pictures on your computer that
you want to print and shrink. I like to search for "kids coloring
pages". If they are small, enlarge them to about 5" x 7" so you can
place two images on one page. This size shrinks down to
the right size for magnets, jewelry, zipper pulls or key chains.
The picture shrinks about 50% so half the size. As you see in
the car design above, I have added a tab with a circle for
a hole. I wanted this to be on a ball chain when finished.


2. Print your images onto the inkjet shrink film (regular
shrink plastic will not work) and let the ink dry 5 minutes.
Color in your picture with markers or watercolor paints so the
colors are very light. This is because the colors darken and
intensify when they shrink. You can blend Permapaque makers
right on the plastic by overlapping the colors like on
the camillian. Don't worry, the marker tips are easily cleaned by
scribbling out on paper to get rid of the unwanted color.

3. Cut out your shape with scissors. MAKE SURE to puch the hole if
you want to hang your poject. Use a standard approx. 1/4" hole
punch for ball chains and zipper pulls, or a 1/8" hole punch for
earrings or a necklace/bracelet charm or pendant.


4. Now, ask an adult to shrink your plastic while you watch, using
a heat tool while the plastic is on a cloth covered ironing board.
Or you can place it on medium weight cardboard (or baking parchment
paper) in a pre-heated oven at 325o. Heat until flat or about
2-3 minutes. If it is still curled, press a piece of cardboard and
a pot holder on the top of the plastic and press flat. I personally
like a little curve to my pieces so I let them cool on a pencil.
Let it cool before touching it!


5. You can now choose to make your pieces shiny with embossing
powder. Fold a piece of cardstock in half, press the embossing
ink pad all over your project surface and set onto the cardstock.
Sprinkle the powder over the piece and carefully lift and tip the
excess powder off. Set it aside and allow the folded paper to act
as a funnel to put all the extra powder back into the container.
Place project back on the cardstock and have an adult heat it
with the heat tool. When it looks bumpy and shiny stop heating.
The car photo shows you what the bumpy stage looks like.

6. Sprinkle more powder on top while the powder is still very
hot and repeat. This time heat it until it gets shiny and
very smooth. Let it cool before touching it!

7. Here is the finished project, ready to be added to a frame (see
the project right above the "Things You Will Need" list).

Other Ideas You Can Make

You can make some fun jewelry as well. Here I have used a mosaic
design for a pair of fish hook earrings and colored
in with warm tones.

This pin was easy as well. I used two mosaic designs stacked on
top of each other and punched three
holes near the bottom edge so I could add beaded head pins for
extra pizazz! I glued a pinback on the back near the top edge,
vertically with Aleene's 7800 adhesive and let dry overnight.



Here are close up pictures of two Disney magnets from a free
coloring page website.