Shrinky Dinks Creative Pack 10 Sheets Frosted White Kids Art and Craft Activity

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Polystyrene is actually quite difficult to recycle, so reusing it for a project like this is a great way to keep it out of landfills! How to Identify #6 Plastic for DIY Shrinky Dinks

I always loved making Shrinky Dinks when I was a kid. I remember standing by the toaster oven with my sister watching the little plastic sheets curl up and melt. Such a fun craft to make. It seemed magical to me. Be super careful, since they’ll be hot. You’ll want to let the cool for a few minutes before trying to handle them. Remember to make sure you punch a hole in your item BEFORE you shrink it if you want it to have a hole in the end. I used to forget that as a kid. I’m sure you could drill a hole, but punching before is far simpler. There are lots of ways to shape and add designs to shrink plastic, including die-cutting, hand-drawing and stamping. Adding colour allows you to test out techniques with everything from gel, glitter and felt pens, to alcohol markers, coloured pencils and even wax crayons. On top of creating perfect personalised embellishments, you’ll also discover that the mysterious shrinking process provokes childlike delight every time, whilst producing elegant and sophisticated results! Shrinky Dinks can be made from #6 plastic. #6 plastic is the classification for Polystyrene (aka Styrofoam).

More like the shrinky dinks tutorial

As I said above, you’re likely to find #6 plastic that can be used for DIY Shrinky Dinks in take out containers. And don’t forget about making handprint keychains! They can make great gifts for mother’s day, father’s day, grandparent’s day, and more!

When using recycled #6 plastic, you’re likely to only find smooth surfaces. That’s why you’ll need permanent markers for this project. Don’t freak out if your DIY Shrinky dinks start to curl up. That’s perfectly normal. They’ll uncurl again.Make sure your plastic is really clean and dry before getting started, especially if you’re using old take out containers.

Now you’ll want to arrange your designs on a sheet pan, with a sheet of parchment paper underneath them. Have you made DIY Shrinky Dinks? What did you do with them? I’d love to hear the answers in the comments! Tiny designs have more possibility of the sides touching each other when they curl up in the heat. So keep this in mind when drawing. I’m super excited to teach you where to find this special plastic and how to use it to make your own DIY Shrinky Dinks! Keep in mind, colors will be more intense when the designs shrink up, so use that knowledge to your advantage.I remember my grandmother melting white Styrofoam cups in the oven enough to make them look like hats. I think she did something for Mother’s Day with them! I’ve already told you where to find #6 plastic for DIY Shrinky Dinks, so that shouldn’t be a problem. Depending on the size of your shrinky dink, heating and shrinking process will only take around 30 seconds to a minute with a heat gun, but it’s important to make sure all areas of the shrink plastic have fully shrunk to keep your shape flat, so we recommend heating for a full minute, move the tweezers around so that they don’t leave a mark on the area that you’re holding. If using an oven, we’d recommend baking for about 4 minutes before you take it out, and you can still watch the shrinking happening through the oven door! What if my shrinky dink is not flat? Recently I learned that the magic of Shrinky Dinks (Shrink E Dink or Shrink A Dink as they’re sometimes known) is that they use a special type of plastic for their special shrinking sheets, and that this type of plastic is also used for a lot of other of things. Shrinky dinks are made with plastic you draw on and then shrink in the oven. You can use plastic takeout containers to make homemade shrinky dinks that are just like the ones you buy at the craft store. It’s environmentally friendly to use something you already have around the house instead of throwing it into the landfill.

PS: polystyrene is used in takeout food containers. It has been found to leach styrene–a neurotoxin and possible human carcinogen–and has been banned in cities like Portland, Ore. and San Francisco. Okay, so there is a downside to the craft! Using a toaster oven outside might be the best thing to do!We’ve filmed a video guide for our shrinky dinks tutorial. here you can see both the beginner and the advanced projects being made. If you prefer written steps with photos, we have these for you in this guide too. Just scroll down to the How to make shrinky dinks: Beginner heading for the step by step written guide. Where to buy shrinky dinks It won’t take very long for them to shrink up, only about 2 to 3 minutes, so I DO NOT recommend walking away from your oven. I found some at my local Dollar Tree, when I bought an aluminum pan to bake brownies in to bring to an event. The lid that came with it was mainly a nice, flat piece of #6 plastic. You’ll need a good pair of scissors to cut out your shapes and you can also use a hole puncher if you’re planning to make your DIY shrinky dinks into charms. And don’t forget about Halloween. You can make some super cute Halloween shrink art with these fun and free printable patterns.