Shrink Plastic Blues

Last weekend was busy, and I was kind of looking forward to today, when I could just settle into some new creating! I wanted to try shrink plastic and had some new stamps I was dying to SHRINK.



I had seen it before in a few magazines, mainly the Somerset Workshop that was out recently...the pink one. I loved the author's ideas, don't have it in front of me or I'd give her credit. Her necklace was just my style and I had to try one of my own.



Well, I've decided it's not for me. LOL I did fine with the stamping part...couldn't find my chalks, so I used my powdered metallic paints instead...they worked pretty well, but they would smear easily if I accidentally touched the stamped image.
Here's the result of the ones I did:



If you try it, be sure to use LARGE rubber stamps. YOu can also buy some that you can print designs on right off of your computer too...the inkjet type. The thing is, when you shrink the design, it REALLY SHRINKS and turned out a lot smaller than I'd expected. I used stamps that were about 3-4" long and they worked a lot better than anything else I tried. I guess if you want to make small buttons, it's fine to use smaller ones, but you really have to have super vision to see the details.


My conclusion is, I don't enjoy the process and I won't be doing it any more. For one thing, I hated the smell of the plastic burning...same thing happened when I tried soldering. Not for me either, although I do love the result(not mine, but what I see other people do!). I guess I worry about those smells and the chemicals, plus I'm sure I'd eventually end up burning myself either with the soldering gun or the heating tool I used to shrink the plastic.

I'm glad I tried both of them though. At least I know now that they aren't my cup of tea.