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Hi, my name is Katie Crooks.
I'm a Public Programs Coordinator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery.
Today, I'm going to show you how to make shrink art using shrink plastic.
Back in--I believe it was 1973--is when Shrinky Dinks, which is a name-brand form of this craft,
was invented by two housewives.
It was for a Cub Scout craft for their kids and was marketed ever since.
You can buy all types of shrink plastic online, and I'm going to show you some of the different things you can do with it.
However, make sure that you always follow the instructions that come with whatever brand of shrink plastic that you use.
To be safe, make sure that you follow your manufacturer's instructions when using a heating device to create your shrink art.
Today, you'll see that we are going to be using a toaster oven,
so make sure that you read your manual and know how to properly operate your toaster oven so no one gets burned.
I've already read through my instructions on my shrink plastic, but make sure to double-check yours.
So what you're going to need today is some sort of heat source and some sort of shrink plastic.
If you go online and look up "shrinky art" or "shrink plastic," you'll find a variety of different vendors that offer it.
Also available in a variety of craft stores.
I have a couple of different types here.
I have clear plastic sheets, as well as opaque plastic sheets.
They usually come in 8.5 x 11 size, and you can cut them down with just a regular pair of scissors.
You can also punch holes in them with a regular hole punch, which is good to do before you shrink them.
What happens with this type of plastic is that you'll put it in an oven or a toaster oven, and it will shrink.
It will get thicker and smaller, and when it comes out, it will be too thick to actually punch a hole in,
so you're going to want to make sure you do that part first.
So just to give you an idea of what Shrinky Dinks look like, I made this sample.
It's a dog tag for my puppy.
Her name is Lolli, so I went ahead and I printed out her name in a cool font, and I traced it onto a plastic sheet of Shrinky Dink paper.
I used permanent markers to color on the design.
I then put it inside the toaster oven; it was preheated and ready to go, so it only took 30 seconds to a minute.
The plastic will curl up on itself and then flatten back out.
There is a little bit of rough part here on the edge because the plastic--it was so big when it started, it actually touched itself when it curled up--
so when I took it out, I had to use my scissors to cut it free and use a spatula to flatten it because it was still warm.
But it turned out pretty well; you can see how thick the piece is, so I definitely needed to punch that hole in it beforehand.
That hole was punched with a standard size hole punch, so you can see it shrinks down quite a bit.
So it's kind of nice because you can draw on a large scale, but then it comes down to something much more detailed and intricate when it's finished.
So I'm going to show you an example.
I went ahead and drew a picture of a cupcake.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to trace this cupcake onto a piece of the shrinky paper,
and it will actually shrink down to be about the size, if not a little smaller than, this dog tag that I made earlier.
You can print out clip art from online, you can trace things that you already have, or you can freehand things onto the paper.
Just to make sure I don't make any mistakes, I like to pre-draw what I do onto regular paper.
Grab a piece of the shrinky paper, and put it down on top.
Take my permanent marker, and I'm just going to quickly trace it.
Even though it's permanent marker, it can smear, so be very careful that you don't smear any of the lines while you're working.
I chose this design because, for a sample, it'll be very quick for us to see how it looks.
Cupcakes are so trendy right now anyway.
So I went ahead and traced my design.
If you can't see it, I'll hold it up to some paper.
Looks just like the original.
I'm going to take a scissors, and I'm just going to round the corners so that it has a nice shape to it when it comes out.
These papers can be a little sharp.
When the actual shrinky dink comes out of your oven or toaster oven, it won't be as sharp because the paper will be much thicker,
but rounded corners can be nice.
It will shrink up and maintain whatever shape you give it, so feel free to cut it down to whatever shape you fancy.
Alright...
There we go.
Just rounded the edges to make it really simple.
So what you do at the toaster oven--it's not on yet--
but you're going to want to start with a piece of sturdy cardboard, so I have one here.
This piece of cardboard actually came with my kit.
I just cut it down to fit the inside of my particular toaster oven.
You're going to want to go ahead and put your shrinky dink in there.
You can do more than one if you want,
just make sure that they at least have some space around them so that they don't fall into each other
because they will curl up, and sometimes they roll.
I also like to use the tray that comes with the toaster oven or a cookie sheet,
just so if it does curl, it's not going to roll into the coils on the machine.
Go ahead and put that in there, set it to the temperature that your particular toaster oven needs,
and then let's watch it curl up once it gets started.
So you're going to see it curl up--there it goes--and wait for it now.
It'll just take a few more seconds, and it will go ahead and lie flat.
Then it's done, so be very careful; it's hot.
You're going to want to use something--a hot holder of some sort--to pull it out.
When you get it done and you pull it out and it's cool, go ahead and pick it up off the plate,
and then you're ended up with this small, little charm of shrink plastic.
That's how you make shrinky art.
You could easily turn this into a keychain fob if I had punched a hole in it beforehand with just a regular hole punch,
or it could be a pendant on a necklace; it could easily hang.
You could make a pair of earrings if you made two identical ones.
Really, the options are endless.
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