Peter DINKlage
The other day I stumbled across a method of making DIY shrinky-dinks.1 Today my daughter and I gave it a shot – they turned out really well! Here’s how you can make your own:
- Cut Plastic Pieces
- Locate polystyrene which is easily identifiable by the number 6 in the recycling triangle
- You’ll find clear plastic polystyrene is used in plastic salad bar containers, to-go trays, and plastic cookie trays inside boxes of cookies
- Shape the plastic as desired with scissors and a hole puncher to round edges and make holes
- Decorate Plastic Pieces
- Color or draw with permanent markers (Staples usually has some kind of deal on a pack of colored Sharpies)
- Bake and Shrink
- Preheat oven to 375
- Place plastic pieces on a piece of parchment or aluminum foil (colored sides up) on a baking sheet
- Put the baking sheet in the oven
- You’ll notice the pieces curl or warp significantly, possibly even rolling around. They will eventually flatten out.
- Once all of the pieces are flat, pull the baking sheet out, take the parchment off the baking sheet and let the pieces cool
When they shrunk down, the “hole punch” holes are the perfect size for adding a small metal ring for use in a necklace or charm bracelet. With a slightly larger hole you could probably make a decent keyring fob.