A few days ago I came across this post over on Scissors.Paper.Wok on how to make buttons out of ShrinkyDinks!
(How to Make Clothing Buttons from Shrink Plastic…)
THEY ARE AMAZING! And having an entire pack of ShrinkyDinks, with no destiny to become anything, I thought this would be perfect!!! I got together all my supplies and was trying to think of things to draw (or in my case trace…I cant draw for crap) and remembered that a friends birthday was coming up, so this would be great. As I was working I started thinking…what in the world would he do with buttons?!!? So I decided to make some magnets and thumbtacks!
Supplies you will need:
(I bought mine from Michaels years ago with a 40% off coup that you get every week if you sign up for their email newsletter)
(if you are going to do anything else besides thenbatman logos on these I recommend that you buy the pack of colors. So you will have them for other things as well.) These pens will not run even if washed!
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Glue
(i used
Gorilla Glue to make sure that the shrinkydinks didnt pop off the tack when being pushed or pulled on)
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Scissors
My friend happens to be a MAJOR Batman freak. So I decided that a Batman theme was a must. I did some searching and finally came across an awesome download of a TON of Batman logos! They say it spans 70 years of comic books, cartoons, tv shows, and movies . I don’t know much about Batman so I will have to take them at their
word! (email me if you want the file since i can’t remember where I downloaded it from.)
After picking out the few logos I wanted to use I pasted them in to Microsoft Word. Since the circle punch is only 1.5 in. in diameter the pictures need to be, at most, 1.5 in wide. So they needed to be resized. (If you are using any size larger than the 1.5 in. just re-size to what ever size hole punch you are using.)
After pasting the picture click the “format picture” button on the drawing toolbar. (third box from the right highlighted in blue)
( please excuse the ANCIENT MS Word)
Click the “Size” tab up top and in the width box type in “1.5″. Click OK
After all of the of the pictures are resized arrange them so there is space between them so you have room to trace them.
I have found that after a few tries at this it is easier to punch out the circles of Shrinkydink plastic and then tape them to the paper than to tape down the whole sheet. The spacing between the pictures is hard to get just perfect for the whole punch. It also saves you from wasting any of the plastic!
Make sure that you tape it down with the rough side up. You don’t want to draw on the shiny side!
Get your pen out and start tracing!
I feel that the final product comes out better if you go over the outline at least twice, making sure that it is nice and dark.
After tracing fill in the rest. For this step I use a Sharpie. The point on the EK pens is just too fine and you will be there all day!!
It’s ok if the part that is filled in looks…splotchy? or uneven… just make sure there aren’t any white spots left. When it shrinks up the color becomes VERY concentrated so you won’t be able to see that uneven color.
After all the pieces are done take them down to your kitchen and get to baking! Make sure to follow your directions that come in your ShrinkyDinks package!
Some things I have found useful for making sure that the Shrinkydinks come out perfect
- Make sure to properly pre-heat your oven. Most ovens say they are pre-heated even though they may be up to 75 degrees away from your desired temp. So even after your beep or light goes off let your oven pre-heat an additional 10 mins. (this is good advice for anything you use your oven for!)
- If you are using partchment paper on a cookie sheet make sure it lays as flat as possible. If there are wrinkles or anything that you cant avoid, don’t place your pieces on it!
- DO NOT be tempted to take your pieces out early!!! It take about 1-3 mins for them to be completly done. Soon after going in the oven they will start to curl upwards (almost like peppironi does on pizza sometimes) and slowly flatten out. WAIT JUST A LITTLE LONGER after they start to flatten. On one batch I took them out just a little too soon and they were warped looking. It’s better to leave them in for just a little long than need to be safe you get an even flat piece!
Look how tiny it got!!!! They shrink to 1/3rd of it’s orginal size.
(my fingers are not really that stubby…its the weird resizing thing on my wordpress editor)
Size comparison (the squares on the mat are 1 in. )
I decided to use the magnetic strip because that is what i have on hand. If you have the disk magnets just glue them right on. Make sure to just use a TINY dab of glue if you are using Gorilla Glue…it seems to expand!
Cut a small strip
And stick it on…and you are done!!!!
I didn’t get any shots of the gluing of the tacks because I was dealing with Gorilla Glue and didn’t want it on my camera! But it is virtually the same process. Just glue ‘em on let them dry and you are done!
I hope yall enjoyed my first real tutorial post. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments! Thanks for stopping by!
- Kristine!
