Use rubber stamps to create your own shrink plastic designs.
Shrink plastic was released in the 1970s as a children's toy. Before heating, the material is a paper-like substance that you can draw on using stamps, pens and colored pencils, and add designs. When heated in an oven, with a hair dryer or using a heat gun, the plastic shrinks to approximately 1/3 its size. The colors also become more concentrated, meaning you can create black and white or colored designs and use them for different projects.
Rings
Once heated, shrink plastic is no longer malleable, but it is strong. If you make shrink plastic rings, you won't be able to adjust the ring after heating, as it might snap. You can make rings by cutting strips of unheated shrink plastic that are three times bigger than the desired final measurements. Decorate them with rubber stamps or colored felt tips. Find a cylindrical shape, such as a wooden dowel, that's the correct diameter by fitting one of your existing rings around it. Once the shrink plastic has shrunk under your heat source, quickly take it out and wrap it around the cylinder.
Earrings
You can make earrings out of shrink plastic by stamping a design onto the shrink plastic and then punching a hole in the top using an office hole punch. When the plastic has shrunk under the heat, this hole will be smaller, but still large enough to connect the shrink wrap charm to the rest of the earring.
Necklaces
You can create charms for necklaces using rubber stamps and shrink plastic. Use a regular hole punch to create a hole large enough to attach the charm to a wire necklace. You can also print your own images on shrink plastic designed especially for this purpose.
Art
Print images using rubber stamps, your own drawings or scanned images. Once the images have shrunk, you can add them to picture frames, place them in scrap books or create wall hangings.
Light Switch Covers
You can create light switch covers by printing scanned photos onto the shrink plastic. As soon as they shrink, shape them to a clear acrylic light switch cover and wait for them to set to the shape. Next, attach them to the cover with glue. You can also attach shrink-plastic images to the front of the light switch cover using epoxy glue.
