Shrink Art (6 Sheets 101 x 131mm)

I only discovered the wonders of shrink plastic fairly recently but these are great. The are quite small, so check the measurements first, but I used them to make animal brooches and they were the perfect size. These are the steps I followed and they came out perfect. Please note that I bought the matt transparent variety, so if you buy gloss or coloured ones it might be slightly different.- Draw the shape on them (I used permanent marker)- colour them in (I used pencil crayons and they came out perfect)- Cut them up to the desired shape- Pop them in the oven.It takes a few seconds for them to heat up (took longer than I expected, but I suppose that’ll depend on how hot your oven gets if it was preheated) and start shrinking, but once they start you need to be careful because in a matter of seconds they’ll go from not ready yet to overbaked.Once they’ve done most of the shrinking you just take them out of the oven, flatten them if needed and let them cool.They come with instructions so if you follow them they should turn out fine. I messed the first one up, but it doesn’t take long to get the hang of it.

I use these to make pins and brooches and they are great. They shrink a fair bit, so you use almost a full sheet (they are quite small) for a large-ish brooch. I usually outline the shape, colour it in with colouring pencils or crayons, cut it out, and place it in the oven. It only takes a few seconds, so keep an eye on it. When it starts melting, take it out. It’ll look a bit “curled”, but it usually flattens out once it cools down. If not, you can always pop it back in. You might ruin the first one you make, but it’s not hard to get the hang of it and then you know how long it’ll take in your oven. Let it cool and dry out completely and you’re done.I haven’t got a printer so not sure how well that works instead of drawing your design, but apparently you can do it too.

One of those cheap and simple ideas that work well and produce amusing results. Ideal for youngsters or for anyone with a good eye for artistic detail to create miniature pendants etc with miniature pictures or messages 'baked in'.

Fun but tricky to use. Make a ruler FIRST so you can get an idea of how much your pieces will shrink by as each pack can differ in shrink ratio. Be sure to apply your design on the rough side. Can be useful to seal design with clear nail polish after its been baked. Plastic will curl in the oven and doesn't always totally flatten after, or will stick to itself! Watch out for this and be sure to press them with something heavy and flat immediately after removing from oven. Take roughly 20 seconds so keep an eye on them!

Bought these to make little charms to include in Christmas presents and as little presents themselves to slip into people's christmas cards, found them to be well received in both forms. The shrinking process turns your illustrations and paintings into very appealing little charms and brooches, and I was surprised with how well these frosted ones took on acrylic paint. You have to be conscious of how much paint you are applying, though, as if you apply too many thick layers of pigment the shrunken product will be rough and disappointing as the paint has to contract with the plastic. Making sure your colours are watered down and mixed correctly on the palette and applying them in as few thin layers as possible will result in little charms that are genuinely delightful when they come out of the oven. Another learned tip is to place the plastic between two sheets of baking paper before they go into the oven, and to either securely weigh down the edges of the paper or to use something flat, light and oven safe to lay on top of it. This stopped the plastic from curling up during the shrinking process and resulted in much flatter charms. You have to be careful not to squash them with something heavy or with an irregular pattern, though, as this will deform your design. Overall a very good value product and a very satisfying little activity that both adults and children can enjoy.

Those plastic shrink sheets are very good quality and shrinking within seconds.Because they are half transparent they are perfect to trace pictures.Unlike clear sheets  Shrinkles Shrink Art, Shrink Plastic - Large Pack of 50, 101x131mm - Crystal Clear , they can be coloured with regular crayons. We only used permanent marker to draw the outline of the design and then my daughter coloured it with crayons.They are great to make embellishments and other crafts that requite design on one side because the plastic is not fully transparent. For double sided designs (key rings for instance) crystal clear sheets look much better.

Heard about this stuff from a friend, and when it arrived couldn't wait to try it out.Works well with permanent marker pens.Put my cut out pieces on piece of tin foil on a baking sheet in the oven at 170degC.They started to curl and shrink, but the first lot didn't return to completely flat.I turned the oven up a little and put them back on the top run for a few minutes until they lay flat.Be careful that long thin pieces don't curl over and touch.To find out how much the material shrinks make a "ruler" cut a strip and mark off in cms the shrinkI found 2.5cm shrank to about 1cm.Excellent starter pack but you may get addicted.

Unfortunately it was very difficult to tell which side you were meant to draw on. It was ok, but didn't take the permanent pen that well.