Shrink Plastic

If you want to be creative in a fun way, it is with shrink wrap, here you can make really good gifts or jewelry for yourself. You can decorate shrink wrap with either markers or crayons, depending on the material you choose.

Colourful homemade key rings with shrink wrap

You can make almost anything with shrink wrap, it could be a tiger head or cat head, or it could be a really cute character you've made and painted in really nice colours. But one thing is for sure, you can always use key rings, you can't get enough of them. It can be nice when you are many in your family and can not find your keys or at your workplace, that you have your name in your key ring, then you can always find the owner. You may also want to decorate your bag with nice key rings with colourful shapes on them, if you choose the material that is glossy transparent, you can paint with markers in nice bright colours. If you choose the matt white shrink plastic, you can paint the most beautiful rainbows with crayons, in many beautiful colours.

From oven to beautiful jewellery of your own design with shrink wrap

When working with shrink plastic, it has to go straight through the oven to get the material to work properly, here it's good to have an adult along to help with that part of the process. When burning the plastic, heat your oven to 170 degrees, not convection, here your figures will just whizz around in the oven. Place the plastic on a piece of baking paper, coloured side up. This is when it's fun to watch, as it quickly starts to shrink, then curl up, but soon after it starts to smooth out again, and when it's completely flat on the baking paper, it's done, this takes about 3-4 minutes, depending on how your oven heats. When you burn the shrink wrap, it becomes about 1/5 of the original size and at the same time about 1.25 mm thick and hard. If you are making things to hang from a chain or keychain, remember to make the holes before you burn the plastic. It varies a bit from oven to oven whether it takes 3 or 7 min, but when it lies completely flat again, it should be done. It's important to read on the packet you order how many degrees it should have in the oven and how much it shrinks, this can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.

But you should make the prettiest earrings or necklace pendant this way, it can also be a name tag for work or nursery. But there is no doubt that it is some really nice gifts you can make this way, because you are sure that there is only the one kind that exactly you design.

It can be anything from butterflies to cute little shapes you can create with shrink wrap, you might just have to try it out the first few times to find out how much it shrinks.

Good shrink plastic ideas for kids

If you think you're not that good at drawing but you really want your favourite cartoon character as a keyring, print out a picture and tag it onto the shrink wrap, that way you're sure to get the drawing just right. Or if you're making a scroll of the animals of Africa, this is another way to draw them off and shrink them in the oven.

As Christmas and Easter approach, here's also a great excuse to get creative, making Christmas trees and angels to hang on the Christmas tree. You can also make your very own personalised to and from cards for Christmas. Or when we get to Easter, cute chickens in the windows that just get a feather at the end to complete it.

Once you get really good at working with shrink wrap you can go for a jigsaw puzzle, it's one of those slightly difficult tasks that you probably shouldn't do first. You can start by making 4 large pieces first and see how it turns out, there are probably a few things you need to adjust in one way or another, but it's all something you need to work on, practice makes perfect.

FAQ - 3 frequently asked questions

How long should shrink wrap be in the oven?

3-7 mins in a 130-170 degree oven, always remember to check the back of the wrapper what their recommendation is.

What do you paint on shrink wrap?

Shrink wrap that is glossy transparent is painted/written on the matte side with permanent markers

Shrink wrap that is matt white or matt transparent is painted/written on the matt side, here you can use both markers and crayons.

Which markers can be used for shrink wrap?

You can use Posca markers, Colortime markers or Staedtler markers as well as carioca coloured pencils.

Buy shrink wrap online and always get great deals

Whatever your hobby, we strive to always find the best deals for you. Take a look at our site and be inspired by the different offers we have on the site, you might find other things you want to get into. We're on the phone during the week, but you can always contact us by email. We deliver nationwide, but you can also choose to pick up your item at your address. Have a great time.