when i was a kid i used to cut out these shapes of *stuff* and paint them with special paint and bake them, and they'd shrink into hard, permanent little (ornaments or whatever).

what was this stuff? is it still available? where do i find it?

I love shrinky dinks! They were the best. I think that I saw an advertisement for the shrinky paper on TV. They were selling it as some little kid crafty kit. I have no idea what company was selling it or when/ what channel I saw the commercial. But be assured that the stuff still exists! Yay!

All you need to know is here:
>http://www.smileandactnice.com/home/marthawho/shrinkydinks/index.html

I think there were a couple of threads about this before. Never heard of them meself though. Strange concept.... :)
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=746#5337
>http://discuss.gromco.com/mwforum/topic_show.pl?id=4604#45432

I think Aleene's make shrink plastic and you can find that at most craft stores and that or similar stuff at some office supply places. They have the regular clearish kind but now also have opaque white and opaque black (which looks really good with bright colored pencil on it) - you just use a fine grit sandpaper to scuff up the surface first so the color sticks. I love this stuff - takes me back to my Bluebird and Campfire girl daze! :^ )


edit: You can also use those clear lids off of some deli & meat containers - the clear ones with sometimes a red or blue rim? Make nice pendants (put a good sized hole in them before heating and shrinking). I think they used to sell liver in little plastic containers with those kind of lids - (blech) - so if you or anyone you know is a liver lover, you're in luck!

They are still available! At least the commercial ones are -- I saw some in Toys R Us a few weeks ago. But I noticed that now they also sell an oven (like an e-z bake oven) to go with them, and I don't think there were regular-oven instructions on the boxes I was looking at. It's a scam! Maybe they're making them differently now.

I used to love making Garfield and Poochy (was that her name? The little pink poodle, she used to be on covers of her books and she would be fuzzy, so kids could pet her) shrinky dinks. :)

They sell packages of Shrinky Dinks (with oven instructions) at Hobby Lobby.

I've seen shrinky dinks at eh following places recently:

Toy store
Scrapbooking store
Michaels

I think you can color on them with most things: colored pencils, rubber stamps but not crayons. also, some of the shrinky stuff you can run through the laser printer!

I can't be held responsible if this doesn't work (since I haven't tried it and I found the info online...), but supposedly you can get free shrinky dink samples from this 800#

1-800-319-9470

It was listed on a "freebies" site. I'll try it tomorrow. Also, if you're not in the US, I'm not sure if it'll work.

Yeah, I saw the printable sheets at Wal-Mart the other day.

hey! yay! this is so great! i'm glad the stuff exists. i had a habit of making stuff up when i was a kid.. like "this blob of play dough is really "pick it up" stuff, and if you roll it around over things it magically picks them up!" i was thinking of making gift tags out of it this year for the pressies. maybe some ornaments too! *FUN*!
i checked out two shops yesterday (don't have a hobby lobby, though i wish i did! it seems to have everything!) and neither had the stuff, so i'm going to call around today and see if lewiscraft (aka: lewiscrap) has any before i bike my butt up there. thanks for the thoughts, gals! y'all so swell!

I think my preschool teacher was really crafty, now that I think about it. We always made shrinky dinks using styrofoam meat/fruit trays, and colored designs on them with markers. Warning: They shrink a LOT. It's a good way to recycle styrofoam, though, and they made fun ornaments!

I bought my 'dinks from http://www.shrinkydinks.com/

they have all the different kinds, and shipping was reasonable (as I recall - it was about a year ago). They also have the oven-baking instructions in the Q&A section, so don't be fooled into thinking you need a special little oven.

I love shrinky dinks, 'cause the shrinking evens out little mistakes and irregularities - they always look so sleek and tidy.

Boots, you can do that with styrofoam? did you draw a pic on the whole thing and then bake? well i suppose the details arent so clear being that this was preschool, but if you remember anything let me know- i would love to prove i actually have a good reason for saving everything!!
Jenna

what is the point????

i dont get it at all. why is it cool to draw something on plastic, and then shrink it??

Shrinky dinks are nice for making little charms, especially if you're drawing something pretty detailed that would be difficult you were actually drawing it the finished size. They thicken up considerably after baking.

Plus they shrink. It's magical.

Anyone ever try making guitar picks outta shrinky dinks? Could be an interesting present...

i fear the guitar picks would be too thick, they do shrink to the thickness of a nickel, or so. but what a GREAT idea! i'm gonna make some and just use them as charms for a gift for my chick. she's such a rock star, but likes to humor me by wearing my crap. ha!

i got some "Shrink Art" last night at lewiscrap. it was $8.99 for 6 sheets, and came in clear or opaque... but i opted for opaque. i have a question about it though. my first set turned out GREAT.. but my second set kinda melted. like, the tips of the stars and edges of stuff, just sorta looked like runny icing or something. why did this happen? there are no hints or even a web site for this brand. hmph!

and as for the 'point', or coolness... they make little "stained glass" looking ornaments... which are very pretty when the tree lights shine through.. or you could hang them in the window, i suppose!

i don't ever get those styrofoam trays! but i USED to.. and would just use them under plants. this is a way better use!

I've been on a shrink plastic binge lately! Using the black and brown sheets, I've been using stencils to cut out different shapes like tags, stars, hearts, etc (after sanding). Then I use Crafter's Ink to rubber stamp on them with swirly backgrounds and cool patterns (this kind of ink heat-sets permanently). I use a 1/8 inch hole punch to punch in some holes and bake 'em up. Once they've cooled down and all, I string beads and charms through the holes, glue little pieces of shrinky on the bigger ones, and glue pin findings on their backs. They're coming out pretty well.
I have had some slight running on second and third batches 'tho. I'm guessing that my oven has heated up and the "cooking" time can be reduced. But, the running so far has just made the pins a little funkier.
Plus, I did call that 800# and they're sending me some free shrinky stuff. Yay!