Condo Blues: How to Make a Braided Rainbow Shrinky Dink Necklace

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

How to Make a Braided Rainbow Shrinky Dink Necklace

Recently while KonMarie-ing(learn more about it here) my husband found a few unused Shrinky Dinks sheets like these in a box of his childhood stuff. (Disclosure: I am including some affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

The find sparked joy for him and a little sadness in me (but not much cause it wasn’t an earth shattering situation when growing up) when I admitted I never used shrink plastic to make crafts as a child.

“Let’s make Shrinky Dink charms!” he said. I balked at the idea because I thought you needed special Shrinky Dink art books, pens, and kits like these which he didn’t have. He told me I was totally overthinking it. I didn’t need to draw at all (I hate the way I draw most things,) and he was positive I already had everything else we needed to make shrink plastic crafts in my craft room.

How to Make a Rainbow Heart Shrink Plastic Necklace


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I used paper punches to make my Shrinky Dinks because it eliminates the drawing thing. Paper punches are also a good option for wee little children who may not be able to trace a design out of a book but can use a marker to color a punched plastic object. In other words, just my artistic speed!

Just remember that the final size of the shrink plastic object will be approximately one fourth the size of the original you pop into the oven.

You will need:

Shrinky Dink sheets -  You can buy several brands of blank shrink plastic sheets here they all work the same.

1 Inch heart paper punch - There are a variety of 1 inch heart paper punch here

1/4 inch round paper punch - check them out here

Permanent markersthis is the exact set of permanent markers I used

White crochet thread -  you can buy it here

Scissors

Baking sheet

Aluminum foil or parchment paper – I used a silicone baking mat like this one that I use as a hot glue crafting mat because it is bigger and cheaper than the mats sold specially for hot glue

Oven or toaster oven – I used my toaster oven

Painter’s tape


Step by Step How to Make It:

1. Use the heart paper punch to punch shapes from the shrink plastic sheet. I punched 7 and a few extra because I was having a good time.



2. Use the 1/4 inch paper punch to punch a round hole in the upper corner of each shrink plastic heart. We will use the holes to string our Shrinky Dink charms onto the crochet thread to make a necklace.

Punch! Punch!

3. Use the permanent markers to decorate and color the punched plastic hearts. I kept mine simple and colored each heart a different solid color to make a rainbow necklace but you can do whatever you like.

Coloring time!


4. Line the baking sheet with a silicone mat, aluminum foil, or parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 degrees (F )


5. Put the shrink plastic hearts on the lined baking tray and carefully put them in the oven. The Shrinky Dink shapes will curl up (don’t worry about this!) and then flatten out. When the shapes flatten back out they are finished shrinking.

6. Remove the Shrinky Dinks from the oven once they have shrunken flat to size. It won’t take very  long. Mine took between 1 to 3 minutes. Allow the Shrinky Dink hearts to cool completely before moving to Step 7.

7. Cut six 60 inch lengths of crochet thread. You will probably use less to make the finished necklace but it is always good to err on the side of too much than not enough. Says the girl who had to start this part of the project over 3 times because I used too short of string in this step.


8. Tie one end of the strings together with a slip knot and use the painter’s tape to tape it to a steady surface like a table. This will make it easier to braid the strings in Step 9.


9. Use two strings together for each step of a regular three string braid. Braid the strings until you have 12 inches of braid.

Braiding!

10. Slip the red heart Shrinky Dink charm onto one of the crochet thread strings while you make a three string braid. The finished braid will keep the shrink plastic charm in place.



11. Braid the strings until you have 1 inch of braid. from the red heart charm. Repeat Steps 9 and 10 to add the orange heart charm to the necklace.

12. Repeat Steps 9, 10, and 11 until you have braided all of the shrink plastic charms into the necklace.

Heart charms all in a row!

13. After adding the purple heart charm to the necklace braid the strings until you have 12 inches of braid, tie a slipknot in the end, and trim any extra string from the necklace.

14. Wear it and look cute!

Looking for shrink plastic craft ideas? Check out the option - and more! - below!

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1 comment :

Teresa B said...

It's such a lovely idea!
Thank you for sharing at The Really Crafty Link Party. Pinned!

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