These are my new range of shrink plastic cufflinks! I'm so in love with them!
I've been meaning to make more men's pieces for a while now, especically in the run up to Christmas. I got the parts ages ago, but between one thing and another I only got around to making them last week. At the moment I only have 10 sets of them,but I suspect they will be popular at Christmas so I really need to order more parts. It was fun coming up with more masculine designs, and I've had loads more ideas since I finished these.
They are €10 per pair and they come in a little presentation box. I will be selling these in Limerick Craft & Design when we open shortly,and when I get more stock I'll post them on Etsy and put them on my stall too.
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I don't know why I didn't think to make shrink plastic wine charms before, the very fact that they are illustrated means that they are perfectly suited for making matching sets. These are the first four sets that I've made but I plan on making loads more of them. The only thing I've yet to figure out is how to display them. I tried using a card for the button ones that I made but they don't do them any justice. I think I might get bracelet boxes to match the other ones that I got, it would make them more substantial.
I've listed them here in my etsy shop at €15 per set, I was in two minds about the price. Looking at other handmade charms on Etsy they are much more expensive, but I know I won't sell that many if I price them any higher. I'll have to see how they go and adjust accordingly.
Update: My bracelet boxes arrived sooner than I expected and they work perfectly. I'm much happier with them displayed like this and they would make a really nice gift for someone in this cute presentation box.
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I spent a long sweaty day in my glass house studio yesterday drawing and colouring in loads of shrink plastic. I made 2 of each of my earring designs, 1 each on my rings, and 1 each of the necklaces. This still doesn't even include brooches, bookmarks and cuff links! I got around to colouring about 40 odd of them but I still have another 140 or so to go. It will be another long day in the studio I think. It's a good thing I have the last book of Tad Williams Memory Sorrow and Thorn to keep me company on audio book, I was working last night til 1.30am and I didn't even notice the time because the book is so good!
I switched over from using the frosted plastic to the white for all of my designs, as in the Limerick rain blurred the earrings a little bit. Whereas you can use varnish on the white plastic and totally protect it from the elements.
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I just finished my most recent addition to my Shrink Plastic collection. These are bookmarks, but the fancy variety that are harder to lose than a scrap of paper. I only saw these for the first time last year and I really like the shepherd hook design, it's so simple. I've only ever seen them embellished with beads before, or spiral wrap gemstones, but the first time I saw them I thought they would be perfect for my illustrated work. This week I made up 50 different designs, using the templates I had previously designed. But I think I'll expand the range to include some more bookish themed images, like characters from books or specific motifs, I already have a Harry Potter design. I thought these Olde Worlde images suited the bookmarks quite well too.
I'll be selling them in the craft shop at €6 per bookmark, and I might try a few at the stall this weekend too and see how they go. I just have to figure out how to package them nicely, and also to show what they are. Most people are not very familiar with shepherd hook bookmarks.
I love when the postman arrives with exciting new crafty things in the post. I ordered this bunch of goodies only last week from Karens Craft Supplies, and I'm, delighted at how fast they arrived. I had ordered ball chain a couple of times before from other shops but I got what I paid for by buying cheap supplies, so third time lucky I got a good quality chain at a reasonable price. I'll definitely be going to her again.
I also thought I would expand my ever growing shrink plastic range, I already make earrings, necklaces, brooches, and rings. I ordered 60 shepherd hook bookmarks which I'll attach my illustrations too. I also ordered 10 pairs of cuff links, I don't have that many products for men. I thought it would be fun to make hipster cartoon cuff links, for guys in their 20's and 30's.
I was so excited when I found this fantastic tutorial on Pinterest about making your own Shrinky Dink buttons. I followed her advice and bought this circle punch from Fiskars and these pens which she swears means you can wash the buttons afterwards. I was a happy camper when my punch arrived yesterday and I put everything aside to play with my new toys!
What you will need:
A heat embossing gun/or a regular oven
Single paper punch
Shrinky Dinks/Shrinkles
Millenium Zig Pens
Piskars Circle Punch
Firstly I traced out the circle shapes into a notebook and drew out some designs. I wasn't really trying too hard, I'll probably work on more designs later, I just did a few things that popped into my mind.
I used my new Fiskars punch to cut out some circles, you should get 3 per small sheet of shrink plastic. I then traced over my pencil drawings.
I used my punch to make a card template as a guide for where the central holes should go, so that they are the same on each button. I got the central point and measured 2mm each side of this mark. This is where I made my inner holes. Then I just placed this template over my coloured circles before using the paper punch
I placed the circle in a baking tray for when I'm shrinking it, I also had a little pva stamping block ready for when it's finished shrinking, just to flatten it down.
Here you go! These are my new Shrinky Dink buttons. I'm not 100% happy with them, some of them came out kinda dirty looking, but I think I need to clean off old colouring pencil power from my baking tray, I really like the simpler designs like the green and blue flower and the brown spiral. I'm also gonna try using my white shrink paper more with simple designs and see what works best. Eventually I'd like to sell a selection of these in my supplies shop, so before I get to that stage I want to make sure I'm totally happy with them.
I've been making shrink plastic earrings for several months now, they've been really popular at the stall You can read here about my first adventures in shrink plastic, but since then I think I've moved in a bit. I've been meaning to expand my range for a while now, and when I discovered this white shrink plastic it meant that I could make brooches and necklaces. Because of the nature of the clear one you can't pin a brooch on the back, and I found that necklaces the design rubbed off a bit. Whereas with the white plastic the image is on the front, it is not reversed, and the back remains plain.
Here is a quick guide to how I make my brooches:
1. As you can see here I use the whole A6 sheet for my brooch image, where as with the earrings I cut it in half horizontally. I use a black sharpie market for my outline, but with the white plastic a pencil works well too, but the maker makes it pop a bit more. I'm comfortable drawing my designs out freehand with a marker, but you could pencil draw it first, then use marker, and after it has dried use an eraser to take away your pencil drawing.
Because I'm making these to sell them I build up a catalogue of my drawings, which I can then use as a template, this make production a little faster, and if I'm having a creative block it's handy just to refer to my templates. Because the white plastic is not transparent I used John's light box to help me see my template drawing underneath.
2. After you have finished your drawing then use some colouring pencils to colour in your image. I noticed with the white plastic that you must colour in quite lightly as the image can get blurry/fuzzy if you colour too heavily at this point. Don't worry if they look a little pale at this point, I promise they will be bright when you're done.
3. Cut around your image leaving a 3mm boarder, you don't have to be too fiddly at this point, just get the basic shape. Any regular scissors will do the job just fine. If you are making them as a pendant or earring use a paper punch at this point as you won't be able to cut a hole after you shrink it down.
4. I didn't take any pictures of the shrinking process. There are two ways of doing it either in the oven, or with a embossing heat gun, which is what I use. Below is a quick video tutorial on how to use the heat gun. Two things to note: I have no idea what this ladies fingers are made of but DO NOT hold your plastic while using the gun,it's incredibly hot. Secondly sometimes the plastic folds and sticks to itself, give it a few seconds to see if it will flatten by itself. If it doesn't you'll have to pick it up and quickly but carefully pry it apart, you will burn your fingers, but hey you gotta suffer for your art sometimes.
5. See how much the pieces have shrunk down? They get seven times smaller and seven times thicker, it's magic. You'll also notice how much brighter they are too. Use a good silicone glue to attach your brooch backs and leave to dry. If you are making a necklace or earrings attach a jump ring and earwire/necklace.
6. Brooches and necklaces are open to the elements a lot, so to protect them from the never ending Limerick rain I used a coat of varnish that I got it the hardware. You'll know at this point if you over coloured your image in the initial stages as it will blur when you put on your varnish. I tried using clear nail varnish but it disrupted the image, so this water based varnish worked way better. Leave them to dry over night.
I will be adding my brooches to my etsy shop over the next week or so, in the meantime I have them for sale at my stall for €7 each (bragaintastic I think, now that you can see how much work goes into them!). I can also take commissions if you want a particular image drawn. To see a full gallery of images go to my facebook album here.
