Wednesday 23 March 2016

Monthly Makers March: Miniature

This month's Monthly Makers theme was, to my great satisfaction, miniature! There's just something incredibly pleasing about tiny things. I fittingly had some shrink plastic laying about, so I decided I'd try to make something from it to fit this month's theme.

This was my first time ever working with shrink plastic, and I quickly discovered that shrink plastic is not at all an easy material to work with if you do not possess the right knowledge/tools. I've thus had my fair share of difficulties, but don't worry, I'll spare you most of the details. But before we carry on to this month's contribution, let's have a look at the many missteps I've made on the road to shrink plastic perfection: 


1st attempt: Used the wrong type of markers, causing the colours to smudge, and only afterwards did I realise that the green plant behind the girl's head kind of looks like a marijuana leaf - oops! 
2nd attempt: Used only black marker, but managed to smudge it slightly nonetheless. Also the whole marijuana resemblance thing. Bah. 
3rd attempt: Used a different type of shrink plastic that was better suited for colouring with Promarkers, but neither bouquet turned out alright - the first one I managed to draw the wrong way around (?), and the second one turned oval in the oven for some reason. 
4th attempt: These actually turned out alright, had it not been for the fact that I baked them individually, which resulted in a size difference. OH WELL LIFE GOES ON and all that. 

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After the mishaps above I actually shelved the project for a while. But this morning I was like, screw this, this time I WILL succeed - and this time I did! I decided to try the white shrink plastic again:


I started off drawing a cat inspired by a drawing I made a while back: 



Wise from previous mistakes, this time I let the marker dry completely before attempting to cut it: 


I was really nervous about the whole cutting process, as I knew from experience that if you bend the plastic too much it cracks quite easily - something I did not want to happen! Luckily, though, I somehow managed to cut out the entire cat in one piece - phew! 


I used a paper punch to punch holes for the chain (as I was planning on turning it into a necklace). It's very VERY important to do this BEFORE baking: 



I then drew and cut out two cat friends to turn into ear rings:  


The particular plastic I used needed to be baked at 150 degrees celsius for about 3-4 minutes. I placed my cats on a sheet of baking paper and covered them with another sheet to avoid them sticking to themselves when curling (shrink plastic curls as it shrinks and flattens again when it's done): 


I also decided to bake two shrink plastic pieces that were left over from a previous attempt -  this time they all turned out like they were supposed to: 


 I then dug out my little treasure chest of unused craft supplies: 


And soon my cats had been turned into ear rings: 




The hands turned out pretty alright, too:  


My favourite, though, is no doubt the necklace. I didn't have the right type of chain, so I had to use an old one (I'll replace it with a new one later): 


All in all I'm pretty satisfied with the new additions to my jewellery collection!

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Have you ever tried shrink plastic?





14 comments:

  1. ÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅÅH VAD FINT!!!!! Jag älskar katterna! Särskilt den gula och röda <3 Halsbandet blev SÅ fint och du har verkligen känsla för att fånga katters sinnelag. Det gör mig rent rörd!
    Och vad kul att få ta del av svårigheterna med krympplast. Jag har fortfarande inte provat men är väldigt sugen - särskilt nu när jag sett detta :D

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    1. Åh, men takk altså! <3 Har blitt ein del kattar i det siste, og fleire skal det bli. Og ja - prøv skrympplast, Alicia! Hadde vore kjempekjekt å sjå kva du evt. får ut av det (alt anna du lagar blir jo så innmari fint). :)

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  2. Så vakkert det blei, Tone! Liker nok smykket ekstra godt, men øyredobbane blei så fine dei også :) Kjempekult bidrag! :D

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    1. Tusen takk, Silje! Smykket har eg gått med i fleire dagar allereie, er veldig nøgd! Kan godt hende det blir fleire kattesmykker, har litt plast igjen. :)

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  3. Jag ÄLSKAR katthalsbandet! Skulle haft det på mig varje dag om det bodde hos mig så hojta till om du börjar producera för beställningar ;) Underbart bidrag!

    atilio.metromode.se

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    1. Takk Sandra! Kan veldig godt hende det blir fleire kattehalsband, ja. :) Må berre eksperimentere litt til først!

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  4. ALLTSÅ JÖSSSES vad fina! Katter i allmänhet men dessa i synnerhet! Och bra att du skrev lite om hur det gick också så att andra kan lära sig av dina misstag! FINT.

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    1. Men takk! :D Kattar, altså. Verdas beste skapningar, utan tvil. Og ja, eg synst det er greit å vere ærleg ang. det eg lagar, det er jo ikkje alltid at vegen til resultat er like lett. :)

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  5. Det här är typ det gulligaste jag sett!!! Så sjukt fina katter, vill ha varenda en av dem! Det är alltså promarkers du målat med? Åhhh vill också testa på krympplast, tänkt göra det ett tag men nu blev jag så himla inspirerad att jag nog måste införskaffa det snarast!

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    1. Takk, Mikaela! Teikinga er farga med Promarkers, ja! (Promarkers in my <3). På sjølve skrympplasten brukte eg ein variant av sharpie - er viktig at det er permanent tusj/marker! Og ja, prøv! :D

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  6. Makalöst fint bidrag! Blev så himla peppad på att prova göra något i krympplast jag med. Och perfekt att du delade med dig av dina mindre lyckade försök :) Tack!

    http://annamarialarsson.se/blogg/

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    1. Åh, men takk, Anna Maria! Så bra at du vart inspirert! :D Og ja, eg synst det er veldig viktig å vise korleis skaparprosessen faktisk fungerer - vegen til eit vellukka sluttresultat er sjeldan rak. :)

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  7. OMG, they are so adorable!! Ps. You should wear the hands on midsummer's eve!

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    1. Hihi! :D And yes, it's true, the hands do have something quite summery about them. :)

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