more fun than a drunken game of cheat!

this is the first batch of tiny cipolla plastic zipper pulls and i am in love. shrink plastic is the new subject of my dreams.

i know i'm like decades behind, this stuff has been around since the seventies or something. but seriously, it rocks!
and if i didn't know about it before, maybe you didn't either.

here's the deal:
• get your hands on some sheets of shrink plastic somehow.
• sand one side of the sheet with a fine grit, in a criss-cross fashion.
• draw your image onto the sanded side - for the zipper pulls i drew one main image, then traced it over and over again to speed it up (i used translucent shrink plastic so i could trace easily).

the piece will shrink to about 1/3 of it's original size (different brands may vary... my pack said 40%, but it was much smaller then that).

• colour in image if desired (i used pencil crayon!)
• cut out however you like.
• bake at 300-325º celsius for a few minutes - i put mine on parchment paper on a baking sheet, and found that worked well.

while they are shrinking they will probably curl up and/or bubble... at first i pulled them out right away and tried to flatten them out, but they looked warped so i put them back in. then i realized that you just need patience (hard, i know, trust me) they will eventually shrink evenly. they may be a bit curled or something, but this is easy to fix with a bit of coaxing while they are still hot (before you pull them out of the oven for example, flatten them all down with a quick press of a dish cloth).

my kitchen was a hot horrible place, but it was worth it.
serious fun to see the adorable results!

these will be used as zipper pulls on cipolla bags and pouches.
but i have plans for future bits like buttons and key chains... yay!

we also used this shrink plastic to make slate a couple tags for his collar (he is constantly losing his).

have fun and good luck if you plan to try it!

♥ m.