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Can someone tell me how to use the heat gun to shrink the polyshrink. I've never done this before but I think I have all the supplies. I can't believe I've never seen how this is done in all the years I've been stamping! :shock: That's why I love this site!! I learn so much here. TIA!!
__________________ As for me and my stamps, we will serve the
Lord. -Inkcleseastes 24:7
I did my first shrinky dink at the shoebox swap we did in San Antonio, thanks to Lila!
It was so easy! After we stamped the image, we held the paper with a stylus and used the heat gun for a minute or so, until it shrunk. Not an intimidating as I thought. Now, of course, I need to get some!
Lisa, it will wriggle and curl under the heat but does go flat 99% of the time...the times that it doesn't go flat just use a block of wood (from a stamp) to press on it while it is still warm.
__________________ Nancy Peplau
Rubber Neckin' in Haddam Neck,CT
Heating with a heat gun looks scarry because it gets all folded up and curly. You just need to work the heat gun and it will fold back and get ---flat. Now when I say flat - mine are never flat enought for me. So while it is still hot I press a book on top of it and it finishes it off nicly. Definately need that stylis or something like it to hold the plastic because we all hate to burn our fingers with a heat gun! It is FUN and my kids are always amazed!
Can someone tell me how to use the heat gun to shrink the polyshrink. I've never done this before but I think I have all the supplies. I can't believe I've never seen how this is done in all the years I've been stamping! :shock: That's why I love this site!! I learn so much here. TIA!!
To these suggestions I would like to add that you might want to put it in a baking dish. I have blown mine away.
I had nightmares of trying this and the little pieces bursting into flames!! Thanks so much for all of the wonderful suggestions. I can't wait to get started!!
__________________ As for me and my stamps, we will serve the
Lord. -Inkcleseastes 24:7
I have used a toaster oven. We put the polyshrink on a piece of cardboard (cut down to make sure it didn't touch the sides of the oven) and then we watched it through the little window! Its a little nerve wracking because you think its going to stayed curled up forever, but then it starts curling right back down! Then we used kitchen thongs to remove the cardboard from the toaster oven! FUN FUN FUN! :lol:
__________________ Monica F.
Me and my honey. Aren't we cute?!
My demo brought a little alligator clip to a stamp camp once (like the kind the dentist used to use to hold on your 'bib') and we held on with that, shrunk half, then rotated the clip to the shrunk part and shrunk the previously clipped side (clear as mud?) I ususally use a baking dish, punch my hole, then put a stylus or the point of my scissors in the hole then heat. This keeps it from blowing away. Remember that the item holding your shrink piece down has to be small bc the hole will shrink too. Also remember that whatever you are using to secure your shrink item will also get hot!
My only advice (other than what the other folks said) is PUNCH YOUR HOLE FIRST! If you don't you'll be attaching that sucker with a glue dot! :lol: Sometimes I like to do that and it's cute, but nothing is more aggravating than to plan to string it through a wire and forget your hole! There's just no getting one in there after it's shrunk. Someone suggested drilling a hole in it with a tiny drill bit, but I have nightmares of getting my fingers instead. :shock:
I guess I'm an oddball so far. . . or maybe just old fashioned. :lol: I usually make up multiple pieces and shrink them in the oven all at once. Guess there's something magical and reminiscent of my childhood to watch them shrink through the oven door.
The heat gun is the only way I've ever done it--so quick and easy! I use a cookie sheet and then my largest stamp (the wooden block) to flatten, and voila! (I like the idea of using a baking dish, though, because the metal pans do get hot as well.)
I use Classic ink (gasp!) because it seems to run less in the little cracks created from sanding the plastic than the StazOn. Craft just doesn't want to dry for me.
I often add color with pastels or the pure color pencils, over markers. I am a total shrink plastic addict.
Make those hot new "slides" from it after coloring in and stamping with a cool BG! FUN!!! Plus I love all the little charms I've been doing as accents lately
Either works well. For speed, I prefer Staz-On because it dries much faster on its own and Craft, I tend to try to heat set carefully (don't hold gun so close it shrinks the polyshrink prematurely) because I don't wanna wait overnight for it to dry.
I typically use a bamboo skewer to hold down my polyshrink while shrinking and typically, I work on a piece of baker's parchment or non-stick teflon baking sheet purchased at cookware store (it comes as a large sheet and I cut it down to smaller sizes.) I got a toaster oven for Christmas, and now that I've cleaned my studio, it looks like I actually have space to USE the toaster oven instead of just piling stuff on top of it.
:shock:
For the best tips on using artist grade polyshrink, visit www.luckysquirrel.com This is the same brand/manufacturer of polyshrink SU! carries. If you purchased your polyshrink from SU!, there should have been a tips/instruction sheet inside the packaging, that is also a good general guide.
Also, not all shrink plastic is the same; I've personally tried a number of other brands and been disappointed with the results . . .
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
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I'm order the polyshrink next week. Do you really need those sanding blocks? I wasn't going to order them, but do I need them? What do you use them for? Please, someone, let me know before I send my order in!
I'm order the polyshrink next week. Do you really need those sanding blocks? I wasn't going to order them, but do I need them? What do you use them for? Please, someone, let me know before I send my order in!
Thanks,
Laura
I prefer them over other sanding materials. They are white, so they do not leave discoloring marks. They are the perfect grit and they are much easier to grip and use than flat sandpaper, IMHO.
I also enjoy using them for distressing the edges of my card stock and smoothing out any sharp edges on something metal--which happened to me just today when I was making something.
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
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But WHY do you need the sanding blocks? Do you have to sand them before you stamp and shrink them? I'm a beginner at this, so please be patient with me?!?!?
Yes, you need to sand the PolyShrink before you stamp and color (ask me how I know...) If you go to the Lucky Squirrel link in a few posts above, they have a great pictoral of how to sand the sheets. I agree, the SU! blocks are really important and work the best in my experience.
Good luck and have fun, PolyShrink is one of my favs!
But WHY do you need the sanding blocks? Do you have to sand them before you stamp and shrink them? I'm a beginner at this, so please be patient with me?!?!?
If you are planning to color your stamped image in with a medium like Stampin' Pastels or colored pencils you would be wise to SAND the surface of the polyshrink. Otherwise, those mediums have nothing to grip them to the surface.
If you are coloring with permanent style markers*, then, no, I suppose you wouldn't "need" them, nor to sand the surface in any way.
*i.e. Sharpies or Fabrico Markers
HTH,
__________________ Julie Ebersole (JulieHRR once upon a time . . . )julieebersole.com"So shines a good deed in a weary world." -Willy Wonka
I remember the first time I swa Shrinky Dink about 20 years ago .... totally amazed at watching it bake. I was the hit with my friends cuz my Mom bought me this 'cool stuff'. Still can't believe the come back it is making.
Its on my 'wish list' to get some for stamping, but for some reason keeps getting pushed to the bottom.
Hi -- regarding your very old comment on a forum on using a heat gun on shrinky dinks. Can you tell me what kind I need? What wattage? I've seen 300watts to 1500watts. From $10 to $40. I'd like to buy one that will do the job, but not over do it or under do it. Thanks so much for your time!!!
Are you planning to buy a heat gun purely for use with shrink plastic? Or do you anticipate using it for other craft-related things. I have a Black & Decker DIY gun intended for paint-stripping and suchlike, so it's obviously fairly high up the wattage scale. It works fine with shrink plastic, but tends to scorch cardstock if I use it for too long. Most guns sold for heat embossing are a lower wattage but evidently also work fine with shrink plastic. I've also used the oven, on occasion. I think whatever you buy will work, so the main factor to consider is what else you might use it for.
I also use a shoebox lid and hold the object down with a bamboo skewer (using a stamping and craft heat tool) But sometimes it escapes and I chase it round the box till the skewer catches it again! It is fun though. You could practice with a spare corner bit of plastic before shrinking a piece you have put work into.....
I have also cut the thinner type out with my Silhouette machine, to make some leaf shapes and lacy shapes which would be hard to cut with the scissors.
Here in Australia you can buy pre-sanded shrink plastic to stamp or colour onto.
Polyshrink and a heat gun ?
