[photo by SEWphisticate used with permission]
Genevieve over at SEWphisticate has an awesome tutorial on turning plastic take out containers or cups into shrinky dinks! It turns out that #6 plastic, a type that many cities do not recycle, will shrink beautifully in the oven!
For her first attempts, she cut the plastic into shapes and punched holes to make shrunken pendants. She said these shapes turned out pretty distorted. After some experimentation and fine-tuning, she came up with a method for turning out lovely plastic rings, like the ones above! I think they’d made really cool earrings or maybe you could wire them together into a mobile?
To achieve the effect, she first cut the cups horizontally to create 1 1/4″ tall, skinny rings. She stuck those into the oven at 325°F on a piece of parchment until they had melted down to form rigid, thick circles of plastic.
Genevieve is a seamstress, a jeweler, and the mastermind behind SEWphisticate. You can check out her detailed tutorial full of awesome pictures over on the SEWphisticate blog!
Well I guess it is a good thing that I can not find #6 plastic here – since it is not on the preferred recycling list and all. I have been keeping my eye out for some for month. I guess I don’t do deli food enough or something.
But darn it! I want to try this.
Well I guess it is a good thing that I can not find #6 plastic here – since it is not on the preferred recycling list and all. I have been keeping my eye out for some for month. I guess I don’t do deli food enough or something.
But darn it! I want to try this.
Well I guess it is a good thing that I can not find #6 plastic here – since it is not on the preferred recycling list and all. I have been keeping my eye out for some for month. I guess I don’t do deli food enough or something.
But darn it! I want to try this.
A friend of mine said it works with #5 plastic, too, though I’ve never tried it. If you give it a shot, I’d love to hear how it goes!
A friend of mine said it works with #5 plastic, too, though I’ve never tried it. If you give it a shot, I’d love to hear how it goes!
A friend of mine said it works with #5 plastic, too, though I’ve never tried it. If you give it a shot, I’d love to hear how it goes!
I LOVE this craft & have tested every plastic and the only one that actually works is #6.
My kids make fun of me because I shrink EVERYTHING! Some of those pre-approved credit cards that come in the mail are #6 – if you leave them in long enough, they come out Barbie sized.
As for finding #6, sometimes lids of things like margarine are #6, even though the container is not. Bakery goods & fresh vegetables like grape tomatoes are sometimes #6 also.
I LOVE this craft & have tested every plastic and the only one that actually works is #6.
My kids make fun of me because I shrink EVERYTHING! Some of those pre-approved credit cards that come in the mail are #6 – if you leave them in long enough, they come out Barbie sized.
As for finding #6, sometimes lids of things like margarine are #6, even though the container is not. Bakery goods & fresh vegetables like grape tomatoes are sometimes #6 also.
I LOVE this craft & have tested every plastic and the only one that actually works is #6.
My kids make fun of me because I shrink EVERYTHING! Some of those pre-approved credit cards that come in the mail are #6 – if you leave them in long enough, they come out Barbie sized.
As for finding #6, sometimes lids of things like margarine are #6, even though the container is not. Bakery goods & fresh vegetables like grape tomatoes are sometimes #6 also.
I LOVE this craft & have tested every plastic and the only one that actually works is #6.
My kids make fun of me because I shrink EVERYTHING! Some of those pre-approved credit cards that come in the mail are #6 – if you leave them in long enough, they come out Barbie sized.
As for finding #6, sometimes lids of things like margarine are #6, even though the container is not. Bakery goods & fresh vegetables like grape tomatoes are sometimes #6 also.