Toast the New Year with Shrink Plastic Wine Glass Charms

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Reported by Heather Strenzwilk

In recent years, wine glass charms have become the "in" party accessory to mark your territory. They are widely available pre-made in a wide variety of themes and prices. But they can be easily handmade with jewelry findings and shrink plastic. What a way to add a personal touch! Imagine creating custom charms for New Year's 2008 and sending your guests home with their own set of charms.

Shrink plastic (aka shrink) has come a long way since the Shrinky Dinks for kids in the 1970's. After heating the plastic in the oven or with a heat gun, the resulting piece shrinks to about 40% of its original size and becomes 3 times thicker, it is durable and lightweight and is ideal for jewelry, among other things. Shrinky Dinks offer Frosted Ruff N' Ready, Clear, Bright White, Black & Brown and Almond varieties. Geared toward children, they also offer several themed pre-printed sheets for coloring and cutting. The Ruff N' Ready style is pre-textured which makes it ideal for coloring with colored pencils.



Joining the next generation of shrink plastic is Lucky Squirrel. Die hard crafters swear by Lucky Squirrel products which include: Clear, Translucent, Canvas White and Black and tools such as sanding blocks. All of these styles and smooth and sanding might be required. This plastic works well with ink, acrylic paint, colored pencil, chalk and permanent markers. Resulting pieces shrink evenly and have little distortion.

I became hooked on Shrinky Dinks when I was a kid and rediscovered shrink plastic again as an adult. Learning to sand shrink plastic has taken some practice because it takes just the right amount of pressure. I struggled with regular sandpaper until I ordered a Sanding Block from Lucky Squirrel. Not only is it easier to hold, but it has the right grit for the job. They come in a pack of 2 and I use one for black shrink only and the other block for everything else. Essentially you sand in one direction, turn the sheet 90 degrees and sand the other direction, resulting in a cross hair pattern. The idea is to remove the shine by giving the pre-shrunken plastic some tooth. I always sand very lightly because I can always sand more but you can't undo it and too much sanding may result in stamped images becoming feathered.


Speaking of stamping on shrink plastic, you'll want to use a permanent, crafter's or heat-set ink. I have used Memories, Brilliance and ColorBox Crafter's Ink. Memories Ink stamps a clean crisp image the black especially is good for solid image stamps. I also gave high marks to Brilliance Ink which I used on the Chinese coins sample. Brilliance ink isn't heat set until the piece is shrunken so mistakes can be corrected. I have had mixed results with Crafter's Ink because it is a thinner ink and I have had issues with it feathering.

Punches or a die cut machine and paper cutters are a great way to ensure a smooth cut. Due to the rigid nature of the finished product, it is imperative to punch holes and round corners prior to heating. To keep my shrink plastic from blowing away with the heat gun I held it in place with a toothpick through the hole. I use a standard size hole punch most of the time because the resulting hole is adequate for jump rings or other embellishments. Sometimes the hole punch can distress the plastic so for the smoothest holes I use a Japanese Book Drill.


For fast coloring on shrink (even unsanded shrink), nothing can beat Sharpie Markers. In recent years, they have marketed a vast variety of colors. Colored pencils are another fast and clean way to add color prior to heating. I am particularly fond of Lyra Metallic pencils and used them to color the peacock sample.


My favorite way to add color to shrink is to use decorator chalks. I have tried Stampin' Up chalks and decorator chalks with equal success. No matter what media is used, any color will intensify upon shrinking, so you'll need to experiment with the application of color. I usually start by dabbing on the lightest color of chalk with a cotton swab, and adding dabs of darker colors. Sometimes I blend with a clean swab and other times I blend with my finger because the oils in your skin help bind the chalk. Applying chalk to both sides of translucent shrink makes the resulting piece look more like glass as I did for my faux sea glass sample. When I use chalk, I usually seal the finished piece with Diamond Glaze by Judikins or a spray sealer.

To create these wine charms, I used hoop earring blanks which I found at a bead store. I found this as a tip online and it was much easier than working with wire because the hoops maintain their shape. I used jump rings to attach the charms on the hoop and smaller beads as spacers. Once I had the shrink charms finished, it took just a few minutes to string everything on the hoop. The hoops and jump rings had minimal cost and I was able to use beads and shrink from my craft stash so this was an economical project. I can easily customize my charms for the theme of the party or for individual guests like spelling out a word in alphabet beads like for the champagne sample.

For these samples, I used 4 styles of shrink: Lucky Squirrel Black, Clear and Translucent and Shrink Dink Almond. I experimented and made several versions of each charm. When shrunken the Lucky Squirrel plastic distorted less and maintained its shape more consistently than the other brand. Like paper, shrink plastic has a "grain" and it is important to cut pieces for the same project in the same direction. I used my oven for the coin and sea glass and a heat gun for the champagne and peacock and the oven shrunk the pieces more evenly.

In summary, I had fun playing with shrink plastic (again) and these small charms would be a great way to use leftover pieces. Wineglass charms were a new medium for me and I liked the lightweight durability of the shrink plastic. They will definitely stand up to being handled by guests or (children who wants their alphabet beads back). Details of my projects can be found in my blog. I think I prefer working with larger shrink plastic projects and I am eager to experiment more with this fun medium.