Shrink Plastic Workshop at Hobbycraft.

Yesterday I held a workshop for kids at Hobbycraft in Carlisle.

For just one bright shiny pound coin they could make a Shrink Plastic keyring.

They seemed to have great fun  :)  Lots of concentration going on here, don't you think?

And look what was produced - fabulous work in my opinion.

Lego men and fire trucks, followed by Russian dolls and an elephant.

And I did a dinosaur which I gave to my mate Helen, who was working at Hobbycraft on the day  :)

I quite enjoyed doing the kids crafts, so I am now working on a list of activities for the October Half Term - both the English term times and the Scottish term times, so watch this space  :)

Purple Cobwebs

Over on the Bead Buddies Forum a member, names Gaynor, posted a challenge.  Her forum name is "Purple Cobwebs" so of course her challenge was to be the same, come up with something to do with purple and/or cobwebs.  (Gaynor is a Lampworker and she sells a lot of her bits and bobs for charity, you can find her HERE)

I got out my Shrink Plastic, drew a free-hand cobweb on it and three little spiders, Daddy Spider, Mummy Spider and Baby Spider, which I coloured in purple with my Sharpies.

I shrunk them down and they did look ever so cute.

I was going to attach the spiders with monofilament (ie: fishing wire) but really wanted something more fluid and....well.... spidery.   So I went with crochet cotton.  Very very thin crochet cotton, worked on a 1.5mm hook.

I found a cute little black and white button which I used as a fastening.

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

Camper Van

Following on from my play session with the Shrink Plastic where I made Beach Huts, let me show you my little Camper Van.

I did plan to make a row of them, like the beach huts, but only managed to do one before something else caught my eye and diverted me  :)  It happens, a lot!

I might do some more soon though, as it is a little bit cute  :)



ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  

BB Colour Challenge May 2013

Goodness me what is happening?  It is the 4th of May (fighting the urge to say "May the forth be with you!"), and I have just finished my piece for the Bead Buddies Forum monthly colour challenge. 

Normally I totally miss the deadline, even though it's a whole month, or end up running about like a headless chicken trying to get something made.  This month it's different.

The colours were a randomly generated selection - this.....

I guess my entry is a bit of a cheat as I am still enjoying my Shrink Plastic experiments and just simply decided to use them and my lovely Sharpie pens yet again.

I've purchased a few stencils from the clearance box at Hobbycraft, one of them being a trio of hearts which is quite nice, so I used that.  They are just over an inch high.  

Feel free to sign up to the forum and enter yourself, there are still around 20 days left to take part this month  :)

  ps - I still won't win  ;)

ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.

BB Colour Challenge April 2013

The time is 23.31 on the last day of April, and I have just finished my piece for the Bead Buddies Forum monthly colour challenge.

I realised at 23.00 that I had not done anything to enter into the challenge, which might have been ok if I had not pledged to make sure I took part the previous month :/  ***Headless chicken mode - ON!***

The colours were a randomly generated selection - this.....

What can I make?..... aha, my Shrink Plastic and Sharpie pens were still out on the work table, good plan.

I had bought a cute owl template in the clearance section at Hobbycraft the day before so decided to use that.

Stupidly though, I picked up the purple pen instead of the green one, I do have a tendency to lean towards the purple side so I wasn't surprised, just a bit annoyed at my lack of concentration.

This is the first time I have used the white Shrink Plastic since my first trial method, and it bled!  Not as much as the regular felt tips bled, but still too much for my liking.

Now, the directions in the packet say to use the rough side of the plastic, but when I used the shiny side on a test piece, I got a lovely crisp finish with no bleeding, so guess I will be using that side from now on.

After a big sigh, I took some clear Shrink Plastic and started again, this time only putting the correct colours on the table and locking the others away so I could not be tempted away again.

Not chuffed with this one either.  The grey is way too dark and it was a bugger to photograph.  Still, the colours are kinda correct so I will be entering it.  

ps:  I will tell you now, I will not win  :)   You see, I actually do the draw for the winner and of course will not be putting my name in - no good sending a winning gift to myself now is it?

ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.

Beach Huts

I have been playing with Shrink Plastic again.  My results are slightly betterer than last time  (I know that's not a real word but I like it!)

I decided on Beach Huts for my theme this time, I love Beach Huts, love the bright colours and the rows of identically built huts, all different.  I would love a beach hut.  I would also love a camper van.

Here we are then, a row of brightly coloured beach huts.

After my last appalling attempt I decided that Sharpie pens were the way to go.  They work really well.  They don't bleed and the colours stay bright.

I linked each hut onto thick chain so to space them out sufficiently,  then added a thinner curb chain as the necklace part.

I will definitely be returning to play with Shrink Plastic again  :)

ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  

First attempt at shrink plastic

I recall, many years ago, at Guide Camp, shoving crisp bags on the end of a stick into the camp fire, and turning them until they melted and shrunk right down.  We then used to glue a pin on them and use them as a brooch.  Sadly, the crisp packets these days are made from a different material - foil lined to keep the crisps fresh - and therefore do not melt.  But it was such fun, do you remember?

Well the modern day product seems to be Shrink Plastic (available in different brand names)  I wonder if the inventor of this also used to shrink down crisp packets.

I have been eyeing up the "Shrinkles" in Hobbycraft for a while now, but when I also spotted a Marabou stencil for a Stacking Doll type figure and idea formed....

I made a small purchase  :)  (the pens were already mine, I just had to search around the house and re-discover them, strangely under Shona's bed!!)

I made a start and very quickly worked out that normal felt tipped pens bleed, they looked ultra messy and frankly as if a 3yr old had coloured them in.  In fact a 3yr old might have made a better job!

I tried again.  Same result.

So then I dug some pencils out and had another go, I scribbled and scribbled to try and strengthen the colour as it was very pale, but to no avail (remember this bit, I will refer back to it later).

Ok, so I'm watching this project slide uncontrollably down hill, but instead of throwing them in the bin in utter disgust I thought I would see it out to the end and bake them.

But before they do I hole punched their heads so I can hang them from something.

The instructions say, Gas mark 3 for a "few minutes".  I take that to mean, 3 or 4 minutes, perhaps 5.  So I sit on the cold tiled kitchen floor and watch them through the oven door.  25 minutes later I decide to go and watch something on TV in the living room and allow my bum to warm back up.  At this stage I had watched them curl right up almost into little balls, then just wobble about with a big bubble in the centre.  I had to wait until they were totally flat before removing them from the oven.  My oven isn't a great oven anyway, I never use timings or heat instructions I just shove stuff in and take it out when it looks/feels cooked.  A throwback from using an old Aga when I was 17 and working in a hotel kitchen.

Eventually they make an appearance back into the real world, nice and flat.

Before and after cooking.

Before and after.

The colours are still horribly smudged on the felt tipped pen attempts.

But the pencil one surprised me, the colours had intensified a lot, were nice and crisp with neat edges.  Alas though, all that scribbling to make the colours brighter had resulted in lots of pencil dust which also intensified when cooked.

Lessons learnt I think..... off to try some Sharpies, see it they work any better.

ps: The Amazon links I've scattered throughout the page are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.   I'll never be rich, but every little helps ;)