Hi friends!
Today I am sharing a pendant I made using shrink plastic and this lovely design by White Spruce Studio. I used the design: Kayak Woman Printable
I started this project off by bringing the design into Silhouette Studio. Since I will be printing this on shrink plastic, I am going to fill the page with more graphics than I will need for this project because once a sheet is printed, you cannot send it through the printer again. I put 4 of this design on the page and 2 miscellaneous photos to maybe use later. I thought I would make earrings with the kayak so I mirrored 2 of them. I later decided to make a pendant instead. Now, I can still make a pair of earrings and another necklace should I choose to do so.
The images will be printed on shrink plastic so the design needs to be printed larger. I guess at 3 times the size of what I would like. I guessed 1 inch after shrinking but they came out about 1.25" from a 3" starting point and because they are bigger than I thought, I didn't really want them for earrings. Despite the size, the weight is really light so no heavy earrings here.
**Note that I didn't use the print and cut feature here. I never have luck with the Cameo reading the registration marks on shrink plastic because the ink doesn't soak in like it does on paper. Since this design is pretty simple because I want it to be circular, I decided to wing it and have the Cameo cut circles. This has a great fail rate and could ruin the design if not cut out well. It did turn out a little off but you cannot tell on the kayak pieces. You could also just cut with scissors. Another option is to turn on the registration marks prior to printing and print the same page on printer paper and attach to the top of the shrink plastic and have the Cameo cut through both at the same time. I have had good success with this method.
I added a black mark on the designs that I do not want the cameo to cut out. These black marks are placed where I want the hole to be placed for the jewelry findings and I used them so I punch a hole in the same place on each piece.
Once the design is how you like, send it to printer on the shrink plastic material. Once printed, let it dry for a little bit as it can smudge.
Cut out the circles using the method you prefer as stated above.
I use a basic hole punch to make the holes for the jewelry hardware. It always makes the perfect size hole after the shrink process.
Follow the instructions for your shrink plastic material to shrink. The oven works well and I get perfect results with it. Here I am using a mini griddle that I have dedicated to shrink plastic only because I don't like to heat up the oven for a small and quick project.
I estimate that it takes a minute to shrink. It actually happens pretty quick but a little extra time gets it to settle down.
Be careful to handle, it is not only hot but it is still soft at this point. Gently remove from heat source. I put a heat resistant coaster over it and add a little weight just to make sure it hardens pretty flat.
I am really big on using supplies I already have and I just happened to have some beads that coordinate well.
I am really excited at how this turned out!
~Paula
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Papers are just from my collection. I always grab from my scraps first and I don’t keep track of where they came from. Use what you have!
