As I’ve made the rounds of craft fairs this summer, I’ve noticed a new trend in handmade jewelry: Shrinky-Dinks. This may not be new to you; trends seem to migrate from town to town, so what’s new to me may be old to you and vice versa. I had seen a few examples of Shrinky-Dink art before this summer, but not to the degree I saw at the Indie Handicraft Exchange in Indianapolis last month. There were at least three separate booths specializing in hand-colored shrunken plastic charms, and let me tell you, these ain’t the Dinks you remember. They range from whimsical to full-blown art.
When you think about it, it is an awesome medium for art jewelry. They offer a completely blank canvas as far as size, shape and detail. An artist can draw whatever they like, stick it in the oven and, ta-da! Instant jewelry. You don’t need special equipment or training, just a little experimentation and lots of colored pencils. Plastic has never really been considered “classy” but it’s looking like Shrinky-Dinks could change that.
All photos from Etsy, each is linked to the artist’s shop page.
4 replies on “When Childhood Fun Becomes Art”
You can use plastics marked with a 6 (polystyrene, I believe). The local recycling people won’t take it, so I salvage all the flat bits from containers before tossing them.
Very cool, I’ll pass that along.
I really like the wing–who knew they could be so cool?
I like the wing too, it makes me wish I could draw better.