What number of plastic can be used for Shrinky Dinks?
The sheets of plastic you get in a Shrinky Dinks kit is polystyrene—the same stuff as recycled plastic #6, which is commonly used for those clear clamshell containers you see in cafeterias.
It turns out that only ONE KIND of plastic can be used as a Shrinky Dink stand in, and that's plastic stamped with a #6 recycle code. Other kinds of plastic doesn't work, and some might even be dangerous.
They barely shrunk, barely thickened, and several never uncurled. Batch #3 was the best shrinky dink, in that they shrunk well, thickened well, and stayed flat.
You can use number 5 plastic for shrinky dinks or number 6 plastic.
Some plastics will shrink when you get them hot. Two of these are polystyrene, the material in foam cups and plastic food containers, and the other is polyester, from which soda bottles are made. You can make your own shrinking polymers by baking polystyrene in a regular oven!
CPET (Crystallized Polyethylene Terephthalate)
It can typically withstand temperatures between 32 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and 400 degrees F. As a result, CPET is safe to use in the oven up to 400 degrees F. CPET is generally used for baking pans, trays, and containers.
Sharpies, Acrylic Paint Pens, or Colored Pencils:
Our pigment of choice for Shrinky Dinks would be permanent markers (sharpies). They work well for a variety of ages and are ready to roll straight out of the package.
Try heating it longer. I've never done whole sheets before either. One thing that I did find was that although the directions say to heat the plastic on cut up brown paper sack, I got better results by heating directly on the cookie sheet.
This fun Shrinky Dinks Sticker Set helps kids explore creative expression and provides hours of fun. It includes six images to color and shrink, six pieces of double stick tape, and six colored pencils. Adult supervision required during baking.
Also, you definitely cannot use a hair dryer to shrink printed shrink film, it simply would not work and result in an absolute mess due to the inks in the film.
Can you use aluminum foil for Shrinky Dinks?
Aluminum foil will work fine, but wax paper should never go in the oven. Additionally, never bake a shrinky dink on an uncovered baking sheet. You will run the risk of it getting stuck.
Number 1 plastic shrinks a little, but not much and also sometimes just turns white and curls – it's not a good material for DIY shrinky dinks.

Another way to keep Shrinky Dinks sealed is to place them inside a Ziploc baggie before baking. You can also freeze them for a short period of time or put them in the refrigerator immediately after baking. If sealing isn't an option, then you'll need to discard the Shrinky Dinks if they shrink during baking.
I used acrylic paint to make my jewels pink [for breast cancer awareness month] and coated them with mode-podge to give them a little shine. I used hot glue gun to attach the gems to the Shrinky-Dink pieces. Added the chain + clasps and Viola- done!
To summarize, plastics in categories #2, #4 and #5 are generally considered safe. Be weary of putting them in the microwave, even if they are labeled “microwave-safe”. Plastics #1, #3, #6 and #7 should be used with varying to extreme caution, especially around food or drink.
Shrinkable Plastic: Shrink it Over - Crafts | Hobby Lobby.
#7 – Other (BPA, Polycarbonate and LEXAN)
Number 7 plastics are used to make baby bottles, sippy cups, water cooler bottles and car parts. BPA is found in polycarbonate plastic food containers often marked on the bottom with the letters “PC” by the recycling label #7.
1: PET or PETE (Polyethylene terephthalate)
There's a good chance you've held something made of this plastic type today. PET or PETE is what's used to make bottles for soda, water and other drinks. It's also used to make cooking oil containers, plastic peanut butter jars and containers for other popular food items.
The terms “plastic #1” and “plastic #2” refer to a plastic container's resin identification code. Put simply, this code refers to what type of polymer comprises a container (and not all plastics are created equal).
Polystyrene is one type of plastic which can be identified by finding a #6 “PS” symbol, and includes all foam products like Styrofoam, and some hard plastics like disposable straws and flatware.
What number of plastic shrinks in the oven?
As I said above, you're likely to find #6 plastic that can be used for DIY Shrinky Dinks in take out containers. I found some at my local Dollar Tree, when I bought an aluminum pan to bake brownies in to bring to an event. The lid that came with it was mainly a nice, flat piece of #6 plastic.
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
PTFE has one of the highest melting points of any thermoplastic at 327°C, and a very large operating temperature range. It's thermally stable enough to be used anywhere between -200°C and +260°C.
This kind of plastic is known as. No worries!
Placing a heavy weight vellum or piece of parchment paper on top of your projects while shrinking will minimize curling and sticking.
The parchment helps keep it from happening to a degree, but it is TOTALLY natural for shrinky dinks to curl up, and as long as it doesn't fold up and touch itself, it will flatten back out by leaving it in the heat.
Some clear plastic bottles and deli containers can be turned into shrink art. Shinky Dinks is the name of a type of shrink plastic. When heated, shrink plastic reduces in size. Designs drawn or printed on shrink plastic reduce too.
Shrinky Dinks® do not work with microwave ovens! Place Shrinky Dinks® pieces, colored side up, on tray or cookie sheet covered with foil or brown paper. Heat at 325°F (163°C) for 1 to 3 minutes. Watch as the Shrinky Dinks® shrink.
Shrink Film will curl up, then flatten back out, this is simply part of the shrinking process. Be patient while shrinking and wait for it to flatten out. If your film curls and sticks to itself, simply remove from the oven and using toothpicks or tweezers un-stick and return it to the oven.
Creating a Design with Shrinky Dinks
Use colored pencils, markers, and ink on Shrinky Dinks. Use the colored pencil on the rough side of the sheets, and use Sharpie or permanent marker on the smooth side.
Shrinky Dinks Ink Jet 6 Sheet Creative Pack lets you make unique plastic pieces out of photos, screen-grabs or art created on your computer. Just feed the sheet into your ink jet printer, print out your design, then color, bake and shrink.
Are Joanns Shrinky Dinks?
Shrinky Dinks 8''x10'' Frosted Ruff N' Ready Sheet Creative Pack | JOANN.
Take a sheet of shrinky dinks paper: make sure the rough side is up before starting if you are using colored pencils. make sure the shiny side is up before starting if you are using sharpies. 1.
No. It would melt and shrivel up. An air fryer works like an oven. Very hot air is circulated to cook anything inside it.
Put a shrink wrap on the tumbler, or you can use a silicone wrap. Place into your Air fryer or convection oven for 6 minutes turning halfway through. No need to drink it, the heat from the air fryer will shrink it for you.
Preheat the oven to 329 degrees fahrenheit. Place Shrinky Dinks colored side up on a cookie/baking sheet covered in aluminum foil or parchment paper. Place in the oven and bake for 1 to 3 minutes.
Materials. Sharpies in a variety of colors. The Shrinky Dink company also recommends Prisma Color pencils or non-water based crayons. We used Crayola Twistables and Crayola washable markers for this project.
Because of it's slick, non-porous surface, shrink film is a great surface work working with alcohol inks.
The shrinkage of molded plastic parts can be as much as 20% by volume, when measured at the processing temperature and the ambient temperature.
Low temperatures have a direct effect on a plastic's structure, causing molecular chains to shrink. In some cases, this can have a significant impact on the mechanical properties of some plastics.
Although the microwave isn't actively warming the plastic, foods -- especially those rich in sugar or fats -- can easily reach temperatures that certain containers can't tolerate. "You can easily take something right out of the deli, put it in the microwave, and end up shrink-wrapping …
Does pencil stay on Shrinky Dinks?
Any colored pencils work great on Shrinky dink plastic. The key to getting vibrant designs with colored pencils is to lightly sand the shrink plastic to score it. This helps it hold the color from colored pencils or twistable crayon pencils.
Even archival inks can smudge when wet, so make sure you are not smudging areas you have already coloured with your hand as you work on other sections. Once complete, leave to dry fully for about 5 minutes. Once your designs is dry, cut out your shrinky dink shape.
No, you need heat from your oven — or toaster oven — to shrink plastic. Remember, only #6 plastic will shrink correctly! How much does Shrink Plastic shrink? Real Shrinky Dinks shrink to about 1/3 of their size when placed in a 350 degree oven.
most brands of shrinky dinks shrink roughly 1/3 the size of the original but below is how you can know for sure. The reason this is important is that I have had one brand shrink more than another, AND I've had pieces that shrink more in one direction than the other, so they do not always shrink exactly perfectly.
This fun Shrinky Dinks Sticker Set helps kids explore creative expression and provides hours of fun. It includes six images to color and shrink, six pieces of double stick tape, and six colored pencils. Adult supervision required during baking.
Plastic injection molded part shrinkage units are expressed as thousandths of an inch per linear inch (0.00X /in/in). Typical shrink rates vary between 0.001/in/in and . 020/in/in – depending on material, wall thickness, cooling rates and other variables. The average rate of shrinkage is around 0.006/in/in.
Some polystyrene items, such as number 6 plastic, can be used like shrink plastic.
Bake the Plastic
Heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, and place your plastic drawings in the center of a cookie sheet. Once the oven is preheated, place the cookie sheet on the top rack. After about a minute, the plastic will curl, shrink, and then flatten out.
Shrink Art is a polystyrene plastic sheet that is designed to shrink to less than half its original size whilst still retaining the same shape and colour. It is sometimes called shrink film, shrinkies, polyshrink, or shrinky dinks.