Earth Day Daisy Crocheted Pin May 28, 2007
Make your own eyes - Part II April 24, 2007
Continued from Part I
These are the eyes you have been waiting for… I stumbled upon this idea after finishing an amigurumi cactus for my friend, and not wanting to sew on eyes. So I turned to one of my all time favorite crafting materials, Shrinky-dinks. I get my shrinky-dinks directly from the “Magical Land of Shrinky Dinks.” The shipping is a little steep (UPS) so the last time I
I gathered my shrinky dinks, 1″ hole punch, 1/8″ and 1/4″ hole punches, and a square of paper from a brown paper bag. My 1 inch hole punch is designed such that if I flip it over, I can see exactly where I am about to punch. THis is helpful for getting as many circles as possible from one sheet of plastic.
I use the one incher to punch out numerous circles from the black and brown. Then I use one of the smaller punches to add the holes I will use for sewing the eyes onto my softie. I like to punch the holes bowling ball-style in a little triangle. The eyes are arranged on the piece of brown paper and put into a pre-heated 325 F toaster over for about 6 minutes. When they are done, they are tiny!
I use yarn to sew on the eyes with the larger holes, and I like to connect the dots in a triangle.
I use embroidery floss to sew on the eyes with the smaller holes, and i like to attach those with a sideways ‘v’ pattern.
Before you run out and order a bunch of shrinky dinks, you might want to wait until you read my next post on making eyes… From plastic you probably have around the house.
Tips for using shrinky-dinks
- Use brown paper as the baking tray. If you use metal or foil they may heat too quickly. Additionally, because the metal is so smooth, the shrinkies may briefly adhere to it before cooling. This often leaves a mark on the shrinky that I don’t like, even though they are not permanently stuck.
- Don’t cook them too fast. In a toaster oven, the plastic is always close to the heating elements. If your oven is not pre-heated appropriately, they may experiance too much direct heat, and distort severely when shrinking. This is the most frequent cause of curling in the final product.
- Don’t undercook them. If your shrinky is bowed up in the middle, or severely curled, it might not be done. put it in for a few more minutes and it might straighten out.
- Keep a set of chopsticks handy. Chopsticks are perfect for separating shrinkies that touch during baking. You can also use them to flatten out minor imperfections when the plastic is still hot from the oven and flexible.
Related posts
A Windfall of craftiness April 1, 2007
First, the bad news… I applied for a table to sell my craft wares at the SF Bazaar Bizaare in May, and I didn’t get accepted. ho-hum. I can’t believe they have chosen to leave themselves moustache-less. Now I wish I would have done something to get involved like drop spindle demonstrations, or crocheting with video tape or something but those deadlines passed long ago, and I was hedging my bets on the Bazaar…
But there are other things to cheer me up. I took some nice photos for the Bazaar application, and one features the newest item in my shop: The Old West Moustache Set.
Cookie A gave my stitch markers a mention and now they are selling as fast as I can list them. Thanks so much Cookie!
I have also received a bunch of swap goodies from swap-bot.
I really enjoyed the tea swap. I got these from Germany:
And my partner in the “Crafty Chick” swap really outdid herself.
A Martha Stweart Living, paper goodies, a hand sewn case, yarn, and more! See that green yarn in the top left? i immediately started using it in granny squares.
Those grannies are really starting to pile up, by the way….
The front two are from swap-bot swaps!
Just a reminder, if you would like to swap a few granny squares, sign-ups for my Scraptastic granny square swap are open until April 8th.
