March 21, 2012 Shrinky Dink Martian
 

http://cellar.org/2012/shrinky.png

Here he comes, a Shrinky-Dink Martian, out of the sky, to visit the humans of Planet Earth.

For the uninitiated, a shrinky-dink is a picture drawn and colored on a certain kind of plastic, placed on a tray and put in the oven to bake. The heat of the oven causes the plastic to shrink.

The plastic shrinks evenly and the picture stays intact.

The point? One can draw and color images in full size and then shrink them down into miniatures. It is a lot easier to color a big picture, especially for children, and a lot of fun to watch it shrink!

Follow the link to Curbly for full instructions.

A scientist used shrinky dinks to manufacture microfluidic devices for a fraction of the normal cost.

I remember doing shrinky-dinks as a kid. I had no idea it was so easy to find the right kind of plastic now, so thanks for the link, I'll be getting my kids to do it on a rainy day :-)

Yeah, I remember making jewellery type things from that stuff.

I might see if I can find some too. I have a midget here who would probably love it.

I also remember that other stuff that was kind of like clay and you made your little model, then put it in the oven and it set, but not really hard. More like hard plastic. I remember I made a plaque for the shower door that stayed there right through my childhood.

I loved Shrinky Dinks. I'm sure I have a blank batch somewhere around here in a box I haven't opened since I moved.

I never used them for jewelry though, great idea. I had a set of Dungeons and Dragons figures. I think it came with a mini adventure.

Sculpey? Or Fimo?

More like the Fimo I think. It was lots of fun.

Ask jim to show you his collection of ornaments.

I'm pretty sure I saw them. The christmas ones he made with the kids?

Yarp.

Darn, but I love that movie.

In high school we would put empty chips or twisties packets into the front part of the heaters in the schoolrooms, and they would shrink to a mini version just like these shrinky-dinks. I once made myself a necklace out of all different kinds of tiny chips, twisties, cheezels, etc packets.

And a question for the other Aussies here: I was overseas for a decade during the time the Australian $10 note came out, i.e. the first plastic notes. (For you non-Aussies: they're all like that now.) Is it true that they will shrink like a shrinky-dink as well? I heard if you had one in your pocket when you washed it it would be okay but not if you then put your washing into the clothes dryer, as it would shrink. True? I would try it with a $5 note, but we don't have a clothes dryer.

Aussie notes don't shrink in the dryer (thank god!). I've tried it lots of times. lol

thanks Ali, saves me doing that!