Shrink Plastic Adventures, Part 2

I am playing around with different ways to seal the ink on printable shrink plastic. My last attempt resulted in very "bleedy" ink and an undesirable effect overall, as seen in this blog post.

My next adventure in shrink plastic sealing begins with doing what I should have done in the first place: read and follow directions.


I took a handful of inkjet Shrinky Dinks and sprayed them with Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic coating. This is how I did it:

1. I followed the directions on the can: shake for 2 minutes, hold about 12 inches away, spray with a quick sweep. It was probably hotter outside than the maximum recommended temperature, but I did store the Krylon inside.

2. Let it dry for 15 minutes.

Here are the results:



After one coat, it was very difficult to see any kind of sheen, much less a "gloss." So after 15 minutes, I resprayed...


After the second coat dried, a sheen was visible, although I would still not call it a "glossy" effect. In the photo below, there is a strange yellowness to the ink, and I think it may be an artifact of my camera or the fading light.


Inside under a fluorescent light, the sheen is more visible but you have to look closely to find it. There is also evidence of a "grit" that some folks at Craftster referred to that happens when you use glossy coat spray.



I sprayed a few of the pieces with a third coat of Krylon with no noticeable difference.

Next:
These pieces have 2 coats of Krylon and group 1 has an additional coat of a brush on gloss coating called "Triple Thick." Group 2 has a clear dimensional goo called "Glossy Accents" which I have used on paper with great success.


The results were close, but I have a slight preference for the charms with the Glossy Accents because it is REALLY glossy and there is a dimension to them that is not as noticeable with the brush on Triple Gloss.

More of the Glossy Accents charms:



The more "matte" look of the Triple Gloss charms:

Next I will try using UTEE, but for now, my conclusion: DEFINITELY seal the shrinky dinks with Krylon spray before applying a brush on or squeeze on gloss coat to avoid ink bleeding.

Shrink Plastic Adventures, Part 1

Shrink plastic, Shrinky Dinks. Whatever. They are super-cool.


I like to put charms on my notebooks, which is simple when you use a game board to make a notebook...just drill yo-self a hole in one of the game pieces and there's your charm.

For my laminated notebooks, I was using store bought silver colored charms when I could find good ones, but I really want handmade charms to put on my notebooks. The answer has to be Shrink Plastic.

I'm no stranger to Shrinky Dinks and have made lots of boo boos with them. Specifically, I have found that the inkjet ones are susceptible to loosing their ink.

I am trying to learn how best to seal the "shrinked" image to preserve the design AND to give it a glossy finish.

I read all over Craftster to get ideas. Craftster is great.


I tried some of the ideas, and probably due to my lack of attention to detail (ie, don't read directions), I got disappointing results.

Some folks say use a spray acrylic clear gloss. I didn't have that hanging around but I did have two of the items suggested on Craftster:

1) Triple Thick Gloss Coating by DecoArt
2) Glossy Accents by Ranger

Note: Other suggestions were UTEE and clear nail polish.

So post shrinking, I slathered on a really thick layer of each of these. Here's what it looked like immediately after applying the goo:


Next, I check back 4 hours later and...


Darn. Ink bleedage. Close up...



Neither product was really designed for the purpose of sealing ink onto shrink plastic, and the directions on the ink jet Shrinky Dinks specifically recommend Krylon Acrylic Coat spray.

Now I am going to try this again, with Krylon spray underneath and photos of results will follow....