Tutorial Tuesday

Here's another tutorial from the archive. As with the all the tutorials this month we will be releasing this as a kit with Checkmybox, this week! Keep your eyes peeled for that, and enjoy the tutorial.x

UPDATE: You can buy the materials to make this kit over at Checkmybox.co.uk or at our Etsy shop, making things even easier!

1. Using chalk pastels colour rectangular sections of a sheet of shrink plastic in four different colours.

2. Cut the sections into large isosceles triangles, around 10cm in length.

3. Using a hole punch make a hole at the bottom (shortest edge) of each triangle.

4. Heat them in the oven according to the instructions. They usually need around 3-5 minutes.

5. Using a 7mm jump ring attach the pendants to a 50cm piece of chain. Build this up in a random order, mixing up the colours.

6. When your happy with the design, put two jump rings and a clasp onto the end of your chain.

VOILA! Get out into the sunshine and show it off.

Beginner Techniques

There are a couple of different ways to heat shrink plastic. Either in the oven or with a heat gun. The oven is my favourite and, in my opinion, the easiest way to shrink you designs. The even heat distribution keeps the dimensions equal all over, and it also means you have more time to shape or flatten the piece after taking out the oven.

I've sprayed cream spray paint over this piece of lace trimming to show the change in size once it's been heated. The packet will usually give you examples of different pens, paints and inks that are suitable to use. I like to experiment with other materials as well. Sanding the sheet will help stabilise paints and inks that are not recommended, and once heated most substances should dry on. If your unsure just experiment with a small piece to see how it reacts. (Try not to poison yourself or set anything on fire when heating. Don't leave unattended and keep the room well ventilated!)

I use clean thick cardboard to place the pieces on in the oven. Again please don't leave it unattended because no one wants a fire in the oven. Especially not one that is burning all your new jewellery! Make sure you leave plenty of space around the edge of the cardboard and between each piece. (I've had pieces jump off the edge before and stick to the bottom of the oven... this ended in an  unfortunate episode concluding in fire men knocking some doors down... they did not see the funny side.)
There should be heating instructions that come with you shrink plastic. I usually heat the oven to 170 degrees (Celsius) and leave the shrink plastic in the oven for around 5 minutes. I actually never get bored of watching the plastic curl and shrink. Don't worry it should uncurl, but if it doesn't take it out, pull apart and reheat. You can reheat shrink plastic once it has cooled to reshape. Just make sure you don't leave in the oven too long as it will overheat, and more than likely stick to everything...

Once you've taken it out of the oven flatten between to hard objects or shape using a ring mandrel (more examples of this coming up in the next month)

So that's one way of heating shrink plastic. I'll be writing about using a heat gun to do the same thing next week. I'm off to get ready for the Cosmo Blog Awards tomorrow. You know, paint nails, shave legs etc etc.. It's the first time I'll have met other bloggers and I can't wait to meet everyone!

More on that later this week. Fran x

Tutorial Tuesday

Hello. I've been looking forward to this tutorial for ages! This is definitely one of my favourite pieces of jewellery at the moment. It's a nice twist on the conventional collar piece or collar tips (which I love!).
I've used a heat gun to heat and shrink the polyshrink plastic. I actually find it much easier to heat in the oven instead of chasing bits of plastic around a plate! I'll be posting tomorrow my hints and tips, and ways to stay safe when using shrink plastic, so if your a bit unsure check back tomorrow for my guide. (click here to see part one)

What you'll need:
80cm/30inch chain / Shrink plastic / 7 x Jump rings / Hole punch / Flat nose or chain nose pliers

 

Instructions:
Making sure your screen is set to 100% trace the triangle onto a piece of paper and cut out / using this as a template to cut from, cut out two pieces of shrink plastic / Punch holes in 2 corners of the triangle / shrink using the instructions on the packet / Cut your chain into four pieces each 20cm/8inches in length / Attach two chains together a one end (do the same with the other two chains) / Using jump rings, attach each set of chains to a triangle. (See more on jump rings here) You should have two separate parts that look like necklaces / Take a jump ring and loop it through one of the rings on each triangle to bring the two together / Open one of the jump rings keeping the chain together and attach a clasp. (See more about attaching clasps here.) / If necessary add or take away chain links to achieve a necklace length your happy with.

Mood Board

earrings / ring / black and white fox / pastel necklace / diamond cut out rings / orange fox /

pink necklace / collar tips

 

Hello everyone! Here we are, it's the 1st October. This month is going to be awesome. I'm off to the Cosmo Blog Awards party on Thursday (I don't have a clue what I'm wearing yet... starting to panic a little). Also it's my birthday at the end of the month so me and Hannah are taking a little holiday in Florida!! And to top it all off we've got so much planned for the blog this month. It's all pretty bloody exciting!

 

So Octobers theme is shrink plastic. It's a fantastic and very versatile substance, not just to print or draw on and make pendants or earrings from, but to shape and fit together, and we plan to use it in unexpected ways for this months tutorials. Tomorrow is the first Tutorial Tuesday of the month so come back to see what I mean and get a little taster of what's to come. Fran x