Zentangle Shrinky Dink Necklace

I’m bringing shrinky Dink back into my life! And this time I am mixing it with some Zentangle for a fantastic Zentangle Shrinky Dink necklace!

My cousin Kelli and I used Shrinky Dink pretty often when we were little! I traced a picture of the United States one time. I was pretty darn proud of that because it was so detailed and looked awesome when it came out of the oven. 

Well, I am bringing back my love of Shrinky Dink and this time it’s for jewelry. I have received a few compliments on this necklace since I finished it, and no one knows it’s made out of plastic designed for children’s art projects. I would say that is a success.

If you are not familiar with Shrinky Dink, it is a plastic sheet that you can draw and color on. Once you are done, you stick it in the oven and it shrinks to about 1/2 its size and thickens making the perfect material for jewelry pendants.

While I haven’t tried it out, I have heard you can actually use take-out containers because it is the same type of plastic. I will try it out soon and see what happens, as I always loved necklaces I even got couple necklaces here for me and my partner.

Shrinky Dink shrinks down to about half its size so you have to plan out what you want to make and what size you want it to be. I went with a 5 inch elephant that shrank down to about 2.5 inches tall. Using a colored pencil, I traced an elephant photo and then began zentangling the ears.

I’m glad I only did the ears and a little on the forehead. I think if I covered the whole thing it would be far too messy and dark. it needed some white space.

After zentangling the rest of the elephant, I carefully cut it out.

Follow the instructions on your Shrinky Dink package for temperature of your oven and how long to cook it.

I had a few problems with the trunk and the tusk. See, when it starts to shrink it curls up and then lays flat again. While it was curled up, the tusk and the trunk stuck together and never layed flat. I had to take it out of the oven, separate the two and reheat it to get it flat. I was sure it was gone, but I am very happy I was able to save it and reheat it to flatten.

Pro Tip: Using a hole punch is the perfect size for jewelry. It was the perfect size for adding a jump ring to then the chain.

I’m really impressed with the final product. You would never guess I drew that with a colored pencil!

I’m excited to try out a few more Shrinky Dink/Zentangle options!

Have you ever used Shrinky Dink?

PS! For more zentangle check out my shoes! For more jewelry projects check out my washer necklace!