Experiments in Shrink Plastic

Today I thought I'd play with something different. I had made a few shrink plastic charms a year or so before, just by painting one side with acrylic paint and then baking. I got frustrated with not being able to get small enough details onto the charms this way. I know you're supposed to be able to print on them as well; and I have long wanted to find a way to get my digital designs from my Cafepress shop onto a support that I could sell in my Etsy shop. So today, I tried to print out various graphic designs onto my clear shrink film.

As you can see to the right where I've just uploaded 4 new little charms to Izile's Oddities, it obviously did not go well.

After they had been fired, and I realized I was basically stuck with four perfectly nicely shaped, but blank, clear pendants, I had to think of what to do with them. I do hate throwing anything away.

So, I started out like I did with the little dangly charm off the bottom of my Magic Vial: Celestial Moon; I painted the dull side black. A few hours later, I decided to just stick with the same idea as that tiny dangly charm.

Each charm is painted in Gold Leaf with a different Chinese symbol. The first one I did is just painted simply with the symbol for "Beauty." I painted one for "Love," one for "Rose," and one for "Sunrise." It was a bit challenging to try and get photos that not only showed the rich Gold Leaf, but also the really glassy surface.

Considering they started out as a failed experiment, I think they turned out quite pretty! And, because they were a bit of a flook; I'm only selling them for $2.50 over in my Etsy shop.