Grafix Shrink Film - Clear Transparent 8.5"x11" Sheets, Design Your Art and Shrink It to Create Jewelry, Embellishments, Paper Crafts, Gift Tags, Ornaments and More, Pack of 50

I priced the Shrinky-Dink brand shrink film and realized it would be too expensive for my large group of kids so I started looking for alternatives. This film by Grafix is perfect and priced very well.This particular film is clear so the resulting shrinky designs look a lot like stained glass. Grafix also offers white film and even film that can be run through your ink jet printer!If you've never used shrinkable film, here's a little tutorial. You'll need shrinkable film, permanent markers or colored pencils, scissors, some parchment paper and something to bake in. I use a cheap toaster oven that I reserve for this and for baking Sculpy clay. Optional supplies are some fine grit sandpaper for lightly sanding the film when using colored pencils, a hole punch, some jump rings and needle nose pliers, key rings and some adhesive-backed magnets.I cut each sheet of film into quarters because a quarter sheet is a good size for shrinking. Larger sheets sometimes shrink strangely and curl in odd ways. Have the child draw a design onto the quarter sheet film, trying to fill the film as much as possible because it will shrink by 50%. If their design is too small, it will be miniscule after baking!If you wish to turn your shrinky designs into charms, keychains or necklaces, you'll need to punch a hole with a hole punch somewhere in the design before baking. If you want to make refrigerator magnets, no hole is necessary. Then cut around the design as desired.Turn your oven on to 350 degrees and let it heat up. A toaster oven works brilliantly for this because it heats very quickly and has a glass door for watching the magic happen. Place the design on a piece of parchment paper and lay on a metal baking tray and place in the oven. Watch closely because the baking process is short! You will notice that the design begins to shrink and curl up. Don't worry. As the shrinking completes, the design will uncurl and become flat again.When it has pretty much flattened out, remove it from the oven. I use tongs and gloves for this because the plastic is very, very hot. Place it on a heat proof surface and slam a heavy book on top of it to make it completely flat. (Kids LOVE this part.) Ta da! You've made a shrinky dink!Sometimes with larger designs or ones with a lot of long thin sections, it will curl a lot and perhaps stick to itself. I have a chopstick I keep next to the toaster oven for intervening when this happens.You will see that the film ends up being much thicker after shrinking so it is no longer flexible. You can seal your design with clear nail polish or a spray sealant, if desired. Magic marker designs can chip a little if not sealed.Colored pencils seem to make the most durable designs, but you need to lightly sand your film before drawing the design. Sanding creates a tooth for the colored pencil lead to catch on. Sand lightly in both directions in a hatch-type fashion.Hint: Buy some metallic Sharpie markers even if you plan to use colored pencils. They add sparkle to every design and the kids seem to adore using them. They come in gold, silver and bronze.Any kid old enough to draw will love making shrinky designs. Kids 11 or 12 or older can even do the baking themselves with supervision. If you're looking for a fun art project to do with kids, I promise you they will be thrilled with this one.

*UPDATED: JULY 2020*This product is AMAZING! I have been using this product for a few years now, and I have loved the results I have gotten from this product. Continue reading for my tips and tricks when using this product!First of all, I print out my designs from my computer to my Canon MX922 printer. I use the Photo Paper preset, but the Glossy Photo Paper preset works the same. A VERY IMPORTANT tip is to lighten the colors. The percentage of lightening the colors can vary, but know that the more you bake your designs in the oven, the darker they become. When I used to bake them for 3-4 minutes, I lightened it by 50%, but now when I bake them for 8-10 minutes, I have to lighten them by about 70%.Second, after I print them, I move on to cutting. The cutting process is self explanatory, but it is also important to HOLE-PUNCH before you bake if you are making keychains. Another thing would be that my hands often times get sweaty when cutting, so I HAVE to wear gloves, since it can leave a yellow stain on your designs.Third, its time to bake! (The most enjoyable part, but can also be stressful for your first time) I pre-heat my oven to 300 degrees, put my designs between 2 pieces of parchment paper, and put them into the oven. People say it takes 2-4 minutes, but for me, it actually takes from 8-12 minutes. It really depends on the size of your designs, so you will have to experiment. After doing this many times, I realized that the longer they are in for, the less imperfections that they have. Again, the most important thing is TRIAL AND ERROR, so find that right temperature for you. Another tip would to be to NOT FREAK OUT. The main reason why most of my charms failed in the oven step was because I was so anxious if they were going to over bake. However, this ALWAYS led to me removing them too early and having failed charms. Just remember that over baking is WAY better than under baking, so there is no reason for you to worry. I did read that someone said that they can burn, which I never encountered, but be cautious! Finally, I quickly remove them from the oven, flattening them with a flat pan/plate. BE WARNED that they cool down VERY quickly, so flatten them quickly.Next, I apply DecoArt Americana Triple Thick Gloss Glaze for one main reason. If you use Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, using it by itself without an under coat will probably make your design smear. This product does make the colors more saturated, so be aware of that! It isn’t my favorite glaze because of it saturating the colors, but I don’t know of any other gloss so I just gotta make do with what I have. I leave it to dry for the whole day or night (10-12 hours-ish), and then move on to using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic.I have to say, Mod Podge Dimensional Magic is very stressful to use. Lots of my charms have failed because of it. The air bubbles are very stressful, but I typically use a needle and toothpick to pop the big ones. If there are some small ones you want to take out, you can scoop them out with a sticker note or paper, which works most of the time. I also had times where the liquid overflowed, so make sure to not overdo it. Another tip I have for this product is that whenever the liquid covers small spaces/crevices, I wait about 1-2 hours for it to set, and then go in with a toothpick to cut the liquid that has fallen in these areas. Using this product can be very stressful, but when done correctly, the end result will be very nice and will leave you satisfied. I let it fully rest for 12 hours before I call it finished.Overall, this product is really fun to use, especially for those who want to get into the art of making charms. I am super satisfied with how my charms have all turned out and very excited to continue making more. A final tip to you all would be to not give up if you mess up. The mistakes are what allows you to learn and become better at doing this. I hope this review helps someone, as knowing some of these things from the start would’ve been so helpful to me. I know this has been long, but thank you so much for reading this! 💖

New to shrink plastic crafts,this is the second brand I tried, super happy with these though! Expensive for a craft supply but well worth the price. The printable shrinky dink brand sheets do NOT take my HP printer ink well and keep smudging even though I let it dry for an hour before touching. This one dried within minutes after printing,no smudging before or after baking, very nice!I read reviews about this particular brand of paper and decided to reduce color saturation by only 30% for printing, that worked perfectly for me. They turned back to the original color after baking, I am super excited!!I baked these at 350° for 3 mins sandwiched between two cardstock papers on a cookie sheet. They come out flat without needing to be pressed flat with a spatula. But they don't shrink as much as the shrinky dink brand. I scale them up to 200% so they can shrink down to the size I want. I tried scaling to 300% like I did for the shrinky dink brand and they were still huge after 3 1/2 mins in the oven! So scale to 200%, bake at 350° for 3 mins is perfect for this brand.Now when I said NO smudging before or after baking, that is 100% true. BUT when adding Dimensional Magic to make these dome, these DID bleed, especially the black ink. So make sure to seal, SEAL and SEAL, before adding the dimensional magic. Let it dry after each coat of sealant. I blow dried in between because I lack the patience. Then after the final coat of acrylic sealer, I let it dry overnight. Check that it is completely dry before adding the dimensional magic.Have no success cutting it with my silhouette cameo 3 but that's okay, maybe when I upgrade to cameo 4 I will have better luck. Love these, I just wish they were cheaper.