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

Does exactly as advertised. I've had a lot of fun with this, very nostalgic. I do recommend shrinking with a toaster oven or something that has even heat. I also recommend using sharpie on one side and colored pencils on the other, gives a cool 3D effect. But be careful when sealing, ink will bleed even after shrinking.

Just like the fun Shrinky Dinks we all remember as kids, these are just as fun and easy - they are basically the next generation of Shrinky Dinks. Grafix Sanded Shrink Film has a great surface to color on - these thick sheets of plastic accept lots of media. I have successfully used all sorts of things to add color to these prior to shrinking, but the best advice I can give you is to experiment and see what works best for you. (If you are truly stumped, Sharpies are foolproof with these.) These save you a step since they arrive pre-sanded and ready to go. The sanding helps the plastic really grab and hold onto color - and these retain crazy detail. Stamping with StazOn (or similar permanent ink) is one of my favorite uses for these - it is so easy to make darling embellishments, gift tags, jewelry charms, etc in no time at all with this method. A quick stamp, a bit of color, a hole punched for hanging...heat with a heat gun or toaster oven (or the regular oven) and VIOLA! Very sweet creation that didn't require any drawing or artistic skills at all, but look like they did. I have found these shrink to about 40% of their original size and become quite thick. People will wonder where you bought them and you will enjoy telling them your wacky, crafty self actually made them. (Don't tell them how easy it was - a good artist/crafter never gives up all the secrets! lol)I love using these on "consumable" gifts - flowers, food, etc. You know, gifts that don't last forever. By making a personalized charm and attaching it with a ribbon around flowers...taking an extra 2 minutes to adhere a magnet to the back (after shrinking!) and presenting your personalized magnet with concert tickets...or even spending an extra 5 minutes and adding some super easy ear wires (maybe a bead or two if you have some around) - then attaching them to the edible item you are gifting with bakers string or twine - and you will be giving two gifts in one. Every time the recipient wears the earrings or looks at the magnet, they will remember the gift and think of you. I love stuff like that. (Just remember these shrink to almost half the size you originally create - so be sure to get the correct size magnet!) (Ask me how I know...never mind.)I also used these a lot when my kids were small. I made personalized tags for their backpacks, etc, by attaching these with ball chain key chains. Although the ball chain key chains are incredibly cheap, you could always use whatever you have handy to attach these - ribbon, glue, string, a split ring key chain, etc. Since these are so easy to write on (with Sharpie, for example) and are so easy to read once reduced, I've made some very fun "over the hill" cards, and included a plastic magnifying glass for the aging friend. My problem is not finding a use for these...it is stopping! I want to write, draw, stamp, and then shrink everything! (The phone company probably wouldn't appreciate receiving a shrunken copy of my check as payment, for example. They're sense of humor is lacking. Ask me how I know...forget it.)Ok, ok. I'll stop now!Bottom Line: Extremely easy to use. Accepts a wide variety of media. I find using a heat gun to shrink these to be the easiest method, but they work just as well in a regular or toaster over. These will distort as they shrink, sometimes the plastic kind of folds up on itself. No worries! They usually straighten out without any intervention - if not, CAREFULLY peel apart while the plastic is still warm. (Right out of the oven or just as you turn off the heat gun.) Remember, they will be HOT! Using a pick or similar tool, gently pull apart and press to flatten. You can always briefly return them to your heat source if you need to. Similarly, you can lift the still-warm plastic and carefully lay it over a mold (pop can, cup, bottle, whatever) to shape the plastic. Leave it on the mold until cool. How fun is that?! Just please remember the plastic is HOT and careful attention must be paid to avoid injury. (Ask me how I know...or don't!) It's also important to remember to punch any holes BEFORE shrinking. Although you can drill holes afterward, it is much easier to make the hole prior to heating. (Yes, the hole shrinks, too...so don't make some tiny hole thinking you are only connecting it to a jump ring or something - because the hole will melt closed. Or so I've heard. <ahem>) Before heating, the plastic is in sheet form - think thick transparency. After heating, the sheet becomes approximately 9 times thicker and is not at all flexible once cool. (The plastic will snap instead of bend.) These are also not for use in any printer - be sure to get the type for printers if that is your intended use. (Again, ask me how I know...or not!) I wholeheartedly recommend these for adults and children (with supervision for the heating part, duh) and consider these a fantastic family project. The large number of sheets you receive in this package will keep you shrinking for a long time!

Honestly, reading all the reviews on here about this product and also the unsanded version made my head spin, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. So glad I did because it worked fine! I have to make 100 little charms for a church camp so I really wanted to be able to avoid doing them all by hand. After doing a couple of tests for size I took my master sheet to my local office store and they color copied it onto the sanded side for me, just like an overhead transparency. It looked pretty light and I was worried about the vibrancy of the finished product (I had done my original test ones with Sharpies and they were great). The guy did stick his finger print into the middle of one of them which smudged ever so slightly, but I doubt anyone else would have noticed it especially once it was baked.I came home, cut them out and baked one. I had a piece of baking parchment on the top and bottom as per the instructions. It did stick and took off a little of the ink--again, I'm probably the only one who can see it. I didn't put the parchment on top of the second test one and it was fine. The color of the shrunk end product is great and I needn't have worried about how light the original printing was. The cooled printing seems pretty durable when scratched with my fingernail. If I really wanted to fuss with them, I'd probably spray clear on the printed side and white on the shiny so that they'd really pop, but since it's probably something that the kids are going to loose within a month I'm not going to bother.Unbaked, they're about 2 square inches and they shrunk 50%. I baked them at 300*F. My first test pieces were baked individually and they took 3 minutes. When I baked 10 together I used a bigger, heavier baking sheet and they took about 4 1/2 minutes before they were finished. I may raise the temp to 325 for my next batch. I had very little warping.I don't know if I'd want to attempt this on my own printer, but I was VERY pleased with the results I got having them done at the office store. It's worth the 75c a sheet to have it done on the big machine. I would highly recommend this product and this method to anyone.

Love these! I had to sand them down a bit more...they are not super sanded, just a little sanded. Other than that, the value for what I paid is great and now my students have keychains. They used colored pencils and they turned out great.

We used these to make crafts and ornaments for the kids to use as Christmas gifts. I read up on them before we used them, and learned some helpful tips.These sheets have a glossy side and a textured side. We used Sharpies, which work on either side. If you want to use colored pencils, you will need to draw on the textured side.On our first attempt, one of the ornaments curled over on itself and got stuck. To counteract this, we laid a second, oversized piece of parchment paper gently over top and weighed the edges down (not on top of the shrinky plastic sheets, but past their edges) with metal items. This allowed the sheets to rise and curl as they shrank, but prevented them from sticking to themselves. Be sure to write letters at least an inch tall so they're still legible after shrinking. Also, I would recommend punching a hole at least 0.5" diameter prior to shrinking.The ornaments turned out super cute and personalized. Next time, I think I will have the kids write & draw on the glossy side with the Sharpies, & color the textured side with white colored pencil to make the images "pop". This pack came with many sheets, so we will be able to do a lot of projects.