Mounted & unmounted rubber stamps & rubber stamping supplies ALWAYS ON SALE. Some of your favorite rubber stamp companies ALL conveniently located at one Website!  Rubber Stamp Club Vendors | Project of the Month | Rubber Stamping Tips & Techniques Scramping Central |  Member's Message Board | Rubber Stamping Links | Suggested Books Stamp Artist of the Month Contest | Rubber Stamp Art Gallery | Vendor Information | Home

Project of the Month - May 2003

Tips & Techniques Home

Click Here to view archived rubber stamping "Projects of the Month"

"Shrink Plastic Beads" May's project of the month is compliments of Stamp Artist Wanda Hentges.

Stamp Artist Wanda Hentges

These are so much fun and you can get so many different looks. They can be used for jewelry, to hang off fibers, as a button for a closure on a project, and any other way you can think of to use a bead. I was first introduced to the idea of shrink plastic beads in a magazine and then via a demo at a stamp convention. I made a tool, played, and thought they were a lot of fun. One day I was thinking about how I could maybe use colored shrink plastic rather than clear or even how I could make a bead that looked more vintage. It was while thinking about that that I came up with the intaglio method of making shrink beads. Not that anyone else has never done that (I don't know), I just hadn't seen it before. They are now my favorite shrink beads, I just love the look.

Shrink Bead Tool - Figure 1 This can be made using a 3/8" wooden dowel, a large bobby pin, and a screw. I cut a piece of dowel about 6" long. About 3/8" from one end of the dowel drill a hole for the screw. Going the opposite direction of the screw hole, cut a slit in the dowels wide enough for the end of the bobby pin to fit and deep enough for the screw to go through the loop at the end of the bobby pin. Slide the end of the bobby pin into the slit and screw tight.

Figure 1

Rolling up your Bead - Figure 2 & 3 **Very Important** Rub the bobby pin on a versamark pad before rolling up your bead or your bead won't come off. Clip the wide end of your shrunken triangle in the bobby pin allowing about 1/16" to stick past the bobby pin. Heat triangle with your heat tool. You want to be heating where you are bending and rolling; not where you've already rolled. This can take a bit of practice. Don't give up with the first bead :) Once you've rolled the whole triangle, allow your bead to cool a bit before removing from bobby pin.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Intaglio shrink beads - Figure 4 Cut a piece of black shrink plastic into a triangle 8" long and 3" wide. Sand one side. Tap both sides of both ends of triangle with an anti-static pad. Choose a texture background stamp to impress into the hot shrink and ink it up with either a versamark pad or an embossing pad. Place the triangle first onto a hot sheet and then onto cardboard. I like to use the oven for my shrink and a good temperature when doing intaglio is 325-350°. This gets the shrink soft enough for a good impression. It also helps to set it on the floor, place the stamp on top, and step on it. Remove stamp when shrink plastic cools. Highlight the raised areas of the triangle. I've used both Rub 'n Buff or Luna Lights inks for this. Roll up your bead with the textured side out. Variations Use other colors of shrink plastic. Apply a background color before shrinking and impressing. Start with a different size triangle to make a different sized bead.

Figure 4 Figure 5

Smooth Shrink Beads - Figure 5 Cut a triangle from clear shrink plastic 8" x 3". Using Pinata inks and a Q-tip apply 2 colors to one side of shrink. Shrink the triangle. Edge the shrunken triangle with a gold Krylon. Roll your bead with the color inside. Variations If you sand the shrink before applying the Pinata inks you will get a more muted look verses a brighter look. Sand one side of your clear triangle and brush on powdered pearls, shrink, and roll with the powdered pearls to the inside. This will give you a frosted looking bead. Stamp on your triangle, add color, and then shrink. Start with a different sized triangle for a different sized bead.

Necklace The shrink beads (intaglio method) and textured round piece are done with sanded white shrink plastic rubbed with Fresco Medici Marble before shrinking. The highlights are with Rub n' Buff Autumn Gold. For the long shrink beads I started with an 8" x 3" triangle; for the smaller beads I started with an 8" x 1 ½" triangle; for the circle I started with a diameter of about 6 ½". The girl (Stampsmith image) is stamped onto sanded white shrink plastic using Brilliance coffee bean, cut out with deckle scissors, shrunk, and edged with a copper Krylon. 'Believe' (Inkadinkado stamp) is stamped using Brilliance coffee bean onto sanded white shrink that was dabbed with Fresco medici marble, trimmed close, and shrunk. The pink around the girl is mulberry paper.