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| Shrink Plastic Beads |
| Artist: Jenny Mullins |
| The best directions I've seen on this can be found at: http://www.luckysquirrel.com/tekniksroldbead.html and http://www.luckysquirrel.com/tekniksroldbeadvar.html |
| I don't like to plan out my designs, I just experiment. Most of the time I'm very pleased with what happens. In the following pictures you can see some progressions |
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| From this full sheet.... |
| ...to these strips before and after shrinking.... |
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| to this bracelet! |
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| Tips: Don't forget to round the corners before you shrink! If it gets kinda funky and out of shape while it's shrinking, don't worry about it. You're going to be heating it again to roll it and you can straighten it all out then. Be careful! Wear gloves! Remember that the color will intensify as the SP shrinks! |
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| I had trouble getting the beads rolled like they say to do them on Lucky Squirrel's site, so I improvised. Works for me! It does take a little practice getting the hang of rolling them. |
| I use a pair of old gloves to protect my fingers from the heat but found that I was leaving fuzz behind on the warm beads so I covered the fingertips of the gloves with scotch tape. Works like a charm! |