{"id":10616,"date":"2015-09-02T01:09:22","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T01:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2015\/09\/02\/tutorial-plastic-keychains\/"},"modified":"2015-09-02T01:09:22","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T01:09:22","slug":"tutorial-plastic-keychains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/2015\/09\/02\/tutorial-plastic-keychains\/","title":{"rendered":"Tutorial: plastic keychains"},"content":{"rendered":"

kaiami<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

I know a ton of you have been waiting for this one. Teaching you to make your own plastic keychains!<\/p>\n

To start off, I think the biggest question everyone has is what I use to make them. I work with shrink film. You might be familiar with Shinky Dink brand shrink film as a kid. I use Grafix brand white inkjet shrink film. The inkjet kind is relatively pricey compared to the regular kind. If you\u2019re using regular, I don\u2019t recommend you stick it in your printer. Sharpie markers would be good for that.<\/p>\n

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Alright, now open up the file with the images that you\u2019re working with. Make sure your images are a lot bigger than you want your finished product to be since they shrink significantly.<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll also want to lighten the opacity to about half. I go somewhere between 50-60%.<\/p>\n

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Now print your image out! I\u2019ve found that it works best for me when I have it at the plain paper setting, and standard print quality.<\/p>\n

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Holepunch with a \u00bc" holepuncher BEFORE you shrink them. It\u2019s so much more work to have to punch holes when your plastic is thick!<\/p>\n

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Cut out your design, leaving the amount of border you want.<\/p>\n

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Set them on a tray for convenience. An aluminum foil sheet works too, but I recommend cookie trays because they are easier and quicker to get out of the oven.<\/p>\n

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Preset heat. Your shrink film package will tell you what temperature to set it at, but I find that it isn\u2019t always accurate for me. I generally set temperature to 350 degrees or so.<\/p>\n

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Put them in the oven. Remember to keep track of time! I leave them in for about a minute and a half.<\/p>\n

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After time is up they should be super small! Magic!<\/p>\n

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If your charms are not flat, put something heavy on it right out of the oven when they are still hot and malleable.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019d like to, you can seal them now. In my last two batches, I used clear topcoat nail polish. The problem with that is that I need between 3-5 coats of it, and it takes a while to dry. I\u2019ve been experimenting with modpodge.<\/p>\n

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For lariats, you can use jump rings or lobster clasps.<\/p>\n

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Here is one that I made that wasn\u2019t sealed. The finished texture after shrinking is a little bit rough. There\u2019s nothing wrong with leaving them unsealed, but because they are inkjet printed, the colors wash right of without protection.<\/p>\n

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This is one that was sealed with modpodge. The colors become a little more vibrant and smooth and water resistant. Things often get stuck on when applying or drying so be careful.<\/p>\n

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These ones down here were sealed with clear nail polish. They come out shiny if you put enough coats, but the grainy texture will still be there.<\/p>\n

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Well, there ya go! Have fun making your own keychains!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

kaiami: I know a ton of you have been waiting for this one. Teaching you to make your own plastic keychains! To start off, I think the biggest question everyone has is what I use to make them. I work with shrink film. You might be familiar with Shinky Dink brand shrink film as a … Continue reading Tutorial: plastic keychains<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3677,3678],"class_list":["post-10616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-i-have-some-of-this-stuff","tag-why-havent-i-made-anything-yet","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10616\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archive.gabapple.com\/tumblr\/gabapple\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}