How to Shrink Plastic With a Heat Gun

How to Shrink Plastic With a Heat Gun

Shrink plastic is one of the most difficult things to do when making a craft. If it's a ring, a flower, or any other kind of ornament you're making, it has to be done right and done correctly. This article describes how to shrink plastic ring arts. After reading this you should have a better idea on what to do.

Start with the supplies. Buy your needed tools like scissors, an oven, a hair dryer, or even an embossing tool. If you're doing a ring you need a ring cutter and some pliers. Hair dryers aren't usually hot enough to shrink plastic. A heat gun is usually the best choice to do this kind of work.

If you're doing flowers or other types of decorations you need something to score the pieces together to make them stick together. Scissors are great for scoring but you can't score them with just the blades of the scissors. So get yourself a pair of pliers with long handles. And of course you need a tin foil.

Start off by cutting the flowers and other ornamental pieces. Make sure that you leave some piece of the ornament out so that it will be easier to glue the remaining pieces in place. Make sure that you have marked the edges so that you won't get any bleeding when you put the hot metal sheets in the oven. The edges also help give the finished product a sharp edge. Put one sheet of clear shrink plastic sheets in each of the two bowls that you're going to use.

The next step is to place the items in the toaster oven. If it's an ordinary oven you can just put them in there and if it's a toaster with the timer on, turn it on. If it has a double button option, turn it on first thing in the morning and again before going to bed. Set the heat level to 200 degrees Celsius and preheat the toaster for five minutes. Once it's ready, it will automatically shut off once it reaches that temperature.

Then you just take your stainless steel or titanium bowl and place the item in it. Start pressing the button on the side of the bowl towards the back. This will close the oven and it's going to shrink plastic onto the item. If the item is large or bulky, you might have to press the button on the side a couple of times. Once it's shrunk, you can now use your heat gun to finish installing the item.