My wife Aurora and I had quite the tour de force of the rolling hills of Kentucky this weekend surrounded by our dearest of friends. Saturday we started off at a moving outdoor wedding near Russellville (Congratulations Chris & Donna!) We soon moved on for a pit-stop in Elizabethtown to get a laugh from Stacey who I met well over a decade ago during my one semester stint at an art school in Nashville. Our ultimate destination however was Lexington, where we met up with my sister, Becca. She was staying over for the weekend with her friend Meg in route to her new job and home in Baltimore. Meg and her husband were nice enough to entertain us and had a special treat Sunday when we arrived to a creative session of SHRINKY DINKS!
So what the Hell is a
Shrinky Dink? Truth is I didn't know. Apparently the rage began back in 1973 when two Wisconsin housewives created this culture phenomenon, rooting from a Cub Scout project with their sons. These crafty gals found that if you take certain types of plastic, cut 'em up, draw all over them and pop them in the oven, they shrink up all craaaaaaazy-like! Soon, four major toy companies where selling sheets of clear plastic and folks went bananas for the Dink! I too have now been indoctrinated by the shrinky wonders and I'm certain I'll own a stack of this intoxicating plastic by week's end. Here's some pictures of the Shrinky Dinks we created...
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| First, you draw on a piece of the Shrinky Dink plastic sheets. |
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| Next, you pop them in the oven for a few minutes. The sheets will bend around and make wild shapes before flattening back out. If you're feeling particularly surreal, you can take them out before they flatten and bend them around (having an effect similar to blown glass.) |
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| Here's Meg with a project she's working on to turn a bunch of twisty twirly pieces into a lamp! |
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
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| BEFORE (As you can see I'm still kinda working small to begin with using fine tip Sharpies) |
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| AFTER (This one went to Baltimore with my sister) |
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| Aurora drawing on her Dink! |
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| Aurora's finished product |
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| A dink of Becca's design |
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| Becca taking a picture of a thin strip she cut and shrunk |
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| This guy ended up being the smallest at 7/8 of an inch wide (on the LONG side!) |
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| Eyes (of course) |
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| My little Vampire dink, which I traded Meg for one of hers! |
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| Addictive Fun! |
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