My jewelry process...

So I tried out a new techinique for making shrinky dink jewelry...

I'll begin by explaining my usual process, which those unfamiliar to how shrinky dinks are made will find interesting I hope!

Shrink film is a thin plastic that I use blank sheets of so that I can draw my own designs. It shrinks about 1/3 of its original size and hardens when you put it in the oven.

I've always used prisma colored pencils (the richest colors and softest lead) and thin black sharpie pens for coloring and outlining my jewelry designs. In the photo you can see what my jewelry designs look like, mid-process.

This is after I have made the outlines in sharpie, and then have colored the outlines in with various shades of prisma colored pencil.  I go back over the designs with thin sharpie, to clean up the lines and make them darker after the pencil pigment is applied. In the photo, only the blue peony has been gone back over with sharpie. The others will need to be outlined, they need holes punched in them for jewelry making, and need to be cut out.

Recently, I was reminded of how easy it is to use ballpoint pens when drawing. They are cheap, great for outlines and shading.

So I tried instead of using sharpie to outline my designs, using ballpoint pen for outline and shading. The effect didn't "pop" as much as I prefer my jewelry to, but it was cool looking. I shaded a few areas with white colored pencil to add some contrast.

Then I cut out the designs, placed them in the oven, and waited.

Shrink film doesn't say that it can accommodate pen in ovens. For all I know, my oven could have exploded. Haha, Unlikely.

They turned out pretty cool if I can say so!

One thing that I really like about the usual process with sharpie is that the designs are crisp and opaque. Here's one necklace with typical results:

My designs with the ballpoint pen turned out to have an awesome translucent effect, and an overall softness that I like too:

This coffin necklace can be found in my shop, and I will be doing more with a similar process soon!

Just felt like sharing my process a little bit! Hope you learned something, or that this might encourage you to try to make some too!


In other updates:

My 15 year old dog died today. :(

Going to finish readying my art/jewelry to bring to OBcentric. So excited to start selling locally!

Finishing up some custom pieces for friends and family.

My photography was featured in a few more treasuries:


Tonight The Veil Is Thin
Nature Inspired Gifts and Adornment