So, as usual, it is taking me days to finish a simple craft project. Making your own pins looks easy enough but I find myself stumbling over steps even when I knew beforehand that I might need to be more careful. On Wednesday I put together a page of images to print out:
I lightened the images significantly since the packaging of the shrink film states they will darken as they shrink. I chose images of different sizes, shapes, and types to see what I think works out well. Most of what I chose happens to be guinea pig related, since that's mostly what I have saved in my computer at the moment.
On Thursday I put the film in the printer and it went through without any trouble. I was a little concerned when I saw how light everything came out, but I decided to go ahead and see what happens after I bake it anyway.
On Thursday I put the film in the printer and it went through without any trouble. I was a little concerned when I saw how light everything came out, but I decided to go ahead and see what happens after I bake it anyway.
I cut out all the shapes and set them on parchment paper on a cookie sheet, then covered them with a sheet of cardboard to keep them from curling too much and sticking to themselves. The packaging said to bake the pieces at 300-350 degrees for two or three minutes, but I baked mine this morning at 325 for about five minutes and that seemed to work well for me.
Some of the pieces weren't very flat afterward, but pushing down on the cardboard on top of them while they were still hot got them flat enough for my taste. They are still lighter in color than I wanted, but baking them did help.
I can't quite tell yet, but I think the next step is also causing them to darken a little further. I poured some of a product called Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top of the pieces to seal them and make them shiny. I made the mistake of leaving them out to dry in my room for a while, but I soon returned to find the tiny gnats who live in my plants were sticking in the Mod Podge! I scraped them out as best I could and now my pieces are drying in the closet, where hopefully the gnats can't get at them.
It's going to take at least a day for the Mod Podge to dry completely, so I have to leave the project alone for today. I'll probably do a little reading to entertain myself this afternoon. The book Obedience that I was reading last week ended about as poorly as it started. Now I'm reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, the author of the Raven Boys series I've been enjoying. Searching the library catalog showed me none of the branches of the local library have the last book in that series so I thought I'd try out a different one.
So far Shiver is a very typical post-Twilight paranormal romance, which is disappointing. I enjoyed The Raven Boys for its uniqueness and non-traditional romantic elements and I'm not feeling much of that here. I guess it at least gives me an appreciation for how much she has grown as an author.
I'll have a few days off this week for Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll be able to post the results of my pin making adventure before next week. Maybe I'll even get some drawing done, wouldn't that be something? Or maybe you'll come back to find me ranting about how good or bad the Nintendo Switch is when I finally get one. The possibilities are all over the place. Whichever way it goes, have a day!
I can't quite tell yet, but I think the next step is also causing them to darken a little further. I poured some of a product called Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top of the pieces to seal them and make them shiny. I made the mistake of leaving them out to dry in my room for a while, but I soon returned to find the tiny gnats who live in my plants were sticking in the Mod Podge! I scraped them out as best I could and now my pieces are drying in the closet, where hopefully the gnats can't get at them.
It's going to take at least a day for the Mod Podge to dry completely, so I have to leave the project alone for today. I'll probably do a little reading to entertain myself this afternoon. The book Obedience that I was reading last week ended about as poorly as it started. Now I'm reading Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, the author of the Raven Boys series I've been enjoying. Searching the library catalog showed me none of the branches of the local library have the last book in that series so I thought I'd try out a different one.
So far Shiver is a very typical post-Twilight paranormal romance, which is disappointing. I enjoyed The Raven Boys for its uniqueness and non-traditional romantic elements and I'm not feeling much of that here. I guess it at least gives me an appreciation for how much she has grown as an author.
I'll have a few days off this week for Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll be able to post the results of my pin making adventure before next week. Maybe I'll even get some drawing done, wouldn't that be something? Or maybe you'll come back to find me ranting about how good or bad the Nintendo Switch is when I finally get one. The possibilities are all over the place. Whichever way it goes, have a day!