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Shrink Plastic Beads

By Becky Lemire
Crafty Cruisers
Intermediate Stamping Team Designer

Supplies:

•  Victorian Borders rubber stamp set (TAC)
•  Starlight Silver Brilliance Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
•  Galaxy Gold Brilliance Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
•  Cosmic Copper Brilliance Ink Pad (Tsukineko)
•  White Shrink Plastic (Grafix)
•  Needle Tool
•  Heat tool (Marvy)
•  Scissors
•  20 Cast Metal Copper Spacer Beads (Blue Moon Bead Shop)
•  10 Lamp Glass Green Round Beads (Blue Moon Bead Shop)
•  Gold, Silver & Copper Metallic Glass Beads (tube beads and mini round beads)
•  6 Crimper beads - gold colored (Fire Mountain Bead Company)
•  3 Head Pins - gold colored (Fire Mountain Bead Company)
•  Multi Strand Clasp - three strand (Fire Mountain Bead Company)using only one half of the clasp
•  Beading wire by Accu Flex (Fire Mountain Bead Company)-cut two pieces to about 6" and one piece to about 7"
•  Metal book mark (unknown)
•  Wire Cutters
•  Flat Nose Pliers
•  Round Nose Pliers

Instructions: 

1.    Ink up border stamp with the Silver, Gold, and Copper Brilliance ink pads randomly.  Stamp image onto a piece of white shrink plastic.  Let dry completely or heat set using a hair dryer and not a heat tool so that you don't start shrinking the plastic. 

2.    Cut out each section of the border as shown in the photo.  Repeat until you have 6 stamped ovals of shrink plastic.   

3.    This next step you may want to do on a non-stick sheet or some freezer paper so that the shrink plastic doesn't stick to your work surface.  Using a needle tool, hold down one of the ovals and start to heat using a heat tool.  Once the piece has shrunk completely and lays flat, lay the needle tool at one end of the piece while still heating with the heat tool.  Turn off heat tool and quickly start to roll the plastic around the needle tool (I used my finger).  Do this quickly because it is very hot, but will start to cool and harden fairly quickly.  Keep rolling the plastic until it is cool and hardened, and then remove the needle tool.  You now have a shrink plastic bead.  Repeat process to make a total of 6 beads. 

4.    String one strand of wire through one of the three holes on the clasp.  Thread a crimp bead all the way up the beading wire to the hole in the clasp making sure to catch the end of the wire that went through the hole in the clasp.  Crimp the bead using flat nose pliers.  Thread beads as shown in photo and finish strand by looping the wire and securing with another crimp bead. 

5.    Using a head pin, put beads on as shown in photo.  Cut excess wire from head pin about 1/2" from the last bead and make a loop in the end using round nose pliers.  Open the loop and attach to the loop in the longer strand.  Close loop.  

6.    Repeat with the two other strands adding a few extra beads on the center strand to make it longer.   

7.    Using a jump ring, attach the beaded piece to the hole in the end of the metal bookmark.

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