Distracted by Something Shiny: Black Light Shrink-film Earrings

Black light Earrings

I love stuff that Glows in the dark, or glows under black light! Each year I attend a charity Cosmic Bingo night to benefit Special Olympics and Honor Flight. For this event, everyone wears as many glow-in-the-dark or black light items as they can find so I wanted to create some fun earrings for the event. If you used Shrinky-Dinks as a kid, you are familiar with the concept of shrink film. Grafix Shrink Film is a much improved product in this medium. Grafix Shrink film does not distort like the old shrink films did. Remember cutting a perfect circle - only to end up with a warped oval? Grafix Shrink Film is also available in a printable version, to print designs from your computer, as well as many colored films, including the new metallic silver and gold. The newest addition to the Grafix Shrink Film line is the Artist line, which offers pre-printed designs in many fun motifs. Grafix Shrink Film pairs perfectly with Sakura Glaze & Souffle pens to create these fun and funky Black Light Earrings!

Materials:

Grafix Shrink Film (Silver Metalic and Artist Series "Doodle" used here)

Sakura Permapaque Marker - Fine Point - Black

Sakura Glaze Ink Pens - Orange, Pink, Black

Sakura Souffle Pens - Yellow, Light Green, Pink

Jump Rings

Earring Hooks

Supplies:

Scrap Paper

Sticky Note (optional)

Scissors

Heat Gun (optional)

Hole Punch

Teflon sheet (optional)

Jewelry Pliers

Artograph Light Pad (optional)

Step 1 - Create your pattern on a piece of paper and cut it out. I used a simple teardrop shape. Hint: If you use a sticky note for this, your pattern piece will stay in place while you trace it onto the Shrink-film.

Step 2 - Trace your pattern onto Shrink Film and cut out your pieces. I tried to get the same sections of the "Doodle" design here, but I was off a little bit. Don't stress if this happens to you - remember - no one can look at both of your ears at once!

Step 3 - (optional) - Since I want a lot of color and minimal background, I used the Perapaque Marker to add some more "doodle" to the design. The Artist Series designs are great for quick projects! They give you fun, read-made designs that you an use, as-is, or embellish.

Don't forget to punch holes at the top for your jump-rings! (maybe not quite as close to the edge as mine....)

Step 4 - COLOR!!! Use the Sakura Glaze & Souffle pens to color your design as desired. Keep a piece of scratch paper handy. Sometimes it is necessary to get the pens started on the paper. Once the ink is flowing use gentle pressure to glide the ink onto your design. The pens are very fluid and the ink adheres beautifully to the Shrink-film. Once dry, this ink is permanent on the film. You'll know the Souffle is dry when it takes on a somewhat chalky appearance. The Glaze ink will still be shiny when dry. Depending on your climate, the ink should be dry in 15-20 minutes.

Step 5 - Shrink it!! Follow the instructions from your Shrink Film package and choose the method that works best for you. I used the heat gun method here so that I could show the size and color differences between the original and shrunken piece. If I have multiple pieces to shrink, I actually prefer the oven method.

Step 6 - Use jump rings to connect the Shrink Film pieces to Earring wires.

Variation - I used some of the new Metallic Silver Shrink-film to create a second pair of earrings. Use the Permapaque pen to create your design on the earrings. If you don't want to draw your own design, you can trace a printed design. Though the metallic film looks opaque, you can actually see through it if you use a light pad (or a window). With the design on one earring, I used an Artograph Light Pad to trace my design onto the second earring.

Once the designs are in place, use the Sakura Glaze & Souffle pens to add color. When the color is dry, use the Black Glaze pen to retrace the design lines for a crisper appearance. Then shrink the pieces and finish off with jump rings and earring findings.