Time Workshop/Tutorial Part 1 - Shrink Plastic Cogs/Gears

I'm going to work through all the individual elements for the card first.  As I said in my intro post, there are lots of different elements/techniques to get through.  There will be wrong bits, flaws, confessions and some don't do this' along the way, I'm just warning you now not to expect total perfection! 

The card is actually for Ian, The Stamp Man's birthday, of course he's already seen it but there you go.  It's an apt theme for me as I'm alway late, especially with cards for the family (yes Mum!!).  For once this one is early, I may just give it to him late so he won't have any surprises!

Anyway, the photo above shows a selection of just some cogs/gears I made for the card (there's more on cogs/gears another time though).  I have used Tim's new Gears Alteration Sissix die to make  them.  Some that are shown here are made from card and some with shrink plastic.  I'll talk about the card ones another time.

The cogs/gears are quite large, so as well as using them as they are, they are perfect for using  with shrink plastic.

Materials
White, frosted and black Shrink Plastic
Sanding block
Brilliance ink - Starlight Silver
Tim Holtz Gadget Gears

I thought I'd make a start on a fun bit first, I LOVE shrink plastic!  Firstly, I'll mention sizes, (which are approximate), the frosted piece is the smallest cog unshrunk 4cms or 1 1/2", the black has been shrunk and is 1.5cms or 1/2".  I haven't coloured or messed with these at all, I wanted them raw so they are just cut out and shrunk.

The next 2 are the large size, the frosted one is unshrunk and is approx.  3" or 8cms, the shrunk piece is 1 1/4" or 3cms

The medium size is 2 1/4" or 6cms unshrunk or 1 1/4" or 3mm. When shrunk 3/4" or  2cms

I gave the black shrink plastic a light sanding then covered it completely with ink from a Brilliance Starlight Silver ink pad (picture above). 

Brilliance ink becomes permanent when heated so is an ideal ink to use on shrink plastic.  It is a pearlescent ink and gives a lovely galvanised metal effect, especially on the frosted shrink plastic (picture below).

I left some pieces just as they are

These are the completed pieces. I'll be explaining more about shrink plastic in the next post.

Thanks for reading.

I hope you have a Happy Easter weekend!

Jill