How to Print Heat Shrink Products

An image printed on heat-shrink plastic can become a pretty ornament.

Heat-shrink products, whether the popular commercial brand purchased in activity kits or basic sheets of heat-shrink plastic purchased at stationary supply and office supply stores, are a craft activity that can be used to make jewelry, collectibles, toys and holiday decor. Sometimes the products are pre-printed with an image for you to color, but you can also print your own image.

Things You'll Need

• Shrink plastic
• Computer printer

Instructions

1. Purchase heat-shrink plastic specifically labeled for use in a computer printer. These sheets of plastic are coated with a special polymer that allows your printer's ink to adhere to the plastic without smudging. These sheets are made for ink-jet printers, as the heat from laser printers will begin to melt the plastic. Any other types of shrink plastic should not be used in a printer.

2. Design your image in your favorite picture software program. The image will shrink to 50 to 75 percent of the original size, so size your image accordingly.

3. Prepare to print your image by going into the print settings function. Depending on your printer model, you will be given several options for special media under the "paper" heading. Click the drop-down box under paper or media and, if offered, select "plasic" or "transparency film." If that option is not available, select "special media." Click the box for "best quality."

4. Load the plastic into your printer and click the "Print" or "OK" button. Keep an eye on the plastic sheet as it feeds into your printer to make sure it goes in evenly and without jamming.

5. Color your image and bake or heat the product according to manufacturer's directions.

Tips & Warnings

• Your product should tell you how much the plastic will shrink. Use that as a guideline when sizing your original image so your finished product is the size you desire.

• Very intricate images can be difficult to cut out and features may be lost in the shrinking. Try a simple image with clean lines first to get an idea of what the finished product will look like.

References

• Computer Companion: Shrinky Fun
• Microsoft: Tag it! Create Luggage Tags With Your PC
• Smithsonian Mag: The Science of Shrinky Dinks