HONEY, I SHRUNK THE NECKLACE
by Jenn Bennett
Many of you might know that I write the Roaring Twenties series (1920s paranormal romance) and the Arcadia Bell series (urban fantasy). And some of you might even know I'm an artist. But you probably don't know that before I started writing, I worked in product development for a national arts and crafts company, dreaming up new ways to use decoupage glue, wood, and paint. So I guess that makes me not only artsy but also craftsy, which is why melting plastic in my oven to make a necklace seems like an amusing way to spend an afternoon.
If you were a kid in the 1980s, chances are you knew what Shrinky Dinks were: flexible sheets of polystyrene plastic that could be decorated with colored pencils or felt-tip pens and, when baked in the over, shrank to 1/3 their size and hardened into thick plastic shapes. I don't have exact figures, but I think 99% of all early Shrinky Dinks were warped Christmas ornaments, hideous key chain charms, or off-brand cartoon character suncatchers made by kids (raises hand) who were tired of baking brownies in their Easy-Bake ovens.
But, hey! We were doing it all wrong. You can actually make some rather charming jewelry pieces out of shrink plastic. And to prove it, I decided to make a necklace inspired by my new book, BITTER SPIRITS. The hero of my book, Winter, is a bootlegger who falls in love with a spirit medium named Aida in 1920s San Francisco. In one scene, Winter takes her to a garment maker in Chinatown who sews Aida a stunning dress embellished with peacock feathers. The following is my riff on that motif and how I did it:
1) I sketched a peacock feather and increased the size in Photoshop (like I said, these things shrink to about 1/3 of their original size) then printed it out and taped it to the back of a sheet polystyrene plastic—which is rough on one side and about the size of a thick sheet of paper. [You can find these sheets online or in craft stores under the Polyshrink or Shrinky Dink brands.] Then I used colored pencils to draw the feather onto the plastic.
2) I cut out the feather and used a hole punch on the top.
3) I baked the drawing in my oven following the package directions—at a super low temperature for a couple of minutes. When it bakes, the plastic curls up on itself as it shrinks and then magically straightens out.
4) and 5) When the time is up, you've got yourself a miniature drawing on a thick piece of hard plastic. Amazing! 6) Last think you need to do is spray a clear varnish on the piece to keep the colored pencil from rubbing off. I sprayed mine after midnight on my deck, which probably made my nosey neighbors wonder if I was starting up some sort of Breaking Bad meth lab.
7) I sketched a second batch of shrinks—this time, two smaller peacock feather "eyes."
8) Baked them.
9) And here they are out of the oven.
10) After all that shrinking, it was time to string up my new pieces with some beads.
11) I even burned myself with a soldering iron while securing the jump rings and connectors.
12) And voilà ! Here is the finished piece. I think it turned out rather well, and I do believe my character Aida would happily wear this during one of her séances!
About the Author:
Jenn Bennett is the author of the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series from Pocket Books and the Roaring Twenties historical paranormal romance series from Berkley. Born in Germany, she’s lived and traveled extensively throughout Europe, the U.S., and the Far East. She currently lives near Atlanta with one husband and two very bad pugs.
GIVEAWAY
(US/CAN) ONLY
one winner will get the necklace and a print book!
Leave a comment with a way to contact you.
Contest ends: Jan 20, 2014
Leave a comment with a way to contact you.
Contest ends: Jan 20, 2014
