Today’s DIY: SHRINK PLASTIC CROSS CHARMS for bracelets, necklaces, earrings, or rings.
I’ve been looking at the cute multilayer cross necklaces so popular right now and I’m sick of them always being sold out. Also, there aren’t very many designs or variations in my country! So frustrating.
So I decided to make a tutorial on how to make cross charms - so I can put them on bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, keychains, and wherever else I want.
It’s also an awesome way to use small scraps of shrink film that don’t seem to be good for anything else. Don’t throw them away, you can use them!
So anyway, I totally had a bunch of scrap shrink film after my first DIY JEWELRY project, making necklaces and rings.
If you don’t have scraps of shrink plastic to use, use the plastic containers that salads come in. Check the bottom to see if there is a 6 inside a triangle - that means it’s shrink plastic.
First draw a cross template onto a piece of paper:
Place the shrink plastic scrap on top of the template and trace over it. Use a straight edge.
Cut out the crosses and punch a hole at the top.
Baking time. Lay out the crosses onto some foil. Make sure they’re not too close to each other - when they start to curl up they need space to move around.
Place them in a preheated oven.
Now for the fun part: Watch them shrink!
Here they are after shrinking: Notice how small they are compared to the template I initially drew. There’s a bottle of black nail polish there to paint them with.
You can use spray paint if you like - I would have preferred to spray paint them gold, but I didn’t have any at the moment - being struck with the urge to do this DIY at freaking midnight lol.
So I made do with what I had - I’m big on using random substitutes I can find around the house.
I painted the crosses with a matte topcoat - again, a better way to do this would be with clear acrylic spray. But my matte topcoat works just dandy.
I could stop this tutorial here, because the charms are done.
But from here on I attach them to a multi-chain bracelet (another really easy DIY for later).
Take one of the chains and lay out the crosses, spacing them out evenly, before attaching to jump rings.
After attaching the jump rings, you’re done!
Not to brag or anything, but I’m surprised at how awesome it looks. I love it!
Wear with a stack of jewelry and enjoy!
Remember you can put these charms on a necklace, or earrings as well! I’ll be posting pictures of more things I’ve put these cross charms on.
Happy DIY-ing! :)
