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DIY MUSTACHE RING


Today’s DIY is how to make a simple shape out of recycled shrink plastic and turn it into funky jewelry with a few jewelry findings. In this case, a mustache ring!

You will need:

Recycled # 6 shrink plastic. I used the flat lid from the takeout container from Shakey’s Buffalo Wings. Make sure that it has a triangle containing the number 6. Otherwise, it won’t shrink and you run the risk of having a hot mess all over your toaster when you bake it. Only flat surfaces will work. If the plastic has ridges, they will show when they shrink.


You will also need jewelry findings. If you want to make a ring, have blank ring bases. I bought mine on Ebay.

If you want to make a necklace, some chain. Earrings - earring hooks. You get the idea.

If you’re going to hang the shape you’re creating, such as on a chain or hook, you will need a single hole puncher.

I also used some Diamond Glaze (optional) and a marker (necessary).

Not in photo are scissors and a bottle of black nail polish.




First I printed out my mustache template so I could trace it onto the shrink plastic. You can freehand it if you’re confident about the proportions and symmetry of your drawing. The printout doesn’t have to be perfect - just use the rough draft print setting.


Place your shrink plastic on top of the template.

Trace out the figure, and cut it out with a pair of scissors.


Un-shrunk shrink plastic is normally soft and thin, so when you cut it with scissors the edge where you cut can run farther than you want it to and ruin your design when you’re rounding a curve. So, cut slowly and carefully.


At this point you should stop and decide if you want to make a necklace or earring out of your cut-out because you will need to punch a hole wherever you will attach a chain or hook. In my case, I’m making a ring so I didn’t punch any holes.

Here’s the fun part: Baking!
Place your cut out on some aluminum foil. Preheat your toaster oven.

In your preheated oven, place the cutout in its aluminum foil and wait for it to shrink. It usually takes only 15-30 seconds for it to curl up, flatten out, and revert to its original shape (except now it’s a lot smaller).

When you feel that it’s flattened out completely, turn off the oven and wait 10 seconds before taking the shrinky dink out of the oven. This is so no one kills themselves or loses a finger because of my DIY. -_-

Quickly remove the foil and shrinky dink and place it on a flat surface (like a kitchen table. Place another square of aluminum foil on top of it, put a heavy book on it like a sandwich, and press. This helps ensure that the product hardens flat. Remove the book after 5 seconds, and voila:



I know, it doesn’t look like much, so using an old nail file, file away at any rough bits until you feel that it’s smooth and ready to be painted over.


After filing I used a pretty black nail polish with pink glitter to cover the mustache shape. Wait for it to dry completely.


You don’t have to do this last step, but I put a layer of Diamond Glaze on top of the dried shrinky dink so that it would look more smooth and finished. You need to wait 12 hours for Diamond Glaze to set.

When it’s all dry, attach the shrinky dink to your jewelry finding of choice. In this case, a ring blank. I used some very strong glue.


And for the final step:

Wear your mustache ring and smile mysteriously when asked where you bought it!

p.s. that other green ring I’m wearing is also a DIY. One of my earrings fell apart, so I glued it onto a blank ring base. The possibilities are endless with shrink plastic and jewelry findings - just use your imagination!

Happy DIY-ing! <3

Outfit posts here, DIY posts here, hair posts here.

Check out the sidebar for other links, personal journaley stuff on the left, informal bloggery stuff on the right.

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! :)

Check out the rest of my blog for more tutorials.

DIY Polyshrink Jewelry

I think the shrink plastic jewelry I made turned out pretty awesome! :)

Rib-cage | X-Ray Necklace

Anatomical Heart Necklace

Wood Nymph

Random Charms

A rather wonky typewriter ( I forgot to desaturate the ink and the sealant smeared, which means I shouldn’t use it anymore), a lightning bolt, a <3 emoticon, and a N E R D ring.

I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. I can’t wait to try out more ideas! :)

More DIY posts here.