Even before my BGC Art Mart day, I had a feeling I would get a lot of questions about what the kitty accessories I’m selling are made of and how I make them so I put a tutorial together and had it on display in a frame on my table. (You can see part of it in @firehailtree’s instagram photo.). It turned out to be a good idea because my customers were able to understand how much care was placed into each item.  Some even asked if I sold shrink plastic because they’d like to try it out themselves! 😀

Anyway, I’d also like to share the how-tos with you. 🙂

1. I draw the illustrations individually on sheets of shrink plastic, mindful of the fact that the colors will darken and the drawings will shrink down to about 1/3 of its original size. This particular sheet is glossy so I roughened the surface with sandpaper so that I could draw on it with colored pencils.

2. I cut them to shape with a pair of scissors.

3. I shrink the pieces individually using a heat gun. This is best for complicated shapes that you want to have more control over. Otherwise you can use a toaster oven to bake multiple pieces at a time.

4. Ta-dah! The piece is now smaller, thicker, and harder than it was. After it’s cooled down, I would usually spray it with a fixative to “fix” the colored pencil drawings, after which I would apply a glaze coating.

Here’s one of my cat pins in action:

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on Apr 25, 2015 at 4:21am PDT

* You may order these from my store. 😀

UPDATE (Oct.27, 2015)

I’ll be having a Shrink Plastic Crafting Workshop at Hey Kessy (Quezon City) on November 21! Please visit this link to sign up and reserve a slot.

I have renewed respect for everyone who stands all day at a job — they are the bees knees. 😎 As I’ve said before, I joined this year’s Art Mart in Bonifacio Global City on a whim at my friend’s encouragement. Drawing is my first love, graphic design was a career choice. I figured that if I want to reboot my career as an illustrator, I need to get my work out there in the open. I didn’t know what to expect but I thought it would be a good chance to find out which of my products sell the best before I place them for sale online, right?

So I applied, slightly nervously because Arts at BGC had sooo many guidelines and requirements. Fortunately I passed but then I only had 14 days to prepare before the actual day so those two weeks were spent in panic mode.

My art prints have been ready for a while but I had to make many more pieces of shrink plastic accessories to justify my being in a craft fair. I limited it to just 10-20 pieces per design so that I could handcraft each one with care and inspect them for durability.

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on Apr 9, 2015 at 6:01am PDT

I also had to think about how to properly display my work. I found an old cassette tape crate — obviously not being used anymore 😆 — in my room at my parents’ which I re-purposed and used as my card display rack. I used cheap cork boards & little chalkboards from Saizen and propped them up on mini easels to display my shrinky dink necklaces, bracelets, and pins. The little wooden frames, bowls and basket were stuff we had on hand here at home. The green necklace stand is an old gift from my friend Chinggay, and the red “tablecloth” is unused fabric that I bought way back in 2004 in Nippori in Tokyo. (I was planning to have my friend Tippi turn it into a top when I bought it but it slipped my mind! Now it has a new purpose.)

Catch my ate twin Cynthia Bauzon Arre @arncyn’s #crafts today at Boni High street!!!

A photo posted by Quark Henares (@quarkhenares) on Apr 11, 2015 at 3:08am PDT

What I didn’t expect:
1) The heat! Our tables were right in the middle of the activity center which has. no. roof. And oh my gosh there were no tents! 😯 The very nice organizer apologized profusely and said that she really fought for the tents but sadly, we were out under the scorching heat for five hours. Thankfully Arn and I had a small umbrella in the car but it didn’t help much — I’m as red as a lobster right now.
2) The wind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful that there was a breeze at all but my display was in constant danger of falling apart.
3) The almost never-ending throng of buyers from 4-9pm and even beyond. Happy problem. Not complaining. 🙂

business booming at @arncyn’s booth here at #bgcartmart! they’re here ’til 9!

A photo posted by ramon (@ramondeveyra) on Apr 11, 2015 at 3:33am PDT

Lessons learned for next time:
1) Bring lots of water in a cooler. There was very little chance to leave my table — besides, it was one of the rules that “the artist should always be present.” If not for a kind soul, Alexander de San Miguel, a comics scene friend, we would have dehydrated. Alexander pleasantly surprised us by bringing us drinks from time to time without us even asking him. 🙂
2) Bring sunblock!!! And an umbrella.
3) Wear breezy, comfortable clothing. My t-shirt was light-colored and thin enough so my upper body was okay but my skirt was made of somewhat heavy fabric. Next time remind me to wear linen.
4) Have more prints available. I ran out of some but at least now I know which of the drawings are the favorites.
5) Bring lots of small bills. Self-explanatory. 🙂
6) Take a few little breaks to go around and visit the other stores. I regret not being able to check out the amazing stuff in the market because I was glued to my booth. 🙁

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on Apr 10, 2015 at 10:01pm PDT

Also very grateful for the support of Arnold who gamely stood there in the sun to help me out. <3 We were both exhausted at the end of the day but we were happy to have met so many people. I also loooove that we got to make friends with some customers and fellow artists/crafters. <3 If you were among those whom I talked to on Saturday, thank you so much for dropping by my booth. My smile that day was thisbig because of you. 🙂

By the way, remember the pet portraits I made of my friend April’s shiba inus before? Here is one of the dogs, Mya. 🙂

I would love to talk more about the experience but I’m sleepy now so I’ll just leave you with my photo album, here.

Will I do this again? Definitely! But maybe just twice a year at most. Right now what I need to focus on is making more illustrations and finally getting my locally-based shop up and running. It’s up! 🙂

Thought I’d share this before and after image of the shrink plastic “Sampayan” (“Laundry Line”) necklace I made the other day. See how those drawings shrunk down to about 1/4th of their original size? They also grew about a millimeter in thickness and the colors got more saturated. Here’s a closer view:

Freshly-baked #shrinkplastic laundry???????? I ruined one sleeve of that dress on the far right though ???? #shrinkydinks #crafts #practicepamore

A photo posted by Cynthia Bauzon-Arre (@arncyn) on Jan 22, 2015 at 9:57pm PST

I used Frosted “Ruff and Ready” Shrinky Dinks Shrinkable Plastic sheets to make these charms. My favorite thing about these sheets is that one side has already been machine-sanded so I can draw directly on them with colored pencils. The other side is glossy and when it shrinks, there’s no more need to coat the front with glaze. I don’t know if you can see it in the pic but I love how nice and glossy they are. It’s almost like these charms were cast in resin.

***
Another reason for this blog update is to announce that one of my designs is featured on RedBubble’s front page among the curators’ picks for the day. #kilig

“The Cool Kids” on FOUND by RB

If you’re interested, you can also purchase this design on iPhone covers on RedBubble, and on wristlets, wallets, and even plates (yes) on Zazzle @ Funky Patterns. And for you crafty cats, fabric printed with this pattern (on either a pink or blue background) is also available starting today in my Spoonflower store. If you ever get to use it on your projects, please upload a photo of your finished project on there ok? 🙂