[Thosefive]

Custom plaques anybody?
It has been a long time since I last played with shrinky dinks. Do any of you remember how they look when they come out of the oven?

John

[Button Potato]

What are shrinky dinks? We used to call my surfer brother that when he came out of the ocean.

Originally Posted by Thosefive

Custom plaques anybody?
It has been a long time since I last played with shrinky dinks. Do any of you remember how they look when they come out of the oven?

John

[Thosefive]

Originally Posted by Button Potato

What are shrinky dinks? We used to call my surfer brother that when he came out of the ocean.

Sheets of flimsy plastic that you color and bake. They shrink, thicken and harden up. And the image becomes glossy and permanent.

http://www.shrinkydinks.com/

John

[Button Potato]

I knew you couldn't have been talking about my bro.

[zbme]

Can these be used as inlays on chips?

[bmwguy525]

And of course, this thread is useless without pictures Let's see someone whip up some custom plaques using this stuff

[bolgenmod]

I've actually played with shrinky dinks within a year or so -- a friend of mine thought it would be a fun thing to get drunk and do shrinky dinks. It was definitely good for a laugh, but they really don't get thick enough for decent plaques. My best guess is that they are less than 2 mm thick when shrunk. Since one of my friends still uses hers for a card protector, I'll try to measure it tonight at the poker game, but I don't have any fancy calipers or anything, just a ruler.

But definitely creative thinking Thosefive!

[poislb]

Shrinky dinks rock...

[bolgenmod]

Ok, got my hands on the shrinky dink, and I was correct in my guess: they are definitely less than 2mm thick. (Again, using just a ruler, not any fancy or more accurate devices.) For comparison: I have a few of the Egyptian plaques, and the plaques are twice as thick as the shrinky dink.

Besides their thinness, there are at least two other issues to consider. First, you would have to draw your design backwards. On the finished shrinky dink, one side is clear and shiny, the other matte. The matte side was the side you drew on before you shrunk it, so if you look at the image on the shiny side, it is a backwards version of your original image. Might be tricky if you were doing denoms.

And second, the background doesn't shrink clear, it ends up as a translucent white (if that makes sense). So to make a colored plaque, you'd have to color the whole piece of shrinky dink (unless the paper comes in colors, which I've never seen).

Anyway, it might be interesting, but I would also think it would be a huge project. If you do try it, be sure to post some pictures!

[Thosefive]

Thank you, Bolgenmod, for the information. I'm gonna try it. But maybe instead of plaques I think I'll start with some kind of bounty and/or rebuy cards. I'll post some pics when I am done.

John