Shrink Plastic Template Maker

It depends on the brand, the thickness and your oven, which is why guides disagree. Shrinky Dinks says pieces end up about one third of their size, Make: magazine found about 50% and told readers to print every side twice as large, and tests by crafters often land in between. This tool starts at 40% of the length and lets you calibrate width and height separately by baking a test square.

Print length = finished length ÷ shrink rate. At 40%, a 1.5 in (38 mm) keychain needs a 3.75 in (95 mm) print and a 1.2 × 3.5 in bookmark needs about 3 × 8.9 in. The tool sizes the whole piece, including the margin and the hole tab, so you only choose the finished size.

Only print on sheets sold as inkjet printable, and check the pack for which side takes the ink. Most brands warn against laser printers because the heat can warp or melt the sheet. Set the print scale to "Actual size" or 100%, not "Fit to page", and let the ink dry for about 10 minutes before cutting. The shrink rate you used is printed at the top of each PDF page.

The same ink gets packed into a much smaller area, so colors look much deeper after baking. Print lighter than you want the result to be. The "Brighten" setting starts at 20%. How much you need depends on your printer and sheets, so bake a small test piece first and go up to 30 or 40% for dark artwork.

On clear sheets you color the back, so the plastic sits on top and the colors look glossy and do not smudge. Anything drawn on the back has to be reversed to read correctly from the front, which is why choosing clear turns mirroring on. Keep it on for anything with letters.

Before baking. Baked plastic is hard and thick and cracks easily. The hole mark is 6 mm, the size of a standard 1/4 inch hole punch, and ends up about 2.4 mm at a 40% shrink rate, which fits a jump ring. You can turn the hole off under "More settings".

Yes. Sticker mode does not shrink anything. It places your drawings in 40 × 50 mm or 40 × 40 mm cells with a cut line 1.5 mm outside the drawing. Print it on sticker paper at 100% and cut by hand. The SVG holds only the cut lines, so for a cutting machine import your drawing and the SVG at the same size and use the Print Then Cut feature of Cricut Design Space or Silhouette Studio, which adds its own registration marks.

Yes. Transparent PNGs are traced by their shape, and on a white background only the white connected to the edges is treated as background. Photos without a white background come out as a rectangle, so choose the rounded rectangle or circle for those, or remove the background first.

Follow the instructions on your pack first. Shrinky Dinks says to preheat to 325°F (163°C) and bake for 1 to 3 minutes. The piece curls up and then flattens out again, and that is when it is done. Press it flat with a book for a few seconds right after taking it out, and use tongs or an oven mitt.