Post by dmmoleman on Aug 30, 2016 5:10:09 GMT
Hey Guys, I wanted to create a thread to share techniques, tips, and tricks for making homemade "shrinkydinks" / "aleene's shrink-it " miniatures/tokens. I'll try and include news ones as they're being made, and if you would please share those you've come up with, I'd really love to see them.
A basic overview of the concept:
There are a couple different brands and styles of craft plastic sheets, that can be drawn upon, cut out, and shrunk in an oven, after shrinking you're left with a smaller version of your drawing, that is now about as thick as a quarter. Using this plastic you can draw your character, cut them out, shrink them, and attach to a base (premade or homemade - but why buy?)
How to:
1. Purchase: either Shrinkydinks or Aleene's Shrink it (their may be other brands, if so please tell me!), either at a craft store like hobby lobby, or online. Our preference is "Shrinkydinks Ruff N' Ready", however opaque and clear have their charms as well (clear is pretty sweet for bases!)
2. Draw your character: sizing them as such- For ShrinkyDinks ruff n' ready - Use the ruff side. You can use colored pencils, sharpies, even dry erase seem to work just fine when shrunk. Take the imaginary height of the character in question (using 5'6', as 5.5, or 3'8" as 3.75) and divide by two, that should be the height of your drawn character in inches. Ex : A 4 ft dwarf, should be drawn as 2 inches tall, a 7'5" half orc should be 3.75 inches tall when drawn - This will make your character accurate size on a battle mat when they're shrunk down. To make your bases, whether you want clear or colored, find something to trace, a square should be 2.5 by 2.5 inches before shrinking (tupper ware) , and a circle base should be should be 2.5 inches in diameter (peanut butter lid). Aleene's shrink it is slightly different, so ignore this unless you want to be super precise when using Aleene's - take your character height, change to inches, multiple by 8, divide by 15, and that should be your drawn height. NOTE : draw on only one side of the shrinkydinks (you can see through on both sides with ruff n ready), ideally use both sides of aleene's (or clear/opqaue shrinkydink)- however if you're using clear or opaque, and color both sides, the ink sometimes sticks to the pan(if you're using this plastic and find a good solution let me know)
3. Cut out your character: pretty simple,- be careful, go slow, razor blades help. None of us like the square look, cutting super close can give an awesome gritty, right there feeling, while leaving an inch/ or inch and a half of blank plastic around the edge will leave with a white kind of halo all around your character that gives a much more cartoony but also professional kind of feel, we debated, and we prefer close cut, but all of us agree both styles have merit.
4. Cook Em' : Preheat your oven to 275, make sure and use a nonstick pan: - not from the dollar store, with some good Teflon. and make sure and put the color side up, so the ink's not touching the pan. Don't freak out if you open the door and they're curling up, just give them a few more minutes, and if you need to feel free to go up to 300
5. Let Them Cool: Don't rush it, let the whole pan cool for 20 minutes, then pop off your creations.
6. Glue your characters to their bases with some super glue, and go kill a baglesh!
Please share any comments, ideas, tips and tricks, suggestions or questions regarding these shrinky dink miniatures. We just started making these a few weeks ago, so if you have any great tips and tricks please share, and I'll make sure that they get included.I hope other people enjoy them as much as we have, I just hope to encourage some of you to stop drawing your character portraits on paper- instead draw them on some plastic, and make a mini. These are a couple of pics of some of our first ones, I'll make sure and try and keep you updated with cool new creations, and please post yours. I really want to see what other people do with this idea. ( Flood this thread with pictures until the player's drown and not even their God's can save them! )
A basic overview of the concept:
There are a couple different brands and styles of craft plastic sheets, that can be drawn upon, cut out, and shrunk in an oven, after shrinking you're left with a smaller version of your drawing, that is now about as thick as a quarter. Using this plastic you can draw your character, cut them out, shrink them, and attach to a base (premade or homemade - but why buy?)
How to:
1. Purchase: either Shrinkydinks or Aleene's Shrink it (their may be other brands, if so please tell me!), either at a craft store like hobby lobby, or online. Our preference is "Shrinkydinks Ruff N' Ready", however opaque and clear have their charms as well (clear is pretty sweet for bases!)
2. Draw your character: sizing them as such- For ShrinkyDinks ruff n' ready - Use the ruff side. You can use colored pencils, sharpies, even dry erase seem to work just fine when shrunk. Take the imaginary height of the character in question (using 5'6', as 5.5, or 3'8" as 3.75) and divide by two, that should be the height of your drawn character in inches. Ex : A 4 ft dwarf, should be drawn as 2 inches tall, a 7'5" half orc should be 3.75 inches tall when drawn - This will make your character accurate size on a battle mat when they're shrunk down. To make your bases, whether you want clear or colored, find something to trace, a square should be 2.5 by 2.5 inches before shrinking (tupper ware) , and a circle base should be should be 2.5 inches in diameter (peanut butter lid). Aleene's shrink it is slightly different, so ignore this unless you want to be super precise when using Aleene's - take your character height, change to inches, multiple by 8, divide by 15, and that should be your drawn height. NOTE : draw on only one side of the shrinkydinks (you can see through on both sides with ruff n ready), ideally use both sides of aleene's (or clear/opqaue shrinkydink)- however if you're using clear or opaque, and color both sides, the ink sometimes sticks to the pan(if you're using this plastic and find a good solution let me know)
3. Cut out your character: pretty simple,- be careful, go slow, razor blades help. None of us like the square look, cutting super close can give an awesome gritty, right there feeling, while leaving an inch/ or inch and a half of blank plastic around the edge will leave with a white kind of halo all around your character that gives a much more cartoony but also professional kind of feel, we debated, and we prefer close cut, but all of us agree both styles have merit.
4. Cook Em' : Preheat your oven to 275, make sure and use a nonstick pan: - not from the dollar store, with some good Teflon. and make sure and put the color side up, so the ink's not touching the pan. Don't freak out if you open the door and they're curling up, just give them a few more minutes, and if you need to feel free to go up to 300
5. Let Them Cool: Don't rush it, let the whole pan cool for 20 minutes, then pop off your creations.
6. Glue your characters to their bases with some super glue, and go kill a baglesh!
Please share any comments, ideas, tips and tricks, suggestions or questions regarding these shrinky dink miniatures. We just started making these a few weeks ago, so if you have any great tips and tricks please share, and I'll make sure that they get included.I hope other people enjoy them as much as we have, I just hope to encourage some of you to stop drawing your character portraits on paper- instead draw them on some plastic, and make a mini. These are a couple of pics of some of our first ones, I'll make sure and try and keep you updated with cool new creations, and please post yours. I really want to see what other people do with this idea. ( Flood this thread with pictures until the player's drown and not even their God's can save them! )
