Craft Fail

Not all my projects are successes. I have my share of failures like everyone else. Here’s the tale of The Failed Cloud Mobile.

 

I had this idea to make a fun cloud mobile out of shrink plastic. It was going to be white and shiny and hang in that weird hole I have in my living room wall (seen here before I moved my bedroom downstairs).
So far so good.

 

The problems started when I popped my cute little shapes into the oven (according to the instructions on the packaging mind you, I wasn’t ad libbing or anything like that).

 

The idea is to take them out when they stop moving around. Hm. Mine looked like those Asian shrimp crisps when they finally lay still. One even curled up completely like a pop corn. But I was still confident that they’d straighten out.

 

Yeah, right. You’re supposed to quickly take them out of the oven and then press down on them to flatten them out. Um. That top one instantly turned in to four crispy Altocumulus instead of the fluffy Cumulus I had hoped for. I didn’t even bother to press on the rest.

 

I’m not one to give up though. So I figured I’d try my hands on a larger cloud instead of several small instead.

 

NOW I give up.

Comments

[mribaro]

How about making the mobile just using simple paper (you can double fold it and glue it or use thicker paper or ligth cardboard so the shapes stay straight)?

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

Of course I could just have used paper but I liked the idea of the shrink plastic. Not liking it any more though.

[Ninette]

Det lät ju som en superbra idé! synd att den inte funkade, men kul att du delade med dig - kanske nån annan kan vidareutveckla idén så man tillsammans får den att funka? skulle vara superfint med en sån där mobil som du tänkte dej

[Katharina]

Guess it was annoying,still your writing is funny and makes me smile on a dull morning.
Does the plastic smell in the oven?

[Leena]

How about modeling clay? Also plastic but it's not supposed to shrink.
But fun idea, too bad that didn't work out. Would the shrink plastic work better for smaller things? I've never used one

[Titti]

Det är inte så svårt med krympplast som det kan verka första gången. Men du ska nog börja med lite mindre bitar och bara baka en i taget. Och förstås, snabbt på med en bok när de kommer ut! Om den ändå fastnar i sig sälv kan man försiktigt försöka ta isär den lite i taget medan den är varm och värma på den igen i ugnen om man inte får isär hela på en gång. Vet inte om det spelar någon roll men jag brukar baka dem på dubbelvikt bakplåtspapper på ugnsgallret så behöver man inte vänta på att plåten ska värmas upp också.

[Anna]

Your white shrink plastic seems nicer than what we have in the US where Shrinky Dinks are kind of an ugly opaque beige (although I am now recalling sheets of white and black that came with the last pack I bought my kids... although they never used them because you couldn't draw on them. Something for me!). But the advantage is that they curl up like yours did, but then they kind of relax and flatten out again - that's when you know they are done.

[Jill]

At least it's a funny failure:)

[OhHolland]

In English we have a saying, Benita: "Whenever clouds roll by, look for the silver lining." I think the silver lining in your episode is being able to write a very funny blog post!

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I have some of that so I may try!

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

It didn't, at least not in a toxic way.

[tinajo]

Mwahahaha - förlåt, men tusan så roligt! Har haft en liknande erfarenhet just med krympplast..! :-D

[Katja]

I am sorry that your project did not work out. It was funny written though, I had to laugh, sorry! Thanks for sharing. But, these failures happens to all of us DIY-makers

[Ava]

You are a friend of Panduros, right. How about using Astralitt from Panduro? I used it for a lampshade: and a jewellery "pendant". Cones in a roll, sp should probably be flattened for a while before cutting it.
My examples:
http://vedleilighet.blogspot.no/2011/09/pimp-my-ikea-5-lampe.html
http://vedleilighet.blogspot.no/2011/10/smykkeoppheng-lage-selv.html

[Ava]

Sorry about the typos, this keyboard is too small.....

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

I have some of that at home. Hmmm....

[Muyserin]

Thank you for sharing this. Otheriwse, your blog would be insufferable for sheer geniusity! ;)

I never heard of shrink plastic. What is it supposed to do (shrink, I guess --- but why)?

[Becs]

I find with the shrink plastic that sometimes you have to heat for way longer than you think and they do then flatten out of their own accord. I also use a heat gun rather than oven as I have a little more control and can help flatten if needed while I heat. If you can get it to work.. I think it would look fab!

[Maja]

Dont give up, use a heatgun instead! I love the clouds and they would look pretty!

[kate]

Ahaha - at least your craft fail was entertaining for the rest of us to read! My experience with shrink plastic is that is folds up like crazy and if you leave it it eventually flattens out. Good to see this isn't always the case before I try any bigger projects!

[Jessica]

Höj värmen, Benita! Och kör en i taget. Så där såg våra plastbitar ut med, men de ska först krulla ihop sig innan de plattas ut. Om de rullar ihop såpass att de fastnar i sig själv får man öppna och försöka böja ut, annars är det tålamod (och högre värme) som gäller. Upp igen! :)

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

Great idea!

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

Tack för tips!

[Sofia]

Hej!
Testa att göra molnen i fimolera istället. Det skulle nog bli hur bra som helst! Jag gjorde egna grandekorationer med vit fimolera i julas:

http://sofiasmakeandbake.blogspot.se/2011/12/pynt.html

Hälsningar Sofia

[rachel swartley]

Sometimes when people post pictures of a "fail," it's just a slight imperfection... but these really do look bad! Haha. :)

[Libby]

I had the same problem when I attempted to make identification tags for my dogs' collars. They curled up in the oven. It took several tries, but eventually I found a technique that worked for me: lower temperature oven, and also leaving them in slightly longer. They still curled up like mad in the oven, but then flattened out while they were still in the oven. I took them out as soon as they flattened.

[KariWK]

I needed that laugh this morning.

But I am sorry it didn't work!

[emily @ go haus go]

Oh boo! It's such a sweet idea, too! They will fold up but if left in a little longer they should flatten out. I was trying to make gift tags and had the same maddening experience.

[kelly]

A few people have already said this, but I'm going to chime in too: When I have used shrink plastic, they look just like yours, and then the instructions said leave them in even longer and they will flatten back out on their own. I was skeptical... but it worked! But you might already be too frustrated to try again? (I probably would be!) Thanks for sharing, Benita!

[Lisa Flaherty]

Such a bummer when you carve out some time to do something fun and don't get the reward of the results. Ah, well. I hope you enjoyed the process, if not the payoff. And, as others have said, I think if you heat beyond the curling and furling, the plastic finally flattens out again. Cute idea!

[Lenorebell]

Prawn crackers? :-)

[Heather A]

I don't know if this would work but you could try baking the shrink plastic in between two baking sheets to keep the clouds flat.

[Marie-Claude]

Sorry for your clouds... but what a good laugh I had reading your adventure! Keep on going: not everything can be successful I guess!

[Sage]

What about FIMO clay rolled super thin and cut out with cloud cookie cutters? Bakes in the oven too and here's a link:
http://www.staedtler.dk/modelling_clays_accessories_dk_eng

[Carolina (Chile)]

You should see Pinstrosity failed projects. I was laughing for hours. http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/ Most of them hilarious. All of us failed sometimes :) http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/09/hairy-situations.html

[Zosia]

I know the feeling. Please show us the results if you decide to try with the heat gun as Maja suggested. Have a nice weekend.

[Ruth]

This happened to me with shrink plastic and no matter how long I left it there it didn't unfurl. However, I found a solution, it might work for you too. I put the shapes on the tray, but then put another layer of baking paper/parchment on top, and weighted down the corners, and baked as usual. This was enough to stop the worst of the curling, and the minute I took it out of the oven I placed another flat baking tray over the shrink shapes immediately to flatten them out completely. Might be worth a try! Hope I explained it ok!

[Krystin]

Lol! The pics are so funny! Sorry about the ruined clouds though :(

[-M]

In the US Shrinky Dinks were fun to make as children. You could draw pictures on the sheets, cut them out, then you baked them and they shrunk and got hard. You could make earrings and necklace pendants out of them, your own game pieces, figurines of any kind.

[Benita ~ Chez Larsson]

Thanks for all the advice and tips, guys!

[jja]

LOL

"Mine looked like those Asian shrimp crisps when they finally lay still."

Yes this is what I was thinking too after seeing your photo.

But why in the oven at all?

[Shift Ctrl ART]

It looks like maybe (maybe) you did not bake them long enough. I have never done such a big project with shrink plastic, but I have made several smaller ones. About the size of a golf ball - which shrunk down to about a 1cm ball.

I used a heat gun that I waved evenly across my pieces. They do curl up and get all weird looking like what you are showing, but if you keep heating them, they eventually flatten back out when they have shrunk all the way. They shrink to about a fourth before they are all the way done. And there should not be any need to flatten out the pieces. They become flat by themselves when they are fully "cooked" :)

I would love to see you give it one more try where you bake them longer and let them shrink even further before removing them from the oven.

Also, the hole shrinks as well, so experiment with this as well. I think your holes are a little bit too small. I think they will shrink too much for you to get any string through.

[Katarina]

Du har fått många tips här och kanske har någon redan skrivit detta: Använd embossingfön (om du har! :) ) Precis sådär blev alla mina krympisar också tills jag fick rådet av en god vän. Nu använder jag alltid fönen och det funkar skitbra!
Lycka till! /Katarina

[Helen]

Prova att stoppa in dem igen, det kan funka, man tror att de slutar men de är inte riktigt klara.