Cassie's Creative Crafts: Minecraft Shrinky Dinks Craft Tutorial

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Hello, I want to share another Minecraft craft that you can do with the kiddos. So how does one get so attached to this game, you ask? Well...play the game and you will see. It really teaches the kids motor skills.

So, today we are going to talk about how to make Minecraft Blocks using shrinky Dinks. You can use your finished product to make so many items, for instance, you can make a charm for a necklace or bracelet, they can be a magnet, a keychain, or even earring, plus so much more! We are making magnets and keychains with ours.

Supplies

printer (make sure you set your printer settings to its correct settings for the shrinky dink paper)
Shrinky Dink Paper that you can print on with inkjet printer (there are many kinds, I used the one below)

Sandpaper
oven or heat gun (not hair dryer!) Heat guns are made to work with crafts. See the one I have below...

accessories (keychain, chain for necklace, magnets, etc.)

Getting Started

You need to sand the shrink dink paper really well. *some shrinky dink paper doesn't need to be sanded but I think that if you are wanting to print on it then it needs to be sanded.* sand it really well up and down and then side to side and I do this a couple of times. (The sanded side is the side you will print on and so it needs the texture but the sanding needs to be evenly sanded and no shiny areas of the paper showing through.
Once it is sanded and you have cleaned it off, you can now print the blocks of your choice onto the paper. I have included some of the blocks we used if you want to download them.

*note* I do not claim these Minecraft images as my own. I downloaded them from the internet and can give you the places and websites of where I got them from.

Download Here

*They appear big when you print them but they shrink to about 1 inch or a little smaller*

Here is what they look like printed on the shrinky dink paper! pretty cool, huh!!

Depending on which blocks you print, sometimes the detail doesn't show, but the ones above worked out well!

After you print them, I would allow them to dry for several hours.

After they are good and dry, then here is where you want to make a whole if you are going to make a keychain or jewelry.

Next, we but them out and then used the heat gun CAREFULLY to shrink them. *If you use a heat gun, don't freak out if the the blocks start to curl up into a ball. That is NORMAL. Keep using your heat and it will straighten out.

*They also curl up in the oven too but we don't usually see that. There are directions on the packages on how long to heat them in the oven. PLEASE FOLLOW DIRECTIONS.

Then, we LIGHTLY and VERY CAREFULLY sprayed them with a varnish-keeping the spray at least 12 inches from them and do not allow them to get fully wet from the varnish because the ink will run! We learned that by mistake. :)

Then, you are ready to make what you want out of them.

They are so much fun and really hold a lot of detail in them once they shrink.

See below of some of the finished ones that my boys and I made. We were pretty happy with how they turned out. I really liked the creeper one too but it got ruined because I put too much varnish on it at first.. The TNT block was one of my favs too. So, I hope you enjoy this project as much as we did making it because it really is fun, unique, and craft!