I saw this shrink art kit at Target for $3 and had the idea that I could use it to make hair accessories. Coloring is really relaxing, and shrink art is a lot of fun, so it seemed like the perfect, relaxing project for a Saturday at home.
The kit included 12 cute Halloween figures on shrink art paper, some cord to make necklaces out of them, three markers, and a tube of glow in the dark paint. The kit had everything needed to do the craft and make 12 necklaces. I decided I just wanted to make the figures into something to decorate my hair instead.
I started by cutting off the little loops on top that would have made them perfect to use for the necklaces or as charms. Then, I used my Prismacolor pencil set to color in the images.
You could really use any colored pencils for this project, but I like the vibrancy and creamy texture of the Prismacolors. Normally, they are rather expensive at around $42 for this set of 48, but I got mine on clearance at Hobby Lobby as part of a larger mixed media kit for $15. Since the shrink art kit comes with markers, I imagine you could use those as well, but I haven't tried markers with shrink art yet.
Here's what the pieces turned out like after I colored them and followed the shrinking procedures:
My original plan was to attach the pieces to hair pins to stick in my hair, but they wouldn't lay flat. After playing around with a few other ideas, I decided to hot glue them to a headband. I think it turned out really cute.
Rather than wearing it to hold my hair back like a normal headband, I've been using it more like a tiara around up dos. The hot glue is a little fragile, but I haven't lost any pieces so far. It would also be really easy to glue them back on if they fell off.
I enjoyed making this headband and love the way it looks. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it, too. If I see any more of these kits around other holidays, I think I might do this project again. It would be cool to have handmade headbands to wear every season.
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