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MoonEcho — Turian Shrinky-Dink Keychains
Published: 2013-05-06 22:12:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 3646; Favourites: 71; Downloads: 4
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Description
Hah, so this is a thing I said I'd do, so I figured I should show how they turned out. I saw this tutorial on tumblr on how to make Shrinky-Dink keychains, and I thought it looked pretty fun! I'd never tried Shrinky-Dinkery before. So, I attempted to make some keychains out of the little turian heads I drew for the ongoing Gaggle of Turians contest header.I made a bunch, and managed to ruin most of them. Pictured above are the survivors! Not pictured are a few micro-Chellicks I made because....???
Anyway, they turned out OK, but I think I'd need to experiment more to really get a quality thing out of them. For one thing, I think the sealer I used was way too shiny. TOO SHINY. THE SHINY, IT BURRRRNS.
But yeah. It was fun!'d recommend trying it, if you enjoy fun things.
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Comments: 60
I'd be interested in one, I'd also be interested in a Wrex and Grunt shrinky dinks
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omg omg omg omg!!
I NEED Garrus!! *~*
I think I have a heart attack. xD
Awesome work!
Do you sell them?
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Nuuuu don't have a heart attack XD
The ones above are still pretty experimental, but I'm working on developing better ones. Once I have them figured out, I'm planning on releasing printable artwork for free, so people can make their own if they want. I'm thinking also I'll offer pre-printed sheets (for people who want to make these themselves but don't have an inkjet printer), and I should also have a small stack of finished ones once the experimenting is over.
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Great idea! I will watch you for those little cute turians :3
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Nuuuuuuuu don't explode!
I'm working on improving and refining the process to make better ones. When I get them right, I'll post printable sheets so people can make their own, and I'll likely also have a small stack of ones that succeeded the testing.
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Oh man... I MUST have one of these! 
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Working on fixing and refining the manufacturing process. By the end, I will hopefully have a small stack of Garruseseseses for to give away. Also, I'll post printable sheets of Garrus if you'd rather make your own.
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so cute! <3 them. 
SO MUCH LOVE.
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Yay, thanks! You know what? I hadn't even thought about selling the print sheets. I was totally just gonna post 'em online for free. And I still will, but I guess I could also sell sheets, for anybody without inkjets! Hooray business sense!
Also, it just so happens that right now I am fixing up the artwork for Nihlus.
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eeeeee! you know me so well.
lol, free is awesome, but making money is also awesome. and we artists need to support each other. and all.
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AGHH all the love. Duuuuuuude. ;A; Be sure to say if you do make these available for commissions I love themmmm ;v; <33
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(Slow reply, d'oh) Ohhh, thank you! I haven't quite made up my mind on commissions. I am working on making more and refining the process, and, once I've tested them to see that they work, I plan to release printable artwork files for both canon characters and generic turians prepared for palette-swapping and tattoo adding. That way people can print and make their own keychains. Because it's fun!
In the meantime, lots of testing and experimenting. If you have a character that you want me to try printing on one of my test 'generic' sheets, lemme know. No guarantees anything will turn out right at this stage, though!
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Aww that's so awesome of you! >w< And yus I have a character I'd like you to try if you really don't mind! ;w; -squee-
[link] Noxy :3 The guy on the far left ^w^ <33 You may experiment all you desire! >:3
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Haha, yay! I will do science to him. :3
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This is such a rad idea chicky, especially for those adoraballs little heads (which I love). I agree with just about everyone else, if you figure out a way to sell them I'd like to grab one!
I may have to yoink this tutorial and try it out myself. Looks ridiculously fun.
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Awwwh, thanks! I'm probably gonna wind up making a few more, at least to make sure that any patterns I post work well. You should try it too, it is INDEED fun!
If you do, I'd throw in a few tips I discovered based on my various fails:
- If you have one, I definitely recommend using a toaster oven over a big regular oven. You pretty much want to yank them out and smoosh them with a book right away to flatten them, and I just had an easier time working from up on the countertop for that maneuver.
- I decided after the fact that I wanted the black outer edge of the lineart to be the outer edge of the keychain, instead of leaving a white margin around the artwork (as in the tutorial). I neglected to account for this when prepping the artwork by making the outer edge extra thick so I could trim to the inside of it. I'll do that next time!
- The sealer I used was a spray version of the Modge-Podge stuff mentioned in the tutorial. The surface of a finished Shrinky-Dink is a little rough textured, so I think I used too much trying to give it a smooth surface, and the result was the unsightly supershininess I have shown. So, I guess what I'm saying is use another sealer or be sparing with it.
- The tutorial mentions that you need to lighten the artwork's opacity to 50-60% before printing, since the color darkens/intensifies as it shrinks. The most successful batch I made had the black lineart full opacity, but the color layer underneath as light as 35%-45%, depending. If there's anything that's supposed to be white in the finished product, make sure it is 100% void white before you print! I accidentally left some very subtle shading in Lorik's white tattoos, and he basically came out of the toaster oven looking like a bareface because that itty bit of shading darkened the tattoos so much.
- On that note, you can add some acrylic paint to the surface afterward to fix stuff like that, but it's very tricky to paint precisely on these because of the rough surface texture and also, the ittyness. I actually did paint his tats on the one in the picture, and while it wound up looking cool and facepainty it was triiiicky and I had a few fails.
- Contrary to what I just said, I painted on the eyes on all of these over the original eyes just for extra 'pop', just because the eyes didn't come out as bright and contrasty with the turian eye socket as I was hoping. Something to consider when selecting what style of artwork/eyeballs to use, perhaps.
- I printed the heads out at a little under 4" tall, and that shrinks to about 1.5" tall.
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Ahhh! You are a goddess
*Copies comment and saves it to desktop for quick reference*
Eee, thank you so much lady! This will save me a ton of frustration, I'm sure of it. I'm going to give you mad kudos whenever I finish them up (which will probably be in a couple weeks since I have to get around to actually doing the artwork, hur hur) <3
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Oh no all of Fry's future-money what do I do!
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Thank you so much! I'm not sure I'm ready to sell these; I'm thinking they'd take more development time to make sure they're quality than I really have spare. I'm alternatively thinking of just making the print artwork available so people can make their own. D'ya think people would want to DIY these?
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Thank you! I don't have any firm plans on whether I want to try selling or giving away any of these, although I am considering just making the print artwork available so people can make their very own Shrinky Dink goodness
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Thank you so much! I'm not sure I'm ready to sell these; I'm thinking they'd take more development time to make sure they're quality than I really have spare. I'm alternatively thinking of just making the print artwork available so people can make their own. D'ya think people would want to DIY these?
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Ah ^^ What does DIY mean? ^.^
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Oh, it means "Do It Yourself". Usually used in reference to repairing your own stuff, or, in this case, craft projects.
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Ah ^.^ I have a phobia of ovens, which is why it'd make it hard to do it, but would be a good idea to post them up. They're adorable. x3
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Yeah, big ovens can be a pain. I personally did not have a lot of fun trying to use the big oven, but was lucky enough to have a little toaster oven which I felt was 89053209324% easier to use for a little project like this.
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Ah ^.^ I can't use them at all without having a panic attack. D: I had a really bad experience with fire when I was younger.
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Want want WANT! These look amazing! I could imagine many people, myself included, begging you to sell these!
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Thank you so much! I'm not sure I'm ready to sell these; I'm thinking they'd take more development time to make sure they're quality than I really have spare. I'm alternatively thinking of just making the print artwork available so people can make their own. D'ya think people would want to DIY these?
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I think that there would be quite a few who would want to. Perhaps having the print artwork available, and a few set aside for those who (for some reason or another) cannot make their own and want to purchase?
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Aw, I'm glad they are desirable! I don't have any firm short-term plans to sell or otherwise rid myself of these, although I'm kinda considering making the print artwork available so people can make their own. I'd be interested to know if people would want to DIY these :3
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