Using Shrink Plastic - Wine Glass Charms for Weddings and Parties

Hello again, Janet here with a tutorial on how to design these sweet wine glass charms and make them from the Silhouette Shrink Plastic using the Silhouette® Cameo and the Silhouette® Studio's Print & Cut function.


What You'll Need

Silhouette Shrink Plastic in White
Wine Glass Charm Rings
Inkjet Printer
Regular Oven
Shallow Baking Tray
Non-Stick Baking Paper
Fish Slice
Heavy Flat Object
Smooth Heat-Resistant Surface (wooden chopping board is ideal)
Pan Rest (for the hot baking sheet)


The Silhouette® Shrink Plastic is printable and comes in two versions, white and clear. I used the white variety for these wine charms. There are six sheets of one variety in each pack. Sheets of both white and clear are also included in the Silhouette Jewellery Making starter kit.

I threaded my finished wine glass charms onto silver plated rings bought online from a well known auction site. One hundred rings can be purchased for just a few pounds. If you look closely you'll see that I added some coloured beads to one of the finished charms. Different coloured beads offer the scope to individualise the charms if you decide to use the same name/title on each charm. Seed beads slide onto the wires easily, but bigger beads may not pass around the bend in the wire.

Designing the Charms

Design just one charm initially.  Draw a circle to represent the charm and add another small circle, a hole for attaching the charm to the ring, near to the top. Open up your chosen decorative file. I used the Leaf Sprig Garland Border by Nic Squirrel and resized it to fit the circle. Add text and select a script font from the Text Style panel.  I used the Sweet Pea font by Rivka Wilkins.

HINT: If you are using different names on each charm, and need to increase the thickness of the font, do this by increasing the thickness of the line in the Line Style panel. This saves time when changing names as the text remains editable. 

Optional: Fill the decorative design with white. This involves releasing the compound path and remaking the path with selected parts. It is a bit fiddly to do, so don't bother if you like the design as it is.

HINT: Add another circle around the outside of the design and fill with your chosen colour. This forms a printing gutter to ensure there is no white showing around the edge of the charm.


Preparing To Print & Cut

Set Page Size to US Letter in the Page Setup panel. Then turn on the registration marks in the Page Setup panel.

Duplicate the design and resize them to fit on the page within the registration marks.  Edit the names/titles by double clicking on the text and re-typing.

Hint: Tick 'Show Cut Border' in the Page Setup panel to display a red line indicating the limit of the active cut area. Ensure your cut shapes are positioned within this area.

Printing the Charms

Ensure that your Print Page Setup is set to US Letter size.  With an inkjet printer, print onto a sheet of shrink plastic with the printing on the side with the rougher surface.

HINT: You can practice both the print and cut steps on a sheet of scrap card first if you are not yet confident with Print & Cut.

Cutting the Charms

Smooth the printed sheet onto your mat with the printed side up. Set the cut lines as shown below taking care not to move any part of the images.  I used the AutoBlade and the recommended cut settings for Shrink Plastic in v4.1 and the charms cut perfectly.

Baking the Charms

Follow the directions on the packaging for baking the charms. While the oven is coming to temperature gather together all the things you need for the next stage: fish slice, smooth chopping board, a heavy flat object (I used this flat-bottomed cup-measure), and a pan rest on which to place the hot tray.

Put the charms on baking paper in a shallow baking tray and place in the oven.

HINT: For the first few charms,  just bake one at a time, as you have to work quickly when the charms are removed from the oven. 

When the charms are 'cooked' bring the tray out of the oven (details on the instructions included). With the fish slice, scoop a hot charm onto the chopping board, and flatten it with the flat object by pressing down with a firm and even pressure. As the charms cool down they are less flexible, so work quickly.

You'll notice that the colours have become more intense. Don't be surprised if the shape also changes a little. My charms were more oval than round once ''cooked'.  The size of the finished shape is influenced by the cooking conditions, so even sized shapes require consistent cooking time and temperature.

To finish, simply unclip the metal ring, thread the charms on, and clip it up again.

For this tutorial I made charms for a wedding, but of course these could be made for any occasion, great for parties, family gatherings, and other celebrations.  I'm planning some snowflake themed ones for the Christmas season.


Bye for now,

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