We ate so many bags of cheap crisps when we made these shrinky necklaces to sell in the shop. Hundreds! And we became obsessed by the packaging, and the amazing graphics on noodle packets and sweet wrappers from continental markets.
One day we found an ancient empty crisp packet – hedgehog flavour – under the floorboards and it was like discovering gold!
What you need
Old food packets, not foiled or metallic
1 chain necklace
Greaseproof paper
Baking sheet
Damp tea towel, in case of fire-related emergencies
Old tea towel
Hand-held hole punch
1 regular jump ring
2 pairs of flat-nose pliers
What to do
1. Scoff the contents of the packets while making up the necklace. Salt and vinegar crisps, yum.
2. Make an envelope with the greaseproof paper and pop your food packet inside it. Set your oven to a medium heat and let it warm up a bit.
3. Put the envelopes on to a baking tray and put it in the oven. Don't wander off. The packets will start to shrink and curl up but you don't want them to burn or blister, so keep a weather eye on proceedings.
4. As soon as you think they've shrunk enough, remove the baking sheet and quickly pop a folded tea towel on top of the envelope and then slam your hand down on it to flatten your shrinkies. BAM! Such a satisfying noise. Don't worry if it goes wrong the first few times you attempt it, as there's a bit of a knack to it. Practise on easy-to-come-by stuff, and when you've mastered the art, go to work on your carefully hoarded vintage packages.
5. Now decide how you want your shrinky to dangle. If you punch a hole in the corner it'll hang aslant, but if you punch a hole in the top centre it'll dangle straight down. Use the hole punch to make the hole when you've chosen its position.
6. Open a regular jump ring with the pliers and thread the packet on to the jump ring and then the jump ring to the necklace. Close with the pliers.
