My little ones love all things crafty so we were very pleased
to try something a little bit different that actually took me back to my own
childhood.
What’s in the Box:
- 30 x Jump Rings
- 3 x Clasps
- 6 x Clamshell Clasps
- 4 x Earring Hooks
- 240 Mini Beads in 3 colours
- 7 x Shrink-Plastic Sheets
- 1m x Plastic stretch Cord
- 3m x Black Cord
- Mini Hole Punch
- 32 Page Colour Instructions book complete with templates
Before diving in we had a think about what designs we wanted
to make and my son and my daughter brainstormed some fabulous ideas and
interesting designs. As well as making our own designs we also tried some of the
templates contained in the Instruction booklet . The first design we tried of
our own was a Creeper creature from the Minecraft game as my son, like many
children, is absolutely Minecraft mad!
After a bit of colouring then cutting out we were on to
the next stage. Before going further I would suggest to either colour in after
you have cut out the shapes or use coloured pencils rather than pens as we made
the mistake of using pens directly on the sheet and ended up with ink all over
our hands and smudged the designs a little.
Once our designs were drawn, coloured and cut out we punched
holes into the various shapes so they could easily be made into jewellery once
they were shrunk down too size. We were now ready to pop them in the oven. This
was a bit hit and miss as although we had the oven at the advised temperature
but the designs shrank a little too quickly causing them to curl. Again I would
advise trying at a lower temperature and seeing if that would help the curling
issue. I seem to recall that similar products of many, many years ago were on
thicker material to begin with which would certainly prevent curling, the
material here is certainly thin so I would start at a lower temperature and
perhaps experiment with a small piece first.
Overall it was hit and miss as to what designs came out okay
and which ones curled a little too much to be useable – unfortunately they snap
if you try to uncurl them even before they cool. However we did have some
success and once the surviving designs had cooled we finished making them
into jewellery and admittedly they looked pretty fab...
It was a shame one of a pair of earrings broke but we were
able to make the other one into another necklace. Next time we will try to
shrink them more slowly under a temperature lower than recommended so they don’t
curl too much and we still have a some sheets left so plenty of practice yet to
come. We will update this review if we have more success the next time
around.
Overall this would make a good little gift for a wide variety
of age groups, particularly good for Christmas time. It was simple enough to use
the product and despite the issues we had, which are likely resolvable by
dropping the temperature (or the use of thicker material), for £9.99 you really
can’t go wrong. It passes the time very nicely and all things considered we had
fun. My son really loves his Minecraft Keyring and was so proud of himself for
making it.
