Introduction
In this project, I used shrink plastic to create shamrock LED covers - turning my pair of green Christmas fairy lights into light-up and festive St. Patrick's Day "Lucky Garland!"
The key to this craft was learning that they make printable shrink plastic! I designed the shamrock image and prepared it for printing in illustrator (I have the template for sale on my site here.) I also included the outline of the shamrock design so that you could customize them with markers before shrinking.
Supplies:
- Printable Shrink Plastic Film
- PDF Template
- Green LED Fairy Lights
- Hot Glue Gun & Glue
- A Printer
- Scissors
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Step 1: Print the Template
Step 2: Cut Out the Shamrocks
Step 3: Bake the Shamrocks
Follow the instructions on the package for baking:
- Lay parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Lay the shamrocks.
- Lay another piece of parchment paper on top to keep them from curling up too much.
- Test your oven with a scrap piece first. (Baking at 350ºF for 3 minutes was what worked in my oven, but ovens vary. )
- After removing them from the oven, some of the shamrocks may not be completely flat - use a spatula to flatten them as they cool.
Step 4: Glue in Place
Create an "LED Sandwich":
- Make pairs of opposing shamrocks (one facing one way, and one facing the other way).
- Place a dab of hot glue on the back of one shamrock, and position the LED in the dab.
- Place another dab of hot glue on top of the LED.
- Place the other shamrock on top. You have a light-up shamrock!
Repeat this step for every LED.