How to Make Cute DIY Shrink Plastic Keychains Out of Number 6 Plastic

Tools and materials:

• Number 6 plastic
• Keyrings and chains
• Hole puncher
• Parchment paper 
• Scissors
• Permanent marker 
• Pliers

1. Grab your plastic 

For this tutorial, you’re going to need number 6 plastic, so find something that’s labeled with a number 6. It’ll typically have a little recycle sign surrounding the number.

Number 6 plastic isn’t easily recyclable, so it’s the best kind to reuse for any plastic DIYs you may have.

2. Cut the plastic

Cut out the piece of plastic for your keychains, removing any bumpy or textured parts that can’t be used. 

3. Print out your designs

Print out the designs for your keychains. Make sure you set the height and width to be several times bigger than you want the keychain to appear because, in a later step, the plastic is going to shrink. 

4. Draw your designs on the plastic 

Overlay the piece of plastic over your printed designs and then, using a permanent marker, trace over the image to create the design for your keychains.

5. Cut out your designs

After you’ve finished tracing all of your designs on the plastic, carefully cut it out. 

6. Punch a hole for the keyring

Make sure to leave a small space around the design and then punch a hole in the space. This is where we’re going to put the keyring. 

7. Shrink the plastic in the oven 

Set your oven to 325°F and let it sit in the oven for two minutes on some parchment paper. The plastic will begin to shrivel up and shrink really small, but this is completely normal! 

8. Add a keyring

When taken out, the keychain charms will be several times smaller and harder than they were previously. Now we can add the keyring to our charms. If needed, use pliers to close and tighten up the rings.

9. Add a chain 

Add a chain and you’re done! Here are the final keychains:

DIY shrink plastic keychain tutorial

How easy were these DIY shrink plastic keychains? If you enjoyed this tutorial and decide to do it yourself, let me know which designs you decide to do and how they turn out! Thanks for joining.