Are you looking to add a touch of nature and color into your home? Do you love the look of natural geode agate art but hate the price? Today we are going to DIY our own agate slice art—from SHRINK PLASTIC!

Supplies Needed:

Step One: Prepare Design in Silhouette Studio®

1. You will need an agate image, you can either snap a picture of your own or buy an image online like we did.

2. Open the image in Silhouette Studio®.

3. Adjust your page settings to an 8.5 inches by 11 inches and turn on the Print & Cut feature.

4. When your image is adjusted to the page size (remember we will be shrinking the plastic so make it larger than you will want your final piece) open the Trace menu from the right hand side.

5. Select trace area and then click and drag until the entire design is covered.

6. Then adjust the threshold settings until the entire design is yellow.

7. Select “Trace Outer Edge.”

Now your design should have a red cut line outlining your image.

Step Two: Send to Printer and Cut

1. Using Silhouette’s Clear Shrink Plastic, print the design using your inkjet printer.

2. Once the design has been printed, place the sheet onto your Silhouette cutting mat and and cut using the “Shrink Plastic – Clear” cut settings.

3. When the design has been cut, remove the excess plastic and adhesive backing.

4. We used a metallic gold paint marker and traced the perimeter of the design for an accent. This can be done before or after. We did both.

Step Three: Shrink the Design

1. Place the cut shape on a flat cookie sheet or equivalent and insert the cookie sheet into the oven. Make sure you follow the shrink plastic instructions that are provided on the packaging.

Step Four: Add the Gold-edge Detail

1. Now that the plastic is shrunk, we can add a little more gold gild to the edges. We painted some on before we shrunk the plastic, and we’ll add more to the now thicker edge of the plastic and the shiny back side of the plastic.

2. Now place your design in a frame and hang!

You have all the look with a fraction of the price! Can you beat that? What do you like to make with your shrink plastic?