After Terra Nova (a retreat specifically designed for artisans) Sheli and I decides to host an art night twice a month at our apartment. I started to work on a new painting, and then made a shrinky-dink out of recyclable materials. They're the things you draw on plastic and then stick in an oven until they shrivel up to a third of their original size.

Normally, I don't like showing anyone an unfinished piece of artwork, but I thought that the background for this painting looked so good, I wanted to share it.

To make a shrinky-dink out of recyclable materials, do this.

1. Find a #6 recyclable clear take-out container
2. Cut out the top or bottom so you have a solid flat piece
3. Sand down the plastic until the surface is rough
4. Draw on a design using colored pencils and/or pens
5. Put the plastic in an oven heated to 350F on a flat surface. The plastic will bulge and contort, but keep waiting until it flattens out.
6. As soon as the plastic has stopped flattening, pull it out and place a book on it to flatten it out.
7. After a couple of seconds, it should be cooled, and you can take a look at it
8. If you used colored pencils, you might want to add a fixative to keep the colors from smudging