Just a short post today.  What do you think this lot is (and please don’t say a load of old junk!).  To help you, I will tell you that the drums of rope are about 3cm tall (just over an inch in old money). 

I haven’t got time to keep you in suspense today so I will explain:  I am working on my next project for a textile exhibition with Nolitex, and these objects will form part of the work.  They are not rusty old bits of metal but artfully disguised bits of Friendly Plastic (not the rope of course).  I say “artfully” but that is a conceit as in reality they were the results of my experiments with some patination and rusting fluids which I purchased when I was in America.  I do believe you can get the same stuff over here in the UK, the range is called Sophisticated Finishes by Triangle Crafts.

I used Friendly Plastic Pellets for some of the pieces, and lots of scraps that I recycled for others; the results were the same once I had coloured them and rusted them.  The rope drums are made over pipe lagging using some very rope-like cord (patination fluid treated as well).

I thought some of you out there might be interested in seeing something a little different on the FP front, it might just set you off on some train of thought you might like to share with the rest of us.  And you know of course, that if you do put a post on your blog about it, then Linda will capture it and tell the world via the Friendly Plastic Blog, so you will be instantly catapulted into Friendly Plastic Fame!!!

I thought I would sneak in a quick post before I have to go and make some supper.  Firstly a big thank you to Linda Peterson and Jen Lowe who have both been blasting the internet on my behalf.  Linda has produced another of her wonderful little video shorts about basic stamping and texturing with FP, inspired by one of my DVDs Bend It Shape It; take a peek at the Friendly Plastic Blog to see Linda in action. 

Jen has a few copies of my DVD and my book Friendly Plastic For Starters.  She also has two DVDs we produced for Sarah Lawrence on Angelina Fibres ( called Simply Fused) and surface decoration (called appropriately enough The Decorated Surface).  If you want to see clips for the DVDs then do visit my web site where you can try before you buy.  Jen only has a small stock of the DVDs so be quick if  you want one and you live in the USA because sending them from here costs more than sending them to you from Jens.

Enough of the plugging, here is what I want to show you in the few minutes before I grab my glass of wine and get on with supper:

This was a spot of Oooze (Gold Swirl) through some halloween net with spiders web on it, embedded in another bit of Friendly Plastic, and covered with a layer of Envirotex.

Here is the same piece (on the left) plus another similar piece that has had an extra 2 layers of Envirotex added plus some decorative dots in between the layers.

This pendant and earring set (not finished yet) have 3 layers of Envirotex with added spots.  The base design is created using Peel Offs.  Taking photos this close up shows up all my imperfections!  The pendant is about  3cm (about an inch and 1/4) wide, and the brooch below is only 3.5cm wide.

If you remember this brooch from an earlier post where I got all excited about Magic Glos and showed you my first trial of the product; well this now has another 2 layers of Magic Glos on top (with added spots of course!)  I like the spots as they work well with the embedded Accent Beads and the Ooozed Friendly Plastic beneath it all.  Whilst Envirotex takes 12 hours to be touch dry, but 24 to cure completely, Magic Glos can be cured in 5 mins under a UV lamp.  It is more expensive, but it is much more convenient for small batches or one off pieces.

No doubt I have said this earlier, but I tend not to cover most of my work with Envirotex or Magic Glos because I work in three dimensions a lot, and I also don’t always need a gloss coating.  However, if you are worried about protecting your work from heat and age damage then either Envirotex or Magic Glos is the way to go. 

I hope to have Envirotex up on the web site some time this week, so keep an eye out.

If I don’t get off this computer soon, there will be rebellion in the household, I really do need to go and make some supper.

I  have been sneaking in to the pit of extraordinary messiness that is my studio, and instead of tidying up I have been playing. What a surprise, I am very good at displacement activity!

As you will see below, I have been making moulds using the two part silicone moulding compounds that go by various names – Siligum, Easy Cast, Amazing Mould Putty to name just a few.  I even used the remains of the moulding compound that the Opro gum shield people sent when I was taking a mould of my son’s teeth for his sports gum shield!  It is the same stuff, and although the colour varies from make to make, I can’t really tell much difference between them all. 

All of these items have been taken from casts of buttons, beads, charms and odd things I have found.  There is very little difference between the speed at which the compounds cure – all the moulds for these cured within 5 minutes.  I had been scouring my boxes and drawers for buttons and odd bits to take a mould from, and I went to the market and bought a whole load of single buttons to try out (nothing cost me more than 50p)

This a close up of one of the pieces taken from a mould of a button.  I used Pewter Friendly Plastic and then coloured it with Adirondack Alcohol Inks.  This is about an inch (2.5cm) across so I was pleased with the level of detail the moulding compound picked up, after all, the original item was a cheap plastic button that cost about 30p in the market.

The button that this came from is REVOLTING – a totally naff mock pearl middle with plastic “metal work” around the edge.  I much prefer my version.  This was made using Friendly  Plastic Pellets which I  pushed in to the mould (after melting them in hot water).  The colouring all came afterwards with acrylic paint, Alcohol Inks and a metallic pen.  I did learn that I need to be more careful to get the blob of pellets smooth before I push it in to the mould, but I still like the damaged and aged look the cracks give.

These did not come from buttons, but objet d’art that I found around the place.  The nice thing about the silicone putty is that it does not damage anything that you put it on, and it comes away cleanly (in fact it is a great dust remover for all the nooks and crannies that the duster does not reach!).  Friendly Plastic Pellets were used again here, this time I coloured them before I moulded them, using metallic bronzing powders (real bits of metal, so masks are advisable).  They got a thin coat of copper paint and some patination solution afterwards as well, but it was really late when I did this and I think I should have  been more careful as I missed bits.

This lot is a mixture of mouldings taken from items of jewellery, old beads, and some fabulous knitted wire that my good friend Erica makes using her knitting machine (she makes wonderful jewellery using very thin coloured wire, and as she is a perfectionist, it is always absolutely beautiful)

Now this strange piece is only about 3 inches long and I moulded this around a lovely beaded necklace that my sister made me.  The original item is really lovely, but I wanted to explore the fabulous texture of the rope of diverse beads, and this is what I came up with, which is not lovely, but merely interesting.  Once again I used the Pellets and coloured them after moulding.

I really like this moulded piece as I love oriental influences, and I coloured the pellets after moulding using acrylic paints, alcohol inks and Rub n Buff to make it look a bit like Chinese lacquer work.

This is my very favourite piece, partly because I love the vase that it comes from (not mine unfortunately).  This moulding  measures about 3″ tall and again I used pellets, acrylic paint and alcohol inks plus Rub n Buff gradually building up the layers of colour.

As you can see, I have had fun avoiding tidying my studio and playing with mould making.  From my experiments, I don’t think there is much to choose between the different 2 part silicone moulding compounds, they all take a minute or two to mix together in your hands (just like mixing plasticine when you were a kid, but softer).  Once the two colours (usually white and another colour mixed together in equal parts so no measuring is necessary) are smoothly mixed with no streaks then all you do is push it around the item to be moulded and leave it for 5 minutes (more if the mould is deep or big).  I did discover that you do need to take care to have a big enough blob of compound to successfully mould deep things – one of my more pointy buttons nearly went through the bottom leaving a hole.  Another tip is to try to make sure the top is smoothly moulded around the item leaving a neat edge and not lop sided or you will find your mould less tidy to use leaving you with raggedy edges.

The moulds are flexible so you can manage a degree of undercutting, but take care not to enclose some element of your model completely or you wont get it out and your mould might be ruined.  Balls can be enclosed completely, you simply have to cut the mould in half once it has cured.  This could give you possibilities for making large hollow beads using a golf ball perhaps as the former.  I did this many years ago and it worked a treat.  If you are interested in getting your hands on some of this wonderful moulding compound then I might be able to source it for you, but I don’t want to keep it in stock if no one wants to buy it.  Half a pound of 2 part silicone moulding putty will cost around £18 to £20 I think, but it does go a long way, I made all these moulds (almost 30 of them) out of slightly less than half a pound of putty, which makes each mould average out at about 65 p a mould.  The compound keeps for a long time too, I have had some for a number of years and it worked absolutely fine.  Don’t forget that the moulds can be used again and again but they can’t be resoftened and remade into new moulds unfortunately.  So if you are interested then drop me an email at enquiries@rarebird.ltd.uk and I will get some in to stock for you.

If you do not want to go to all the bother of making your own moulds (I thought it was great fun and I am now looking at objects differently to see if I can take a mould from them), then go and check out the Krafty Lady Moulds.  There is a fabulous range of these, and if  you are in the UK then The Stamp Bug is the place to go and find them.  But do visit the Krafty Lady web site to get some ideas.

OK, get your diaries out.  I have some Friendly Plastic classes coming up in November that might interest you:

First Impressions

10th November at Gillian’s Crafts, 8 Victoria Street, Derby. DE1 1EQ  01332 332133 .  Please book directly with Gill at the shop.   10.30am – 12.30  £9.99

This is an introductory class for those who want to know a little bit about how Friendly Plastic works for their specific craft.  We will primarily be creating textures using rubber stamps, fabrics and found objects.  These little sample pieces can be turned in to cards, jewellery or what ever you fancy.  If we have time and the inclination, we will look at a couple of other techniques to whet your appetite.

Bowled Over

10th November at Gillian’s Crafts, 8 Victoria Street, Derby. DE1 1EQ  01332 332133 .  Please book directly with Gill at the shop.  1.30pm – 3.30pm   £13.00

Extend your texturing skills into 3 dimensions.  We will make a lovely little bowl with colour and texture both inside and outside the dish using lace and textured fabrics to create the impressions.

I would normally have a picture to show you of this, but stupidly I bundled up the samples and sent them off to Gill not 10 minutes ago, having completely forgotten to take a photo!!!  How stupid is that?  I will have to see if Gill can take one and send it to me so I can upload it for you all to see. 

This class is absolutely fine for beginners and those with some experience alike.  It is a wonderful next step from “First Impressions” and the expertise acquired in the morning class.

Bend It Shape It (Any Way You Want It) 

21st November at Stitched Up and Fleeced (Sue Lancaster’s studio) 49 Nethergreen Road, Sheffield  S11 7EH
07879 424989  Email:   Stitchedupandfleeced@live.co.uk   10am – 4pm  £40  Please book directly with Sue.

The very best way to get to know Friendly Plastic.  We work through a whole host of techniques including my Lacework and Oooze techniques, plus Piecework, impressions, foiling, embedding, some beads, and generally anything everyone wants to know.  We use hot water and dry heat to achieve our aims, so you learn loads about the easiest ways to work with Friendly Plastic in your own environment.  You will make between 10 and 20 sample pieces to use as you wish in whatever creative medium you are currently working in.  Friendly Plastic is so versatile that it suits textile people, jewellery folk, paper artists, mixed media players, model makers, costume designers and many others that I have not even thought about.  One thing you will be sure of is that you will be going home with  a head stuffed full of ideas and a bag full of interesting and decorative samples.  If you are a regular reader of this blog you will have seen some of the things that people get up to on these Bend It Shape It days, so beat the grey November skies and forget abut all the things you need to do and come and discover a whole new world of creativity.

The title for this post is most appropriate as I am still on a creative high from my trip to the US and Colorado.  Unlike Jen Lowe and Linda Peterson, I did  not post whilst all the activity of the Starving Artists Playground was happening – I don’t know where they found the energy!  A 7 hour time difference (and therefore pronounced jet lag) added to a general lack of sleep and over excitedness  means that all blogging activity has had to wait until I have at least half a brain cell working coherently.  For those of you who are feeling a bit bamboozled and don’t know what the Starving Artists Playground is, then visit Jen’s blog or the Friendly Plastic Blog and you will see that it was an event dreamed up by Jen to bring together lots of creative people for  a weekend of ”playshops”.

Almost two weeks ago I flew to Indianapolis (Mid West) to visit my sister and do some serious craft shopping before flying on to  meet up with all the Friendly Plastic Gals in Colorado.  Boy did I do some shopping!  My suitcases were pretty darn full anyway as I  had to take loads of stuff out for the Playground, including large amounts (3kg) of Galaxy chocolate plus an Emergency Bar (I did not realise that there were so many different types of cleverly packaged bars of chocolate in Sainsuburys, and the one with “Emergency Bar” seemed too good to resist).  Once I had offloaded the chocolate then there would be plenty of room for all my shopping (Ha!). 

My sister had a surprise for me, she had organised a car to take me from her house to the airport; not just any car, but a stretch limo!

There was acres of space for all my suitcases full of shopping!  I felt like royalty and a complete pillock all at the same time – thank goodness for smoked glass windows.

On arrival in Denver, I was greeted by the craziest bunch of women wandering around with “Wanted” posters

This is Jen trolling around the airport searching for me.  Linda and Jana were similarly supplied with posters.  Jana had arrived from Las Vegas on an earlier flight and had been greeted with her very own Wanted Poster too.  Linda and Jen had pinched images from the web of Jana and I and added digital Friendly Plastic enhancements in the form of crowns!  Well, at  least it kept the crowds of onlookers happy wondering what these loony ladies were up to!

At Jen’s house the four of us spent a day and a half playing, getting to know each other, sharing ideas and generally having fun.  Jen had prepared so thoroughly that she was ready ahead of time for the influx of 24 ladies with creative intentions and loads and loads of food.  I have never been to a house so dedicated to creative play.  This is Jen’s play space upstairs, she also has a dedicated basement too.  Everywhere is full of her creations, and all her materials are soooo neatly organised.

Before everyone began arriving on Friday, the four of us went off for a spot of retail therapy and to collect some last minute supplies.  Here is Jana rummaging around in a fabulous little ribbon and button store in Niwot called The Berry Patch.  For those of you who are not from the US reading this, you might like to know that Jen’s house is north of Denver, not too far from Boulder in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  Anyway, the ribbon store had HUGE amounts of ribbons and other stuff:

This is just a tiny weeny selection of what they had to offer – thin ribbons, fancy ribbons, textured ribbons, patterned ribbons, silk ribbons, ribbons with dangly bits, over-the-top-in-your-face-ribbons, discrete ribbons, bling ribbons, buttons  of every size, shape and texture, and some amazing jewellery, the like of which I have never seen before.

We visited 6 stores in very quick succession, including a fabulous hardware store that stocked EVERYTHING under the sun (I am hardly exaggerating at all, promise!), two art stores, Hobby Lobby (infinitely better than Hobbycraft in the UK), and finally the supermarket to buy essential food stuff etc for the weekend.  Jen had allocated a list of stuff to everyone so this was my chance to go and buy some things for fondue dipping and a ten tons of loo roll.

Whilst at the fabulous hardware store, Jana showed me what Silpat was – it is a mesh of silicone strands in a regular woven pattern encased in clear silicone rubber.  It is very flexible and has a tacky non slip surface, and I think that the product comes from France so we should be able to source it here in the UK.  I will have to get on to that one.  I had never seen it before, but now that I have, I understand how Jana gets her lovely Fracture And Fusion cuffs to mould so beautifully.

We also found a heap of other useful things that I shall add to some later posts, as I am sure you don’t just want to hear about our shopping trips!

Back at Jen’s we had a crisis – we needed a whole heap of “stones” for the wire wrapping and bashing playshop, so Linda, Jana and I got stuck in and made 10 stones each to wrap.  Jana used her scraps for Fracture and Fusion, I recycled some of Linda’s big box of scraps and added metal flakes and Pearlex Powders, whilst Linda made some lovely faux stones using Friendly Plastic pellets.

Linda kindly coated them all in Envirotex Lite ready for the Playshop to begin.

Friday night was Fondue Night, and there was an excess of cheese and chocolate fondues, so no one went hungry.

Everything began on Saturday morning 8.45 sharp.  Besides the Friendly Plastic Playshops that Linda, Jana, Jen and I ran, there were fabulous sessions on Silver Art Clay, Polymer Clay (extruding and focal beads), wire bashing and wrapping, ribbons, Faux opals, water colour  painting, clever little Nicho boxes and sooooo much more.  I got to take the Silver Art Clay with Sherry and Peg’s polymer clay Focal Beads amongst other things, and if there is any time in my creative day that I can spare, then I would love to play with either of these, 2 hours was not enough. 

This was my first attempt at Silver Art Clay, and I used my Salizah Arabesque Cutter to make the shape, which created a bail at the same time.  I could add a bead to the little dip in the top section of the pendant.  A little note to Sherry – thank you for being such a lovely, thorough and patient teacher, you were great.

Peg had thoughtfully made some wonderful canes and slices of Polymer Clay for us to use, and she taught us how to create this “Lentil” shaped bead.  She then showed us how to make some fabulous long rectangular beads whose name I cannot now remember, but mine turned out to have a zebra’s backside on it!

I think the hardest part of all this was making the canes and Peg had done that for us.  Thank you Peg, you make the most wonderful beads.

My playshops revolved around Oooze, Lacework, Lizzie Dolls (as Linda christened them), and a “Whatever Trevor” session when I showed people whatever they particularly wanted to know about.

I have to confess that I was totally useless at remembering to get my camera out, as it was hectic and we were all having so much fun, so I apologise for the distinct lack of photos, but here is Becky from Amaco and Sherry the fabulous Silver Clay artist having a go at Oooze.

Now Jen’s house is large by UK standards, but fitting 24 women in so that they all have some creative space is pretty impressive, and although Jen has a capacious basement, last year things spread out on to her deck because they had such lovely weather.  This year, there was snow – 2″ of it.  In the UK that grinds everything to a halt, but not so in Colorado – people travelled 2 or 3 hours through freezing icy conditions from Nebraska and the other side of the mountains to get here by 8.45am on Saturday – pretty impressive and dedicated I think.  The picture below is of Jen’s deck, I thought the image of her sun lounger covered in snow epitomised the sudden change in the weather perfectly.

Days full of creativity interspersed with some madcap initiatives by Jen (the Naughty Hat, and some incredibly embarrassing quizzes – fine if you are plastered, but way, way outside any Brit’s comfort zone!), plenty of food, and so much friendship and good humour.  What a fabulous time we all had, and I cannot thank Jen and her cohorts of helpers enough for making this such a wonderful “2nd, but not annual” event.  Everyone went home with heads full of ideas and possibilities, and new found friendships.  A truly super event.

Linda, Jana, Jen and I had an extra day together, which we spent it in Estes Park (Higher up in the Rockies) ”Elk Hunting” which Rose thought was a euphemism for more shopping, but we truly did go looking for Elk, which by the way are ENORMOUS, much bigger than I was expecting.  Linda was loony enough to get up close and personal to a huge bull elk.

Linda eventually got so close that she could have touched him, but she took an incredible photo that no one else had the guts to take except with their cameras set on max zoom.  They can be dangerous beasties when they feel like it, but he was just lazing about having a snooze.  His harem was feeling a bit skittish, I think they had been spooked by a dog.

Weirdly, there was more snow on the ground lower down the mountains in Boulder than there was in Estes Park, as you can see from the photo below.

 Jen thought I was mad because I was busy photographing bits of interesting bark on some railings  instead of mountains and more Elk.

I tried some salt water Taffy from the Taffy Shop that Jen used to go to as a child.  I can’t say that I liked it very much, but it was good to try it out, now at least I know what it is.

After a bit of window shopping and some more photos of interesting textures, colours and shapes, it was time for me to get to the airport and head home.  The whole Starving Artists Playground event was a huge success, and I thoroughly enjoyed being part of it all. I made new friends, got inspired, tried things I had never tried before, lost a lot of sleep, gained a huge amount of stuff (see the picture below of some of the goodies that headed my way, this was a gift bag given to all participants, not my shopping.  I don’t think there would be a picture big enough to hold all of my shopping!), ate too much fondue, tried Taffy, and discovered a whole enclave of beautiful creative people who I would love to meet up with again in the future.  Thank you one and all.

What a lovely weekend I have just had.  Tintern Abbey near Chepstow in the Welsh borders was the venue for 2 days of Friendly Plastic creativity.  The weather was fantastic, the only time I have EVER been to Wales when it has not rained!  The Abbey glowed in the sunshine; nestling in a natural curve of the river with deeply wooded hills all around, it was a tranquil and inspirational surrounding in which to work.

10 delightful ladies arrived laden down with stuff to experiment with, plus cameras, sketch books and above all, enthusiasm.  Although the room was small, we still managed to squeeze everyone in, so we all got to know each other pretty quickly!  Adrienne Goodenough who is the Life Long Learning Manager for Cadw (Welsh version of English Heritage) organised everything, brought tea and coffee, lunches and way too much cake than was good for us.  Without Adrienne’s excellent organisation the weekend would not have happened, so I want to say a very big thank you to you Adrienne.

Louisa, Liz, Carolyn, Pauline, Adrienne, Annie, Shelagh, Wendy, Rose, Liz, and a space for Rachel who could only be with us on the Saturday.  On the table is a small selection of the creative endeavours of the group

We spent the first part of the morning wandering around the Abbey, taking in the atmosphere, admiring the stonework, sketching and recording ideas, shapes and textures that appealed.  Although for some, this was not their usual route in to their creative work, but everyone got something from the time spent looking, thinking and absorbing.

Back in our bijou room we got stuck in to learning techniques that could help to translate the textures and forms into Friendly Plastic.  Although the peg we hung the weekend on was jewellery, most people were looking to interpret their ideas in other ways!  Consequently we looked at a variety of ideas for developing the initial sampling of techniques – applying textured tiles to textiles, constructing book covers, incorporating in altered art projects, as well as jewellery.  The ability to take Friendly Plastic in almost any direction you choose is probably the most exciting aspect of the product.

We covered Impressions, Oooze, Lacework, foiling, colouring (alcohol inks and Pigment Powders, beads, Friendly Plastic Pellets, moulding, modelling, piecing, and goodness knows what else.)  It was an action packed weekend with everyone achieving a myriad of pieces to further wrk with.

In this example of work by Rose, filigree metal was used to Oooze through, and the textures and shapes are so reminiscent of some of the carvings and window shapes, as well as the lichen on the ancient stones.

These wonderful shapes created by Shelagh were inspired by the windows at Tintern, and are destined to be applied to fabric, stitched into and knocked back with sheer fabrics and paint (if I remember correctly)

Jewellery was on Louisa’s mind and she likes bold statement pieces and was taken with the idea of large cylinder beads wrapped with fabric.  She interpreted the pillars of the Abbey into mixed media and gave it a modern oriental twist.  The muted colours of the stonework are reflected in her choice of Flat Gold for the Friendly Plastic elements of the design.

Wendy was looking at textures and motifs at the Abbey, and interpreted them with stamps, lacework and Oooze.  I can’t remember where these were destined for Wendy, but I think you were planning on joining them together in some way.

Carolyn used a number of architectural stamps to create some lovely muted tiles that she plans to attach together with jump rings and then apply to fabric

Apologies, I can’t remember whose work this was, but it was lovely.  Various moulds from Krafty Lady were used as well as 3D Oooze to interpret the textures and carvings of the stonework, I think these were destined either for Altered Art and ATCs or jewellery, but as I can’t remember who made them all it is a bit presumptuous to assume anything!  (Rose has just told me that it is her work)

Liz (there were 3 Liz’s in the room) was also looking at textures and carvings (and the odd lizard!)  and she experimented with some Magic Glos as well.  It looked absolutely wonderful, but was not entirely in keeping with the soft, muted rough stonework of the Abbey.  However, it is a very good way of quickly sealing under a thick glossy coat your precious colours and textures of FP.  Liz planned to make a book cover with her tiles; Liz is in to books, she showed us a wonderful paper bag book that she had made – more inspiration for us all.

 One of the things I liked about Liz’s Ooozed piece (bottom second from the right, orange square), was that her experiments with Oooze had led her to “over Oooze” and the beaded effect blurred into one irregular area.  This was particularly appealing as it reminded me of carvings that were eroded and only partially visible.  Besides which she managed to use one of my least favourite colours of FP in such a way that I actually might consider buying some orange Mother of Pearl for the first time ever! 

If I carry on showing you everything that everyone made, then this post will become 6 miles long, and I have not got the time to do that today as I am trying to prepare for my trip to the States for Jen Lowes Starving Artists Playground (read Friendly Plastic and generally Creative Retreat) which is coming up shortly. So I will end this post by saying that although no one finished a particular piece of work, everyone became much more familiar with how to use Friendly Plastic and make it do what they want it to do.  Ultimately that was my aim for the course – to teach everyone some techniques appropriate to interpreting the inspirational surroundings of the Abbey so that they could master the material and begin to take it in their own direction;  make it truly work for them and their particular areas of interest.

I know I enjoyed every minute of the weekend (including some very idiosyncratic behaviour by my B&B hosts and their neighbours), but most of all I thoroughly enjoyed working with such a lively, entertaining, interesting and talented group of people.  I hope we can meet up again next year.

Don’t be shocked, I am about to sound rather American for a moment!   I Am VERY EXCITED about a new product that I have just managed to get my hands on – Lisa Pavelka’s Magic Glos is simply Brilliant.

Magic Glos is just that – MAGIC!  The little bottle squeezes out a slightly gellified gloss coating that flows, but is not runny, and it covers Friendly Plastic, Polymer Clay and other stuff BEAUTIFULLY.  It also works a treat in the Amate Jewellery range of bezels, blanks and trays. It is really simple to use, the only thing you need to have to hand is a little UV lamp – the sort that is used to cure UV gel nail finishes.  Instead of taking 24 hours to cure, it takes between 5 and 15 minutes under the UV lamp, so I can do this in a class – how good is that!

This one costs £4.99 on ebay, and there are loads of different brands of them out there, you can even get them at argos.  Not being the sort of girl that ever has her nails done,I was totally unaware of these little light boxes, but now I know, there is one installed in my studio just for curing Magic Glos.

In fact I am SO EXCITED that I am posting a couple of pictures of a quick sample I have done with Magic Glos; Please do not expect absolute neatness and professional finishing as I just could not wait to get this up and on the blog for you all to see.  In fact I will cringe if Lisa inspects this as I have made a pretty poor show of getting the Magic Glos to the edges, but that is just because I was too excited to be patient!

The Friendly Plastic underneath the Magic Glos is a mixture of Lacework, Oooze and added Accent Beads.  Sorry the colours are so muted, it was just what I had to hand when I got my bottle of Magic Glos to try out.

You can see from this picture just what a great high gloss protective coating this makes for your work.  There are two coats of Magic Glos on this piece.

The best bit of news is that I now have some Magic Glos in stock if you want it, although it will take me the rest of the afternoon to get it up on to the website!  It is £10 for a 1 fluid oz bottle which will go a long way, you will be able to coat a whole host of pieces with this little bottle, and the applicator nozzle of the bottle makes it really easy to use and you get virtually no bubbles at all.  If you want to source a cheap UV light, then go to ebay or Argos, or your local nail bar!

Phew.  OK, I am over the American bit now, although it was good practice to sound as enthusiastic as I feel, as I am off to Colorado soon to be a Playground Professor at Jen Lowe’s Starving Artists Playground where we will be full on Friendly Plastic for a few days.   Jen said that there is one place left on the weekend, and if you are interested she has posted something to the Friendly Plastic List telling you all about it.  I must say I am really looking forward to it.

But between now and then I am off to Tintern Abbey to teach a jewellery class inspired by the abbey ruins, and if I am not careful I will sound all American again, when I say that I am REALLY LOOKING FORWARD to it.  It will be great to meet up with other FP enthusiasts who have chosen to spend a weekend immersed in creative play.

Speaking of classes, I have another class coming up on November 21st at Sue Lancaster’s studio in Sheffield when I will be covering all the basics of FP in my Bend It Shape It class.  I will give more details about this in another post, but if you are interested, go and check out Stitched Up And Fleeced

Now I need to apologise to all you Americans who read this, I am only teasing about sounding American, it is just that we Brits, don’t do enthusiasm quite like you can, we may feel it inside, but we just don’t quite know how to express it like you do!

Are you ready for something a bit loud and In Your Face?  The jewellery in this post is definitely bold and a little out of the ordinary, but not so much that I wouldn’t wear them all (not all at once of course); but I might have to pick my days when I am feeling full of confidence and ready to face the world.  Not every day is a day like that, I definitely have days when all I want to do is hibernate.  Fortunately, today is not one of them!

I did warn you that I had some bolder jewellery to show you!

 The central bead in this piece is over 30mm in diameter, but it is as light as air.  That is because I used a cotton ball bead  as the core around which I have wrapped the Friendly Plastic.  The “drums” on either side are also large but light as they have a foam core.  These drum shaped beads are made using fabric applied to adhesive sheet and wrapping it around the foam core.  The Friendly Plastic decoration makes use of the lovely colours in the Rainbow FP sticks, and it is a simple matter to foil the edges to give that gilded look.

This time the drum beads are the central feature.  I found the lovely pom pom beads on a trip to South Africa, and the little blue donuts are made of rubber.  It is still a really light piece to wear, but it is not for the faint hearted.  I have not worked out a way of creating earrings to match the necklace that don’t seem ludicrously enormous as the pom poms only come in one size – BIG.

This is a much more modest affair, the colours are still bold and bright, but the scale is altogether more managable.  I have Mylene Hillman to thank for the inspiration for the hanging loop.

And now for something completely different (as Monty Python said).  This pendant measures about 57mm across and displays a combination of Friendly Plastic techniques including Beads On Strings (or wire in this case), wrapping, and 3D Oooze.  It really is a statement piece and not for the shy and retiring.

Friendly Plastic is wrapped around some bought beads, they are actually translucent deep purple so they look great as earring with the light behind them.  I have made a necklace to go with this which features these hybrid beads (bought bead, FP and wire), plus paper style FP beads.  Once again, this is a bold set, the beads shown above are roughly 37mm wide (1 1/2″ ), and you can see a bit of the necklace below.

Combining Friendly Plastic with other materials (bought beads as above) or found objects (drum beads – I found the insulation tubing that gives them their shape), wire or fabric, enhances the designs and compliments the Friendly Plastic, as well as making it go further.

This necklace and earring set features reclaimed chain from a charity shop find, little bells from sari braid, recycled beads, FP beads and fabric and FP beads.  The round beads are made using the Tri Bead Roller (the largest bead was made in the hand without the aid of the roller).  The cylinder beads combine fabric attached to adhesive sheet and Friendly Plastic moulded to make end caps.  The precise technique for this will have to wait for another post or a video short.

I hope these pieces of jewellery have inspired you to take a look at your stash of stuff and begin experiments of your own – exploring ways to combine FP with all those wonderful and weird things everyone has tucked away just because they might come in handy some day.  Today is that day.

Besides trying out the wonderful Amate jewellery blanks, I have been busy making some other jewellery in preparation for the weekend jewellery course I am running at Tintern Abbey, and to take with me to Colorado in October for a Friendly Plastic Retreat at Jen Lowe’s.

You might recognise the one on the left, I made the Friendly Plastic bit ages ago, but I have only just now got around to making it up in to jewellery.  The little scribble wire beads are made by wrapping silver wire around a kebab stick – I love the contrast of the open bead with the more solid FP  beads.

The pendant on the top right is a stamped image that I coloured up using acrylic paints and Rub n Buff, then set it in to an Amate blank and used Envirotex Lite resin to give it that high gloss finish and to add depth.

The pendant on the bottom right is made using sequin mesh (laser mesh / punchinella), net and my Oooze technique which you can see on a video slide show in an earlier post or on You Tube.

Sorry about the slightly fuzzy image.  This is a little piece of patchwork (double sided) that is a mixture of plain and patterned FP plus FP that I coloured using Alcohol Inks.  The edges have been foiled to give them a nice finish.

Another Amate Jewellery blank filled with FP (patterned with a permanent pen) and embedded with washers and crystals.  Again Envirotex Lite seals and gives depth to the piece.

This little pendant makes use of the Metal Flakes and Alcohol Inks to create the mottled strips.  Silk ribbon provides contrast to the hard materials used.

Whenever I make these little hearts everyone always says “Ooohh”!  They will turn out different every time when you try Ooozing with Angelina fibres.

Friendly Plastic Pellets, a leaf from the garden (can’t remember the name of it), Alcohol Inks and silver wire make up the key features of this pendant.

I will post some more images of  jewellery very soon, some of it is a bit bolder and funkier – so watch this space!

Well I have finally got around to making use of my experiments with alcohol ink that I showed you a few posts ago.  Below is one of the brightly coloured pieces of  Friendly Plastic I created by blowing Adirondak Alcohol Inks (Brights) all over the FP using a straw.

I have now managed to chop up the pieces of FP and insert them in to some of the lovely Amate jewellery blanks that I have in stock.  They are made of lead free pewter and they look and feel lovely.  They are just begging to be filled with interesting things to make stunning jewellery.  I won’t say that these are stunning, but they are a start. 

Some of the jewellery blanks are very deep and can take a lot of filling.  This offers wonderful opportunities to layer up with Envirotex Lite, trapping or drawing things on the different layers – it adds great depth, and of course a high gloss shine.  The effect is not easy to show using a photo, but it is quite lovely when seen in the flesh.  This ring developed a bubble which I failed to notice as I had to dash out for a few hours.  When I got back, the bubble was undeniably there, and the only thing to do was incorporate it in to the design.

The jewellery blanks can be very small,  or quite large.  The pendants below vary in size from 2cm (3/4″ ) square to 5cm (2″) tall which makes them great for showcasing some original art.  What about papers, photos, collage, found objects, fabrics etc?  I can think of loads of things to use them with, but I have not currently got the time to explore all the possibilities.  Perhaps you have a bright idea that you could like to try out.  The blanks are very nicely finished with a bright silver shine and a neat, smooth back, and I think they can be used to show off simple contemporary designs, or complex, busy steampunk type confections.

Below is a slightly fuzzy picture (sorry!) of one of the larger pendants which I will have on my web site shortly.  This blank is 5cm tall.

I currently have pendant trays, and bracelets in stock, but very shortly I will have rings, sets, and a wider variety of pendant trays for you to chose from.  Below are some of the bangle / bracelets that will be coming in.  Prices start at £2.45  So watch this space!

Last Friday night I didn’t know whether to feel totally inadequate, flattered, humble or terrified!  My good friend  Judith (member of Nolitex like me) had asked me to open an exhibition of textile art at Newark Millgate Museum for one of her textile groups called Cinnabar.  Give me a class of students any day of the week rather than a gallery full of folk who would much rather look at the beautiful art on the walls than listen to me waffle on.  It should have been easy, the work was wonderful, no need to fish around for things to say.  However, my mind disappeared into a corner of my brain and I felt acutely that I was not going to be able to string the right words together in the right order.  Fortunately, no one expected any thing other than a very short utterance, and it was all over before my knees knocked too loudly under my skirt.

The gallery is not a big one, but it is currently full of very lovely work.  Judith, Julie, Francine and Liz pulled out all the stops to create enough lovely pieces to fill the space and provide a variety of things to look at and buy.  The standard of workmanship is high, the patterns and colours are most appealing and there is a very pleasing combination of dying, hand stitching and machine stitching, contrasting styles, framed pieces, and 3D work to make the trip worth while.

Cinnabar presents “Bordering On The Middle” at Newark Millgate Museum 10am – 4pm until September 20th

Francine’s “Teasels” are cleverly stitched so that they appear almost 3D

Julies “Herb Borders” is one of 3 and has a wonderful touch of folk art to it.  The colours are joyful

Liz’s “Time For Tea” is very finely stitched in machine embroidery.  The flower is actually a cup  with the leaves acting as a saucer.

This section from Judith’s “On the Margin- Berry” is vibrant and understated all at once.

This is a detail of their Group Piece (a piece that everyone contributed to), and it was absolutely delightful.

This is another from Francine “Plovers Edge”, finely stitched and very serene.

If you haven’t been to the Millgate Museum, then now is a very good time to go.  It is completely free, the museum itself is full of Nottinghamshire life over the last few centuries, old machines, interesting equipment, everyday household implements and things, in fact all manner of things that tell the story of everyday folk in the last 100 years or so.  Immerse yourself in nostalgia and wander the floors of the museum, then emerge from past into a glorious art filled gallery  space devoted (until 20th September) to the work of four talented textile artists who make up the group Cinnabar.

My studio is such a tip at the moment that I can hardly move around in it.  I always seem to get to this desperate situation, and then the effort of tidying it all up is so monumental that I will do almost anything else to avoid making a start.  However, displacement activity has come to an end as my sister who is staying with me for a few days has offered to help me sort it out.

This is great news for the most part as she is a very organised person and I hope she will drag me back to the path of organised righteousness (or should that be the righteous path of organisedness?).  However, there is likely to be a down side to all this as she is also a very curious and creative person and I can see that we will be stopping to investigate every thing as we uncover all sorts of items she has never encountered before.  This may well lead to demonstrations, discussions, and further investigations before we can put the item away.  Exactly how much of the studio will end up tidied and organised is any ones guess, but we should have some fun doing it, and who knows what new ideas will spring up.

After my recent holiday in South Africa, I have acquired a lot of beads and things that I am itching to combine with Friendly Plastic and turn in to jewellery, and as my sister is an avid beader, I think my stash will require extensive exploration.

Despite some lengthy stints tidying up in the studio, I will have time to teach next week, and I will be in Derby at Gillian’s Crafts on Tuesday 11th August at 8 Royal Hotel Building, Victoria Street Derby, DE1 1EQ.  01332 332133.  There will be two 2 hour classes each costing only £10 which includes all materials.  In the morning we will be creating impressions in Friendly Plastic, and this is a great way to get to know FP if you are unfamiliar with the material.  It is simple, clean and really quick and easy to get great results.  The pieces you make will  be suitable for turning in to jewellery or adding to a card, or incorporating in your textile projects.

I used a feather to make the impression and added Rub n Buff to highlight the texture of the imprint

These little tiles were created using numerous household impliments to provide texture, and a splash of acrylic paint, or a smear of Rub n Buff metallic way enhances the patterns.

Old thick lace made this lovely knobbly texture.  The close up of the sample is on the left, and the right hand side of the image is the mount paper I created to mount up the piece by scanning in to the computer the FP sample and playing around with it in Photoshop to make a suitable background for the physical sample.

In the afternoon I will teach you all how to create lace in Friendly Plastic which is a wonderful technique to master as it not only makes your FP go further, gives it a wonderful texture and an organic look but it is also brilliant for stitching in to.  This makes it my top technique for using with textile projects as Lacework gives structure and decoration all at once. Because FP is so light it works wonderfully well with sheer fabrics.  But don’t stop there with the lacework, take the technique into your papercrafting and jewellery making, it is equally suitable for either.  Personally I use it for small jewellery items, textile projects, 3D items, costume and masks so you can see it is a very versatile method of working.

Come for the morning and learn how to create beautiful and subtle impressions of all manner of things, and stay for the afternoon to create your own lacework projects.    Places are strictly limited as I can only take a maximum of 10 people in each class.  Please call Gill at the shop to book a place.

If these short taster sessions take your fancy, but perhaps you are looking for something more in depth, then why not come to Tintern Abbey over the weekend of September 26th and 27th for a weekend of jewellery making with Friendly Plastic.  I have only one place left for the weekend, and the course costs £60.  There are plenty of B&Bs close by as well as some hotels, and there will be a dinner for everyone who wants to come on Saturday night at a local hostelry.  Check out my earlier posts on this subject and contact me if you are interested.

After a fabulous 2 week holiday in South Africa during which we experienced large amounts of rain, glorious sunshine that did not bake us to a cinder, winter storms, amazing and awe inspiring scenery, intriguing and beautiful flora, super friendly people, delicous food and wine and an assortment of curious animals (jackass penguins, a warthog, ostrich zebra, mongoose etc), we are home again.  We did not do a safari this time, but perhaps next time we will.  If you want good value for money, and an unforgettable holiday, go and visit South Africa; although you might want to put it off until after the Football World Cup which takes place there next year!

It is always depressing coming back to a ton of work, but hey, today is miserably wet and I am cracking through a load of office work.  Nothing creative on my part I am afraid.  However.  If you want to hear a little bit about Friendly Plastic, then go to Blogtalk Radio and listen to Jana Ewy make a special guest appearance on the Inspired At Home show. I missed the live show but got it as a podcast, but you can do Listen Again on the site as well.

If you are happy to stay up till 11pm tonight (UK time) then Linda Peterson and Jen Lowe are doing a special Friendly Plastic Radio show; I hope it goes well Girls!  I am going to be in bed, but I will get to listen again tomorrow.

Well what a weekend that was.  I now know where Horncastle is (deepest Lincolnshire, in case you did not know), and I also know just how hard the East Yorkshire Embroidery Society ladies can work.  I was invited to teach their summer school at Horncastle College which is a lovely venue about half an hour beyond Lincoln in the direction of the coast.

Arriving mid afternoon on Friday I discovered a peaceful and delightfully quiet college baking gently under the relentless summer sun.  Friendly staff pointed me in the right direction and I set up for a weekend of Friendly Plastic exploration and experimentation with 16 ladies who relish a challenge.

After a great meal we had a discussion and demonstration about some basic properties of Friendly Plastic and how to go about planning a major project using FP.  More than half of the ladies had not used it before (Virgins), but the others had all been on a day class with me (Veterans) and should have know better than to commit themselves to a whole weekend of working with me!

The heat and the odd glass of wine sent us to our beds in good time to be up and ready for a full day on Saturday.  The college provided us with a full English breakfast in which we all indulged.  By 9.30am we were away; the FP Virgins were taking their first steps into using the medium as we whizzed through some basic techniques.  The Veterans were already planning and sampling their projects.  The basis for the day was Lacework because it is the perfect technique for combining with fabric and stitch.

Pam and Leila (Veterans) planning and sampling and digesting breakfast

Boxes, vases, bowls and bags were the focus for the Veterans, with the Virgins experimenting and sampling until they felt ready to begin their own projects.

You can see that Pam (Veteran) really got stuck in and created a beautiful vase which she intends to line with fabric and stitch.  Pam also was working on her own textile project for which she wanted some Friendly Plastic to add excitement.  I can’t wait to see the finished volcano vessel Pam.

Ruth and Anne hard at work.

Ruth (Veteran) created a beautiful lacework tissue box cover and decorated a scarf with Friendly Plastic beads.

Ann(Veteran) made a cufflink box and was well on the way to making a bag as well.  Below is the design  for her bag.

Dorothy (Veteran) created a beautiful bowl and stitched quietly away becoming the first person to complete a project (not that it was a race!)

Heather (Veteran) produced so much that it was hard to fit it all into one photograph.  Heather had her eyes set on making miniature books.

Leila (Veteran) and Caroline (Virgin) created beautiful delicate boxes with exquisite lacework framing fabric panels for the sides.

Diane (Virgin), got the hang of FP really quickly and created an array of wonderful stuff including a mask and a box.

Brenda (Virgin) enjoyed experimenting with the techniques she learnt on Saturday morning, and soon started coming up with her own ideas.

Maureen went to town covering some Presentation Albums using her experiments and the jigsaw cutter

Marion (Virgin) was very busy creating toppers for cards for her craft sale to raise money for MacMillan and Marie Curie charities.

Marjorie (Vetgin –  not quite Virgin, but not a Veteran either – saw my demo when I came to talk to the EYES group a year ago and went straight home to have a go herself) utilised her pieces of lacework that she had already made and included them in a beautiful bowl.

Margaret (Virgin) discovered the joys of making jewellery using Friendly Plastic, no doubt when she got home another ten pairs of earrings were ready for wearing!

Botty AKA Betty (Virgin) was in complete heaven making pieces to use in her card making projects.

Maggie (Virgin despite being a voyeur at the day school!) took on board all the techniques we covered in the first morning and then set about using her pieces in her own unique style – trapping and stitching her shapes using sheer fabrics.

Shirley (Virgin) immediately saw how Friendly Plastic could be made to suit her own way of working and set about creating this lovely little hanging based on landscapes – truly a miniature work of art.

We covered different methods of heating Friendly Plastic using hot water and the heat gun as well as using the soldering iron.  I demonstrated using alcohol inks, foils and other colouring ideas.  Everyone learnt how to create Lacework, Oooze, join things together, make beads on strings, laminate fabric to Friendly Plastic, attach jewellery findings and much, much more.

Despite frequent and delicious breaks for home cooked food supplied so ably by the cooks at Horncastle College, and the odd glass of wine of course, everyone survived the heat and worked incredibly hard until late in the evening on Saturday and started early again on Sunday.  By the time 3 o’clock  came, as you can see, everyone had plenty to show for their weekend’s work: some had finished, or near finished boxes, bowls or vessels, others had a plethora of pieces ready to be used in their own projects; but hopefully everyone had a head full of possibilities and a mind full of happy memories of the weekend.

Thank you Ladies of E.Y.E.S. for a wonderful weekend of hard work, good food, and great company.  Don’t forget to send me photos of your finished pieces and I will add them to the gallery on my website.

Adirondack Alcohol Inks (Brights and originals) are here; fabulous vibrant permanent colours that can be applied to the surface of your Friendly Plastic, or used to colour Friendly Plastic Pellets.  In fact you can use them with any non porous surface.  A tiny amount goes a long, long way.  Apply the colour any way you like – with a brush, drop it on, or use the purpose designed applicator tool to pat it on for interesting mixes.  For the image above I simply dropped colour on and used a straw to blow the colour about.  The circles are created by dropping one colour into another.  If you use the Blending Solution as well, you can dilute the colours and achieve wonderful subtle effects.  I use Isopropyl alcohol (available from the chemist)  as well sometimes, to push the colour away.

I have got in stock lots of colours all available singly, including the Mixatives (Gold, Silver, Copper, Pearl) which are great for adding a metallic sparkle to the inks.

All of these samples were created on Silver FP using alcohol inks.  This one made use of a straw to create abstract effects.  Great fun, but sometimes a little unpredictable, especially when you run out of puff in all the heat we are having here in the UK at the moment.

I messed about with a Clay Shaper tool to create the lines in the background, and the dots are made using a Sakura Souffle pen.

As yet I have not done anything with these samples because I have been too busy with other things, but I will get there.  In fact  I have a whole heap of things I want to tell you about, but they will have to wait until after the weekend.

 The new stuff does not end with the Alcohol Inks, I have Laser Meshtoo.  Incredible value for money packs of what we have always called Sequin Waste or Punchinella.  They are only £1.95 for an assorted pack of different shapes and sizes of holes (where the sequins have been punched out) and they come in lovely co-ordinated packs.

If you check out the website you will find more stuff that is new including colour co-ordinated tags, buttons and cords.  All sorts of stuff for working with and embellishing your Friendly Plastic.

I am off to teach Filigree Forms this weekend at Horncastle College for the East Yorkshire Embroidery Society’s Summer School, so I won’t dilly and dally chatting further now.  I will try and post next week to let you know how it all went and what wonderful stuff they all created (and they all will create wonderful stuff, I have my whip ready!)