Crock Pots

Just had some hot news from Kim Main who discovered a Home-tek hot pot on eBay for hardly any money at all.  It can be found as “Home Tek Stainless Steel Hot Pot (model HT335 )

This is the pot I use for warming and softening my Friendly Plastic ( at least for smaller items). it has a thermostatic control and a keep warm feature.  You do not have to have the lid on it for it to stay at the right temperature.   In fact I have absolutely no idea where the lid is now, because the device has never even seen my kitchen and has only ever cooked Friendly Plastic.   the pot itself comes away from the base for easy washing (not sure what “washing” is, but it does make it very easy to refill with water!)

If you can’t find another on eBay then try this place:  http://www.less4u2pay.co.uk/Home_Tek_Stainless_Steel_Hot_Pot_Slow_Cooker_qp_377–cpgn-1.html  where it is on sale (clearance) for £15 instead of £40.

If you want to see one in action then watch the Friendly Plastic show on Create and Craft on Thursday 25th august at 1pm.

Autumn 2011 Classes in Friendly Plastic

Here is the list of classes that I can offer you for the Autumn. Perhaps I will get to meet you there.

All classes, with the exception of the Caernarfon class can be booked directly with the venue.  Prices vary depending on the venue.  Class sizes are not large, so places are limited, but you do get lots of attention!

 

11th September

Friendly Plastic for beads and jewellery

A day of discovering how to turn Friendly Plastic into unique pieces of jewellery – a mixture of projects and techniques. How to attach findings without glue, making your own closures etc.  All set in the fabulous Aladin’s Cave that is Bojangle Beads.  Come prepared to be beguiled by all the lovely beads.

Bojangle Beads, Loughborough 

01509 211974  www.bojanglebeads.co.uk

24th & 25th September  

Friendly Plastic at Caernarfon Castle 

Friendly Plastic and Mixed Media – how to work Friendly Plastic with a wide range of materials including textiles.  Applications for jewellery and papercrafting. This is a two-day workshop in the castle itself and a fabulous chance to really get to grips with this fascinating modelling medium. Please see the post on 6th August.

Contact me via email for more information and a booking form. lizwelch@rarebird.ltd.uk    0115 9336182

6th October  

Boundless Beads 

The first of two day classes, discover some of the very many ways to make Friendly Plastic into fabulous feature beads – regular and irregular shapes, Tubeads, focal beads, crumpled beads, and simply glorious dangles and baubles.

Coles Sewing Centre, Nottingham  www.husqvarnastudio.co.uk  0115 9881551

7th October 

Just Jewellery 

Loads of techniques for making jewellery with Friendly Plastic, how to attach findings without glue, making your own closures etc.  How to deal with the backs of pendants, using transfer foils and more, much more!  Can be taken with the previous day or on its own.

Coles Sewing Centre, Nottingham  www.husqvarnastudio.co.uk  0115 9881551

7th December  

Little Book Of Secrets 

As shown by me  on Create and Craft TV.  A charming little folded book with Friendly Plastic covers, and closure.  This makes a delightful gift to give or keep for yourself.  Make it big or small, turn it into jewellery, or fill it with your secrets and treasures.

Coles Sewing Centre, Nottingham  www.husqvarnastudio.co.uk  0115 9881551

For those of you who are wondering about Coles Sewing Centre – it used to be called The Husqvarna Studio, they have just changed the name.  Same great venue with lift, great sandwiches and friendly staff.

Rarelizzie on Twitter

I have succumbed!  I can now be found on Twitter and Facebook.  Not that I am very good at either right now, but perhaps I will improve with time!

My twitter profile is Rarelizzie

Follow this link to my Rare Bird Facebook Page

Both can be found, linked to and followed using links on this page.

I would love to connect with any of you who also use these networking formats, I really don’t want to be a Billy No Mates out there!  Besides which, I need to know who to follow so I can keep up with what everyone else is doing – Please help me, I am an innocent when it comes to all this.  Well, maybe not quite an innocent, but definitely not a pro.  So tell me what you use Twitter or Facebook for and enlighten me with your wisdom.

Friendly Plastic Weekend at Caernarfon Castle

Following on from the last two years of weekend classes in historic Welsh buildings (Tintern Abbey and Cheptstow Castle), I am delighted to be able to let you know about another Friendly Plastic  course I am running in September at Caernarfon Castle.  As usual places are limited.  The last two years have been great fun, immersing ourselves in all things Friendly Plastic, but also absorbing the fantastic surroundings of the historic building, laughing a lot, socialising and eating good grub on Saturday evening, and generally exploring and sharing a passion for Friendly Plastic.

Friendly Plastic Mixed Media, Textiles and Textures

at Caernarfon Castle – 2 Day Course

A voyage of discovery combining Friendly Plastic with all manner of other things using the fabulous 14th Century Caernarfon Castle itself as inspiration.  24th and 25th September 2011.

This is a two day workshop, using the magnificent historical setting of Caernarfon Castle as inspiration for creating unique designs in Friendly Plastic. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere and beautiful surroundings of the castle at the confluence of the Seoint river and the Menai Strait . Apply your Friendly Plastic skills to discovering techniques for integrating textiles, fibres and other media into your work. We will be working in a room inside a tower in the castle itself. Please note that this venue is NOT suitable for disabled students.

What We Will Do

Day One is about inspiration and learning techniques appropriate to mixed media and textile projects. This will include some old favourites such as Oooze, Lacework, and embedding, but we will also explore laminating, colouring and texturing, making buttons and adornments and fastenings. For those who have a project in mind, we can also spend some time planning and considering how best to tackle the issue. For those that don’t, then experimentation will be the focus on both days. Friendly Plastic can resemble so many different things, and learning how to do that will give you the control to make it really work for you in whatever project you have in mind.

Day Two is about your own creations and what you want to do – I will guide you on an individual basis through projects that you specifically want to create, and I will also help you explore and discover more ways of working with FP allowing you to take it in your own direction.

Although this course is about mixed media and textile applications for Friendly Plastic, many aspects of what we do will be of benefit to people who wish to work in other ways (papercrafting or jewellery etc).

Class times are from  10am to 4pm  each day.

Aims

My aim is to teach you how to introduce other materials into your Friendly Plastic projects, and how to introduce Friendly Plastic into your mixed media and textile projects. I want to inspire you to try out your own ideas,, and encourage you to explore techniques you have never tried before, hopefully giving you the confidence to push your boundaries using Friendly Plastic.

Who Is This Course Suitable For?

This course is suited to beginners and old hands alike. However it would be helpful to familiarise yourself with Friendly Plastic, it’s basic properties and some simple techniques before the course in order to get the most out of the two days. Check out my DVD Bend It Shape It for more in depth knowledge.

The Cost

Only £65 for two full days of tuition. Unless you live locally you will need to book accommodation, but there are plenty of B&Bs and small hotels in and around Caernarfon (the information I will send you if you want to enquire about the course lists some places to try)

For more information or clarification. or to book a place, please email me on lizwelch@rarebird.ltd.uk

I can’t wait for this course, it is such a rare opportunity to revel in my passion for FP and my desire to share knowledge with everyone who wants it.

My thanks to Adrienne Goodenough who is the Lifelong Learning manager for Cadwr (the Welsh National Heritage organisation), she is the wonderful person who sets up the rooms in such fabulous locations, her contribution to the course is essential to not only the low cost of the weekend, but also the smooth running of the event.

Playing with Pellets Part 2

If you don’t always want metallic bling in your jewellery, then Friendly Plastic Pellets are the way to go.  You add the colour in whatever form you like – Mica Powders, Alcohol Inks, Gilding Flake, Pigment Powders, etc.  colour can be added after the Pellets have been warmed and shaped, moulded or stamped, by painting it on to the surface.  If you want colour all the way through then add it whilst the plastic is still warm and malleable and knead it in, re-heating as necessary.

Below are a couple of examples of Friendly Plastic Pellet jewellery made using the polymer clay milliefiore technique.  Roll out canes of colour, then assemble them together by heating briefly so they will stick to each other.  Heat the whole cane in hot water and roll to achieve a smooth outer edge.  Cool completely then slice using a very sturdy knife (eg a Stanely knife); this can be a tough thing to do, so I suggest making a narrow cane but cut larger chunks from it, and then heat each chunk in hot water and roll out to the desired size and thickness.

I distorted the discs and then threaded them with assorted bought beads.  The necklace was finished  with organza ribbon.

You can see the detail in the pattern and the irregularity of the discs contrasts well with the very regular bought beads.

The cane for this was a very simple 2 colour 4 cane roll which I foiled on the outside before slicing and rolling as above.  The discs in this case are thin and small enough for earrings and the gold edge to each disc comes from the foiling process.

Finally, this little kilt pin has drops of bought beads with Friendly Plastic Pellet beads on the end.  The beads are made directly onto the head pins which makes for easy assembly.  Twists of two coloured canes of Pellets were wound around to form little knot beads, whilst others were rolled.  The two elongated beads were coloured with mica powders and glitter.

The plan is to show a bit more about Friendly Plastic Pellets in the August Create and Craft show (25th at 1pm), but also something new to C&C, but I won’t tell you what just yet!

I am teaching a Friendly Plastic Class at Bojangle Beads in Loughborough on Sunday, so I must go and get sorted for that now.  Have a great weekend, and I will be back with promised news of a 2 day course in a castle.

Playing with Pellets

I wanted to share with you the Jewellery I made for the last Create and Craft Friendly Plastic show.  Because we sold out of Friendly Plastic Pellets before the end of the show, they did not repeat it during the wee small hours.  Therefore I thought you might like to get a second chance to see some of the items from the show.

I had a ball with Leonie, she is so easy to be with, but perhaps that is because I have known her for donkey’s years.  The fact that she still looks 12 years old 14 years down the line is definitely galling, because I can’t say that I have weathered nearly as well!

Enough chat, here are the items from the show including the sample boards that I managed to leave at home – duh! This is what Friendly Plastic Pellets look like before they are softened.  Chuck them into hot water at 60 – 70 deg C and watch them go through a frogspawn stage until they become clear.  Swirl them up on the end of a needle tool and start playing.

Here are the boards that show what they look like when the Pellets have been coloured with different mediums.

Friendly Plastic Pellets coloured with Mica Powders in various amounts – creates tones.

Pellets coloured with Mica Powders and glitter – the colour of the glitter can really affect the overall colour.

Pellets coloured with glitter only.  The squiggles are lines of glue sprinkled with glitter.

Gilding Flake with and without Mica Powders has been used to colour the Pellets on this board

Mica Powders were used to colour the Pellets, but Rub On transfers have been applied over the top for some intricate patterning.

The mauve beads are made by wrapping a thin layer of coloured pellets (in this case with the inclusion of micro beads) over a base bead of recycled Friendly Plastic.  I added a strip of the same coloured sheet around navy Friendly Plastic beads.

The necklace below is made using irregular beads of Friendly Plastic Pellets coloured with Mica Powders and edged with transfer foils.

The same technique has been used to create the bracelet below but this time I used sticks of friendly Plastic (Red Print) which I coloured on the reverse with gold transfer foils and edged with copper transfer foil before warming, and twisting them up into the random folds you can see.

This is the same technique  without so much bling and using the scraps left over from making the colour sample boards above.

I think I will save the rest of the pieces for another post, or this one will be 10ft long and take ages to load.

I do have a date for the next Friendly Plastic Create and Craft show if you want to tentatively put it in your diaries – 25th August at 1pm. But I have some news of a 2 day Friendly Plastic course coming up in my next post – another in what has become a series of annual classes in amazing historic castles and abbeys.  So keep an eye out if you think you might be interested as places are limited.

Love Hearts

Last Wednesday I spent the day with some very lovely ladies making Love Hearts with Friendly Plastic at the Husqvarna Studio in Nottingham. We had a great time and everyone went home with a number of finished and almost finished pieces of work. Two of the pendants were complete with ribbons and fastenings using my quick and easy method of making closures using Friendly Plastic. The other two pendants were left to be hung onto chains at home.  We covered Lacework, Ooozing, Cloud Clay, making and using bails, inserting head pins, and using brass rings to frame the work.  Both heat gun and hot water were employed to heat and soften the Friendly Plastic, and we even tried using a dry griddle as well.

As you can see, we departed from heart shapes for two of the projects.  The first of these (on the left) was a two-sided Lacework pendant with a ribbon bail, slide closure and Friendly Plastic beads.  The right hand pendant used brass rings to create neat frames for a two-sided pendant with a metal bail inserted between the layers.  The closure is a Friendly Plastic toggle and loop clasp.  Jeannie made these lovely examples.

Pam’s brass ring framed pendant was was really simple to make, but so very effective in the result.

Wendy made this fabulous heart pendant using Cloud Clay as the base, which she covered with Friendly  Plastic and stamped into.  the colours were blended to gether with Gleams metallic wax.

I got a little confused over the order in which I took the photos so I apologise if I attribute this wrongly, but I think it was either  Emelia or Gail who created this lovely heart over a Cloud Clay base.

It was great fun working with you all, and I am still bowled over by the fact that Pam travelled all the way from the South Coast to Nottingham (she got up at 4.30am!!!) for the class – a 5 hour train journey.  Pam, I do worry about your sanity!

On another note completely, Tomorrow (Monday 25th July) at 5pm I will be introducing Create and Craft viewers to the delights of Friendly Plastic Pellets, how to use them and what to colour them with. I do hope you can join me.