A Bit On The Bold Side

September 2, 2009

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.

Post navigation

← Just Jewellery

Glossing Over The Facts →