Medieval Jewellery In Modern Materials (Friendly Plastic) – The Results

April 19, 2014

 

 

 

 

Rufford Craft Centre in Rufford Park is the ideal setting for this class; the ancient ruins of the abbey were the backdrop to the Medieval themed Friendly Plastic class.  This was my first class at Rufford, and I found the workroom more than adequate – plenty of space and light.  This was also the first time I had taught this particular class, and it was the first time that I met all the ladies who came.  Firsts all round, as for most of the ladies it was their first Friendly Plastic class too.

Glass cabochons and Friendly Plastic trap a photocopy of a medieval manuscript.

We had a ball.  Starting off with a little ring just to get everyone going, as most people had never used Friendly Plastic before.  We then went on to the necklace using glass cabochons and Medieval manuscripts that I had printed out for us to use.  Friendly Plastic wraps around the edges of the glass cabochon to seal in the paper.

Medieval jewellery is full of texture, and we explored using Easymold to create texture mats by mixing the two parts together and pressing the resultant putty onto something with texture – bark, conifer leaves, rubber texturemats etc.  The resultant mould mat provided great texture and pattern for a Friendly Plastic pendant.  Transfer foils, acrylic paint, mica powders and Gleams enhanced the look.

Textured using moulds made from Easymold putty, coloured with Mica Powders and Gleams

Some people chose the natural texture of bark, whilst others went for the decorative texture mats.  Below is texture created using a Lisa Pavelka texture mat.

 

 

This pendant was made using the Easymold reverse texture taken from a Lisa Pavelka texture mat.

Our final project involved Friendly Plastic Pellets, pearls, Transfer Foils, Mica Powders and our own cabochon moulds made using Easymold formed over a dome of Friendly Plastic. The bail we made using a Tubead made from Friendly Plastic.

There was a lot to fit in during the day, and I will modify the class slightly to ease the pace at which we need to get through all 4 projects.  Everyone finished at least 3 and in many cases all 4 projects including varnishing most of them with Duraclear.

Next year, I am keen to hold a 2 day event for all dedicated Friendly Plastic folk and we will have the extremely talented Barbara Lees and Karin Schmidt over from Denmark to teach one of the classes. The plan is to run two classes each day, and everyone will get to do both classes.  If you are interested in this idea, then please email me or leave a comment and I will put you on the list to be contacted first as soon as we have the plans finalised.  The likely timing is the end of May 2015.  There are some good places to stay not too far away, and Rufford Park is a lovely place to stroll around – sculptures in the garden, ducks and swans on the lake and rabbits etc in the park.

 

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