Moorcroft Cards

Now for something completely different to Friendly Plastic.  If you haven't seen the Moorcroft Cards which I sell on my website they are certainly worth a look.  The quality of the cards is superb and they are great for keeping as spare cards at home - they are blank inside so they cover all occasions.  There is also a range of Christmas cards - these do have a message inside.  I have just received the brand new release of cards which are now available.  This is the set of 8 cards which are available either individually or as a set of 8.

Set of 8 Moorcroft Cards 2011 release

More cubes in Friendly Plastic

2 more cube ideas with Friendly Plastic.  Both of these have been made with the Friendly Plastic Pellets.  On the one on the left we have used the Karantha Silicone mould and then coloured with the Multi-surface Paint.  The one on the right has been made to size using the metal cutters.  The texture comes from pushing in plastic canvas and leaving it in and the again using the Multi Surface Paints.  If you need to know how to make cubes go to the Video Label (bottom right), click on it and view the video titled Fusing & Layering Friendly Plastic.  These are some of the new items which will be on display at the exhibitions in the Autumn.
By the way I have now added 5 more colours of Multi-Surface Paints because I have had such a good reaction to them.   The new colours are: White, Russet Red, Emerald Green, Royal Purple and Mid Blue.

Friendly Plastic Pellets

The good news is that there is a price reduction on the Friendly Plastic Pellets - together with new sized packets - 50gms, 100 gms and 200 gms.  This is effective immediately.  Friendly Plastic Pellets are brilliant for moulding with (see the previous post with the bowl) and because you colour them yourself  you are not restricted to set colours, and can mix the colours as you want.

This piece is about 2" in size and the pellets were heated (you can do them easily in hot water).  They were then rolled flat between 2 Teflon sheets and rubberstamped.  When cold they were painted with Colourful Thoughts Multi-Surface Paints using Peacock and Copper.  These paints can also be used on scrap plastic and on the black backing of the strips.  They are quite dense in colour and have a very good coverage.

These pieces are coloured using Alcohol Inks.  You can add the ink to the warm plastic and mix it in and you almost get a matt stone effect.  If you colour the Pellets when they go cold (this is the more popular method) you get more of a gleam with the colour.

This piece is part of a card embellishment, actually done some time ago.  Again it is made of pellets, rubber stamped and coloured with the Alcohol Inks.   When it had been coloured it was then reheated and foil laid lightly on the top, allowed to cool, and then removed.  This just adds a bit of 'glitz' and is a nice technique for jewellery pieces.

Bowl made with Friendly Plastic Pellets

Whilst this bowl was made a couple of weeks ago we have only just had chance to colour it!  It is approx 6" in diameter and as a guideline used about 100 gms of Friendly Plastic Pellets - though we did make it quite thick and the pellets could be rolled thinner.

The pellets were melted in hot water and rolled flat on the Teflon (with a teflon sheet over the top).  We deliberately left the ones around the top of the bowl only partly heated to give a 'bobbled' effect.  The piece was pressed into a large cereal bowl and then rubber stamped to give the texture.  When it was cold it was then coloured with Multi Surface Paints in 2 colours - Peacock and Copper.

Hope you like it!!

Butterfly Mask

Last week I promised to let you know how we had created the mask which I put onto the blog.  So here is what we used.

Firstly we gathered together some of Friendly Plastic Scraps and heated them all on the Teflon Sheet and then rolled them flat.  Do not worry about the colours, or if  black is showing through as the paints will totally cover the Friendly Plastic.

We painted the mask with Colourful Thoughts Multi-Surface Paint (Copper).  The paint goes straight onto the mask - unlike when using the Alcohol Inks when the mask has to be primed first.

We then heated some of the scrap plastic onto the mask and used a rubber stamp to create the relief in the Friendly Plastic.

Lastly the mask was finished by painting over the Friendly Plastic with the paint using both Copper and Peacock.  The Butterflies were added (these had been made using the Butterfly Cutters (set of 3).

(I will be adding the paints to the web-site today/tomorrow).

Who would think this was from waste Friendly Plastic?

No3 Patchwork with Friendly Plastic

In this video you can learn how to make patchwork in Friendly Plastic.  This is a very good technique for making jewellery pieces.  The photos show examples from the video.

Butterfly Mask

This is a new mask which we have done for Doncaster this weekend - using some new products which are not yet on the web-site.  We have used some scrap Friendly Plastic (all those little tiny bits).  Full details will be revealed next week.

Charlotte & Friendly Plastic

On Saturday we had a visit at the shop from my Stepson with his daughter, Charlotte.  Quite often when she comes to the shop I am at an exhibition or my Friendly Plastic is boxed ready for a show.  So, she has never seen Friendly Plastic before.  She had a look on the computer at the videos we have just done as was obviously interested. 

            

I asked her if she wanted a go and there was no hesitation.   Having only seen the video she firstly used the marbling comb and we made that into a pendant.  She had her eyes on one of the abstracts and wanted to try that.  Here is her abstract (she then persuaded her Grandad to frame it!).  We all think it is brilliant for only a 2nd attempt (she did all the layout herself).  But, we do have a dispute on which way to hang it so I have shown it both ways up.  After that came a brooch and then another pendant!  Needless to say she went away with an early birthday present!

Summer Crafting - Doncaster

I am now on serious countdown for the Doncaster show at the end of this week (16th and 17th July).  Where does the time go?  It looks as if it will be a very busy show so I hope to see some of you there.  There is one more in video in the pipeline before Doncaster - I just have to edit it and load it.  Must try and get the music running better this time!

Friendly Plastic Images from No 2 Video

 Here are some of the images from the No 2 Video (Fusing and Layering Friendly Plastic)

                             

No 2 Fusing & Layering Friendly Plastic Video

After last week's failed attempt I think we have better success this time.  So here is our 2nd video.  As the title suggests it shows you how to fuse and join Friendly Plastic.  It also demonstrates how to make boxes in Friendly Plastic and to use them for unusual Christmas Decorations.  Also, we have music this time - albeit a little stilted - I will try to crack that for the 3rd video.

Video No 2 - Friendly Plastic

If you have seen video no 2 (joining and layering Friendly Plastic) and wondering where it has gone, I have had to delete it temporarily.  Only part of the video uploaded and the important bits were missing.  You must have thought I had gone mad!  Keep watching this space and it should reappear (properly I hope) by the end of this week.