A Friendly Plastic Challenge

We welcome guest blogger Helen Bradley who has news about a Friendly Plastic challenge and helpful information for working with Friendly Plastic.

Hello…

I’m pleased to announce that AMACO is celebrating its 90^th birthday in 2009 and it is having a Friendly Plastic Challenge to coincide with this.

All crafters are invited to join in the challenge and to make projects using the very wonderful Friendly Plastic Design Sticks. Friendly Plastic is an inexpensive, colorful and easy-to-use plastic material which can be molded into shapes and it softens in hot water so it’s a great crafting medium for kids.

The project categories for the challenge include a Best Focal Bead which must be made using one of the AMACO bead rollers, Best Valentine’s Jewelry Ensemble, Best Butterfly – the butterflies will be donated to the Holocaust Museum Houston and Best Bottle of Hope. There are specific requirements for each of these categories and the pieces will need to be submitted by the December 1 to AMACO. You can find more information about the Challenge by clicking on this link: Friendly Plastic Challenge. There is also an entry form that needs to be filled in and submitted with your challenge entry.

If you’ve never played with Friend Plastic before you are in for a treat. Here is a step by step for making a butterfly for the challenge and some quick tips for working with it:

Step 1

To get started with the Friendly Plastic, cut it into pieces or punch it with a robust hole punch. We find that the Tim Holtz micro serrated scissors made by Tonic work particularly well with Friendly Plastic. To create a marbleized effect for your butterfly, cut a series of long strips of Friendly Plastic.

Line up your cut pieces of Friendly Plastic.

Step 2

While you can soften the Friendly Plastic in hot water, an embossing Heat Gun works particularly well. Using the heat gun heat one of the cut strips of Friendly Plastic until you can see it starting to melt. Push the edge of the second strip into the softened edge of the melted strip and continue softening the plastic and pressing strips together. If you melt and press the pieces together you ensure you do not have spaces between the strips.

Step 3

To create the marbleized effect, take a marbling comb or something similar and starting beyond the edge of the molten plastic drag through the plastic across the stripes, all the from one side to the other.

Step 4

Ensuring that the plastic is still warm and very soft, start at the opposite side and place the marbling comb in between the drag lines you just made and this time drag back the other way. Make sure to start the movement with the comb well before you touch the Friendly Plastic and drag through the entire plastic layer, not just its surface.

Once cooled add dots of metallic paint.

Step 5

When the marbling is complete, allow the plastic to cool and then use the marbled pieces for your project.

To make our butterfly we punched out some small circles of Friendly Plastic and placed them on the marbled piece and heated it to melt the pieces together. To make the butterfly, take a butterfly shape cookie cutter and dip it into a bowl of warm water that has some cooking oil in it. Press it into the soft Friendly Plastic to cut out a butterfly shape – the oil will prevent the plastic from sticking to the cutter.

Butterfly

Tips for using rubber stamps

Friendly Plastic can be stamped using a rubber stamp. Take care to press the rubber stamp into the Friendly Plastic and leave it until the plastic cools and sets. If you remove the rubberstamp from the Friendly Plastic too quickly it will stick to the rubber stamp. Don’t use acrylic stamps with the Friendly Plastic.

Tips for working with art molds

Heat resistant art molds that have a built in release mechanism such as those from Krafty Lady Art Molds (www.kraftylady.com) work will with Friendly Plastic. Push pieces of the Friendly Plastic into the art mold and heat them to soften them. Continue to press Friendly Plastic into the mold taking care to heat the plastic enough that it softens and you can press it into the mold but not so much you burn yourself.

Tips for working with Bead Rollers

Coat the channel of the bead roller with some cooling oil (we use olive oil) so the Friendly plastic won’t stick. Soften the amount of Friendly Plastic required to fill the channel and roll the bead. To make a hole in the bead, heat a metal pin, coat it in olive oil and poke it through the bead. Leave it in place until the Friendly Plastic cools and then twist it and remove it.

Our guest blogger, Jana Ewy shares her insight on the tools she uses for her wonderful designs…Welcome Jana!

Here are a few of my favorite Friendly Plastic tools.

For Cutting: quilters cutting mat, quilters clear acrylic ruler, a mat knife (or utility knife) and a pair of scissors.   Since I use small strips of plastic in most of my designs, using the ruler, mat knife and cutting mat, allows me to measure and cut perfectly straight strips. Since I am a bit of a perfectionist, I prefer this process better than hoping for a straight cut with my scissors. Once my strips are cut, I will use the scissor to cut them into smaller pieces.

For cutting any other shapes, that do not require a perfectly straight cut, I use my scissors.  Friendly plastic can be cut into just about any shape using scissors. I will trace my pattern onto the back of the plastic and then cut it out. If you notice from the photo I prefer a scissor that is easy on the hands.

For Heating and Softening: griddle, nonstick baking sheet and a heat gun.  I came up with the griddle method of heating and softening the plastic a few years ago. This process has opened the door to so many new techniques and has allowed me to design in a whole new way. I never loose my excitement and fascination of watching a design happen. By placing a non-stick baking sheet onto the griddle and keeping the temperature at a constant setting of between 200 and 250 degrees, the plastic can be softened, fused together, inlayed, swirled and marbled.

I use a heat gun to fuse two pieces together, softening the edges and for free form designs. It can also be used instead of the griddle for small projects and abstract designs. Just remember that the flow of the air can easily move your pieces around.

Creating Swirls and Marbling: the needle tool and the marbling comb.  The needle tool is great for creating spirals and swirl patterns in the softened plastic. I also use it to pierce a hole through beads and to help to lift the cooled plastic from the baking sheet. You can never have enough needle tools around if you ask me.

The marbling comb, another one of my bright ideas, was designed to create basic marbling techniques, from the cascade pattern to the octopus pattern, or a design of your own. My favorite is the wavy chevron pattern.

Cutters: cookie cutters, craft cutters, clay cutters.  Whatever they may be called… collect as many as you can. They come in so many shapes and sizes, and are perfect for cutting out jewelry components. I use a cutter for almost all of my components. They are quick and easy to use. Keep them in a dish of ice water with a few drops of oil added to it. This will keep them from sticking to the warm plastic.

Craft Knife: I use a craft knife to cut around shapes cut with the cookie cutters, that don’t pop out on their own. This happens quite often, so count on using your craft knife most of the time.

There you have it … my favorite tools to use.  There are so many unique and fascinating tools out there that can be used with Friendly Plastic, I hope you discover a few of your own.

You can visit Jana’s website at: www.justbananas.com.  For some great project ideas using Friendly Plastic visit AMACO’s website at: http://www.amaco.com/projectcat-friendly-plastic-6.html.

I’m pleased to introduce our guest blogger for the week: Jana Ewy!  She’s a top art and craft designer, who happens to be a leading expert for Friendly Plastic, a fun craft medium that creates some amazing results.  You can see more of Jana’s work at her website: www.justbananas.com.

My love for the Plastic 

I began working with Friendly Plastic in the late 1980′s. I was fascinated by the vibrant metallic colors and by the process of heating it in hot water into a soft pliable medium that could be manipulated into beautiful free form designs. Big and bold they were… and the embellishments, well enough was never enough.

Working with Friendly Plastic NOW, is more creative than ever before. With new techniques and new heating methods comes a unique new style. Gone but not forgotten is the hot water method. Although it still can be used for certain applications, using a heat tool and a griddle offer infinite opportunities to create exciting works of art. 

Every day I discover something new or find a way to update one of the techniques from the past. Here are a few photos from my technique Collections.

Fracture and Fusion

Marbled

Inlay

Cylinder

Look for Jana’s tool tips on September 18!