Archive for the ‘Friendly Plastic Tip’ Category

Friendly Plastic Tip! Storing Friendly Plastic

Saturday, March 6th, 2010
This tip is courtesy of Jana Ewy who took the time to write the Friendly Plastic Encyclopedia which is available on the side bar of the blog.  We continue to grow in readers who are new to Friendly Plastic so these basic techniques are good reminders to all of us, whether we are seasoned FP'rs or just in the beginning stages.  What do you need to know when purchasing Friendly Plastic?  And, after you purchase what's the best way to store it?  What if you've purchased a dreaded SNAPPER???? Read on for Jana's tips:

Friendly Plastic® has a shelf life if not properly stored. Exactly what that shelf life is, is unknown, with so many determining factors to be considered. The main points of this section is to help you purchase fresh Friendly Plastic®, suggest a few storing options, and share a little trick for reconditioning old Friendly Plastic®.

  • WARNING: With the renewed interest in Friendly Plastic®, a lot of old product is re-surfacing like buried treasure and being put up for auction. Buyers Beware!
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  • Purchasing – When purchasing Friendly Plastic®, you want to make sure the plastic is fresh. You do this by giving it the flex-test, simply give the stick a little bend, it should flex quite easily and then straighten back out. If it snaps in half, you guessed it… it’s a SNAPPER (old plastic). This is where ordering on-line can be a problem. My suggestion is to make sure you are ordering from a reputable dealer. Try to resist de-stash bargains and auctions. You want a guarantee that the plastic is fresh, be sure the dealer offers this.
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  • Storing – Keep your plastic in a closed container or zip-lock bag, when not in use. This seems to be the trick to longevity.
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  • Reconditioning – If you have SNAPPERS (old plastic), all is not lost. Old Friendly Plastic® can be reconditioned. Here is how: Place the sticks on a nonstick pan and either place the pan onto a griddle or into an oven, temperature set at 200°F (a heat tool will not work). Allow the plastic sticks to soften completely. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the sticks to cool completely on their own. DO NOT run them under cold water. Once they have cooled, remove them from the pan and check the flexibility. Hopefully this has done the trick. It is not fool proof, but it does work most of the time.



Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.
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Posted in FAQ-How to fix Snappers in Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic Tip, Jana Ewy, Plastic Industry News, Purchasing friendly plastic, storing friendly plastic | No Comments »

Two Teenage girls and some Friendly Plastic

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

LOVE LOVE LOVE opening my email and getting letters and pictures like this – just makes my day!

Linda,

I had a couple of teenage girls visit for about three hours and I just let them loose with a huge pile of FP.

I thought they would make the little wire ladies I had shown them, but no. They took that simple idea but made them larger, about four inches, and fancier with at least two layers each, plus the jewels.

Their next project was big barrettes for their long hair. These also were about four inches, and piled way high with FP. No detailed directions for theses girls, they just turned my large “clay only” toaster oven on, paying no attention to the temperature. They donned the heat resistant gloves I have, put their creations on non stick sheets on one of the tiles I use for clay, and watched thru the window until it looked melted and took it out.

The barrettes were just one baking. The dolls got two bakings, as after the first layer the wires were laid on and the second FP layer added. Then the girls mushed the plastic around with knitting needles dipped in cold water, and added the “jewels” and even some small glass tiles.

Apparently FP will take a lot of abuse when it comes to temperature, but I don’t suppose you want people trying that method :-) I bet as these visitors come again, and find more and more things in my studio, their FP creations will become more and more out of the ordinary. They had never heard of FP, say nothing of the fact they had no clue what could, or could not, be done with it. It reminded me that we all need to remember to occasionally try to think about our art with such a clean slate, absent of knowledge and/or influence! …

Phyll


Cara’s 4″ pin lady has glass tiles and a bouquet. Love the dress pattern.
 Marja’s 4″ jeweled toned jewel encrusted pin

Cara’s lovely 4″ barrette combo of leaves and flower


Marja’s three toned 4″ barrette

Well Girls – YOU DID AMAZING!!! And a big THANK YOU and shout out to Phyll for sharing their work!

Sometimes I believe we do “nothing” because we are afraid of failure. I find that true of myself sometimes…but then again, we have to remember that doing “nothing” produces “nothing” and we learn “nothing” and get “nothing” .
TIP: Just a friendly word though…..FP does create some brilliant barrettes…however please remember to cover them entirely with a durable two-part casting resin such as Envirotex Light. This will prevent them from melting in the warm summer months and entangling in hair.
Thanks to these girls for teaching us to just dive in and let go and explore. And here’s a bonus….in these cold wintery months, heat guns, toaster ovens are just an added plus to keeping you warm….so if you’re going to use electricity anyways….why not get extra warm with Friendly Plastic?

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.
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Posted in Beginner Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic Tip, Friendly Plastic and Teenagers, Friendly plastic beginners, Phyll Beach, Plastic Industry News | No Comments »

Adding Friendly Plastic to Amate Findings and Pendant Trays

Saturday, August 29th, 2009
There has been some talk about the beautiful results from combining Amate Studio findings with Friendly Plastic. They do make a great combination and really upscale the look of the plastic.

The question has been raised on the Friendly Plastic yahoo group on how to get the FP to fit perfectly inside the pendant trays. Thanks to Liz who generously shared her techniques to make this happen.

She says:

There are a number of ways of making your FP fit inside exactly, the first is to use the blank as a cutter, or at least to mark the hot plastic so that it can be cut out accurately with scissors when it has cooled.

Alternatively you can use the blank as a template to score around on the reverse side of the FP (easy for simple shapes, harder for more complex ones. The advantage of this approach is that you can make a sheet of coloured FP, do a first seal with envirotex lite over the whole stick of coloured FP, and then cut out your shape.

The third method I use is to push warm FP (sticks or Pellets) into the Amate blank and make impressions whilst it is actually in the blank using stamps or whatever you choose. Let it cool, remove and enhance as you wish before putting it back in the blank and sealing it.I hope that helps you a bit. I will be putting up some more Amate blanks on the web site shortly, so there will be more to choose from.

Liz

Thanks to Liz again for sharing. If you are in the UK and interested in purchasing Amate
findings please contact Liz via her blog. (www.rarelizzie.wordpress.com)

Amate findings come in three different finishes - silver, copper and brass. Silver is beautifully polished. Please note that these are base metal.

Additionally if you prefer a more vintage look, you might like to try the Patera line from Nunn Design as their pendant trays lend themselves to a more altered vintage look.
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Posted in Amate Studios, Friendly Plastic Tip, Liz Welch, Nunn Design, Patera, Plastic Industry News | No Comments »