Archive for the ‘Liz Welch’ Category

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Friendly Plastic…..Swimwear?

Friday, August 27th, 2010
Swim wear of sorts...



 I love how Liz Welch, Friendly Plastic and textile artist from the UK looks outside the box!  This is created using one of her Oooze techniques....but to find out more...you must must must visit her blog and read her latest post.

Click here.

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Posted in Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, create and craft tv, friendly plastic embellishments, hand made crds, ooze technique | No Comments »

Friendly Plastic…..Swimwear?

Friday, August 27th, 2010
Swim wear of sorts...



 I love how Liz Welch, Friendly Plastic and textile artist from the UK looks outside the box!  This is created using one of her Oooze techniques....but to find out more...you must must must visit her blog and read her latest post.

Click here.

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.
Become our Fan on FACEBOOK!!

Posted in Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, create and craft tv, friendly plastic embellishments, hand made crds, ooze technique | No Comments »

Create and Craft with Liz Welch – !

Friday, August 13th, 2010
So excited to share this info about my friend Liz Welch a Friendly Plastic and textile artist in the UK - Read on!.

Guess what, we are finally getting some Friendly Plastic on the tele: not sitting on top of the set, but actually to be featured on live TV with demos. I will be doing a one hour show on Ideal World’s Create And Craft channel (shopping channel available on freeview, cable and satellite) on Monday 16th August - Yes that is NEXT MONDAY- at midday UK time. My knees are shaking and my heart racing at the thought of it, goodness knows what I will be like on the day. However I hope to come across as cool, calm and collected, and if my knees are knocking you will not be able to see them behind the counter!
I am freelancing for Potterycrafts who are the UK distributor for Friendly Plastic, and I will be presenting 4 kits plus one of my DVDs.


So if you want a laugh, or simply the novel experience of watching a shopping channel, then tune in and have a giggle at my expense.
Last Friday I went down to Peterborough (where the studios are) to do a screen test, and it was all quite relaxed, in a professional sort of way. There were 3 of us doing screen tests, presenting different things, and as I was last to do mine, I had the benefit of seeing the others do theirs first. As a guest presenter I do have to do any selling as such, just talk about the product, it is up to the proper presenter to do the actual selling. The chap I worked with is called Dave and I was very impressed with the way he managed to get a handle on each of the three very different products (a tele, a hot foil machine and my Friendly Plastic) and do appropriate introductions and ask leading questions to illicit the information that is required. I only hope that whoever I get on Monday will be as easy to work with.
I know it won’t be Leonie Pujol (who I have known for years, ever since she worked in a craft shop called Topaz in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire).
I bumped in to her in the car park and after a long catch up she tells me that she does not work on Mondays. Maybe if I manage to keep people’s interest then we can do another show, and I can get to work with Leonie. For any of you who have seen her on TV, she is absolutely the same happy, chirpy, thoroughly lovely and absurdly young-looking person in real life as you see on the screen.
Anyway, I do hope that if you get the chance, you will be able to tune in and see me demonstrate some very simple techniques like stamping and joining, as well as Oooze and whatever else I have time for, and you will be able to take a gander at some of the samples I will show (no pics as I have not made some of the samples yet!)


As a last thought, if any of you have ever done something like this before, please send me as many tips on what to do and what not to do as you possibly can: it is one thing to demonstrate to or teach real people, but having cameras pointed at me and a presenter to interact with (no swearing allowed!) as well as explain, demo and hold things steady, I am sure to make loads of mistakes. Any tips on preparation would be greatly appreciated as well.


Liz - We all know you will do a fabulous craftabulous job and hopefully we can watch via the internet.

Liz is also working with CrafTECH University to put together classes in Friendly Plastic featuring her own unique style.  Watch for updates.




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Posted in Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, craftech university, friendly plastic on tv | No Comments »

Friendly Plastic….TAKE 2!

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
Last month on our FriendlyPlastic TV YouTube channel, I showed you one way to use even the tiniest bits of Friendly Plastic to create a quick pendant using a marble.


Today, I want to feature Liz Welch's tip on what she does with her tiny bits and pieces of Friendly Plastic. Look real close.......can you tell what is Friendly Plastic?






Liz reveals:  "The ‘life preserver ring’ is made from recycled  Friendly Plastic, using my Tubebead kit.  The resultant tubular ring was then covered in fabric.  The metal ball bead is entirely scrap FP with a metal effect paint and rusting solution applied."

Here is another view
Sometimes your Friendly Plastic bits do not have to be visible at all?  What a great use for left over bits and pieces.  Use them as forms and cover them with all sorts of fabric, wire or whatever else may inspire you.

You can read the whole story behind this design by visiting Liz on her blog at:  www.rarelizzie.wordpress.com


Oh and check out her Tubead kit...it's awesome!



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Posted in Art Jewelry, Friendly Plastic Beads, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, Recycling Friendly Plastic, art beads, recycled friendly plastic | No Comments »

Speghetti and Friendly Plastic???

Sunday, June 20th, 2010
I couldnt resist sharing this photo of ....yes....speghetti and  friendly plastic.  How fun?  This is a photo snatched from Liz Welch's blog as she shares details of a recent class she taught. So check out her blog to find out just what they made  from this.


Classes are a great way to get your hands wet with Friendly Plastic.  Liz offers a wide variety of technique classes in the UK.
If you are in Australia - check out Mylene Hillams classes
If you are anywhere else in the world - CrafTECH University offers online classes in Friendly Plastic along with an array of other craft based classes.  Coming up June 29th is a basic jewelry making class and a wire wrapping class featuring bling rings.  While these classes are not Friendly Plastic in content, the skills learned are a great value when turning your Friendly Plastic work into jewelry.  Check out the upcoming calendar including Friendly Plastic on the home page of the website.  Click here


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Posted in Friendly Plastic Classes, Liz Welch, Mylene Hillam, Plastic Industry News, craftech university | No Comments »

Victoria Stampers Class in the UK by Liz Welch

Sunday, June 13th, 2010
Friendly Plastic is fun the world over!!! Very popular in the UK thanks to artist Liz Welch, who's textural techniques with Friendly Plastic are absolutely stunning.   I wanted to share highlights of one of her recent classes.


What a hot one Saturday was, not only from the point of view of the weather, but also the class I took at Victoria Stampers in Rainhill, Mersyside, everyone was red hot keen to discover how to use Friendly Plastic to it’s best advantage.
Meeting in the function room over the Victoria Pub, these talented and dedicated ladies know how to apply themselves to their craft! Not only was it all superbly organised by Lynne Wilkinson, but everyone came prepared with the right kit, the right attitude and bucketfuls of friendship and humour (plus the odd chocolate!).
This was a larger class than normal due to very special circumstances and I was a little anxious that it might be tricky to give everyone enough attention. However, they listened, made notes and eagerly tried out all the things I threw at them to do, helping each other along the way. I was so busy and involved that I managed to only take one or two photos, and I am reliant on some photos generously donated by others.
Unfortunately, because I did not take all the photos, I can’t remain behind the camera!
Busy learning Lacework
Here are some great samples made by Jo
You can see how hard they worked, and in this example, it is obvious that Jo’s energy and enthusiasm did not stop when class was over as I think all of these were made after the class! Thanks Jo for all your photos.
Neet sent me this photo of the work she had done in he class, finishing off her Angelina hearts and putting them back to back to make a pendant when she got home.
The last two images I have pinched from Carol and Olive’s blogs – thank you ladies!
Finally, here I am demonstrating a technique to the ladies of Victoria Stampers, and as you can see, they all paid close attention.
Judging by the flurry of head-swelling emails I received, they enjoyed themselves and liked what I did with them. I was very touched by the lovely hand made card (complete with Friendly Plastic motif) which was signed by them all.
Thank you Victoria Stampers for a really great day, I thoroughly enjoyed being with you all, you are a great bunch of people and I look forward to working with you all again.




Liz teached Friendly Plastic throughout the UK.  Please visit her blog for details of her upcoming classes.

For those of you who are not able to travel to the UK but would like to take a class, I am happy to say that we are working on that possibility thru CrafTECH University.  It is just a matter of finding a time suitable for her and everyone and working out the logistics.  This will truely be a class you don't want to miss!!  Please keep checking the class calendar on http://www.craftechuniversity.com/ home page for updates to the schedule.



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 Friendly Plastic Classes, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, craftechuniversity, friendly plastic classes uk, friendly plastic textures, ooze | No Comments »

RareLizzie – Liz Welch featured in UK Jewelry Magazines for Friendly Plastic

Friday, May 7th, 2010
We always strive to keep up with the latest in Friendly Plastic.  Thanks to Liz for letting us know about her two articles in UK based magazines.  I am pretty sure that copies are available in the states at Barnes and Noble:

Please visit Liz's blog for more inspiration and wonderly juicy crafty eye candy:  http://www.rarelizzie.wordpress.com/

She writes:


I seem to be always apologising: Once again the apology is for severe lack of posts over the last few weeks, and of course the usual excuse still applies -I have been very very busy recently. However, I do want to tell you that the Oooze and Aahhs class I ran at Husqvarna in Nottingham at the end of April went down well, and I think one or two folk got the FP bug as a result. Unfortunately I completely forgot to take my camera so I have no pictures to show you. The next class “Get Stuck In” is on May 22nd when we will be exploring how to use Friendly Plastic with all sorts of other things such as wire, watch parts, charms, yarns, sequins and found objects. For a better description, click on the Classes tab at the top of the page.
By way of compensation I can tell you that if you take a look at Making Jewellery Magazine this month you will find a double page spread that I wrote all about making beads with Friendly Plastic.
The article is aimed at introducing Friendly Plastic to those that already make jewellery but are unfamiliar with FP, in an attempt to reach a wider audience than FP currently receives. I hope to write some more articles for the magazine soon.
I have also just written something for Make Jewellery Magazine (similar titles but very different style) for the July issue which is again a double page spread and has a small Ooozey project using Angelina fibres to make a heart pendant. It is not proper for me to show you the project right now, but when the magazine is published I will give you a glimpse!
I think I mentioned in a previous post about a 6.5 m “textile” piece I have been creating for the next Nolitex exhibition TideLine at Sam Scorer Gallery in Lincoln from 13th – 25th July, well I have had a number of unsuccessful attempts to photograph it and my photographer friend and I planned to go to the coast near Skegness to create the right setting for the work. The weather had thwarted us, but with more optimism than was sensible we struck out for Skeggy on Sunday with the dog and a huge box containing my piece, leaving just enough room for my niece to fit in the car too. After tramping through swathes of dry soft sand with a gale blowing in our faces, we eventually found a great spot for Sarah to work her magic. Having just maneuvered the piece into position and taken out the cameras, we got about 2 shots before the driving rain began.
It is not easy to beat a hasty retreat with all the gear, a huge box, and a dog covered in sand through the really soft and shifting dunes. But after a cup of tea and a very hot and fresh bowl of chips (fries to all of you across the Pond), the sky looked clear enough to chance another attempt at some photography.
This time we had more success, and even enjoyed 30 second bursts of sunshine. I hasten to add that it does not mean that the weather was warm, far from it; the wind was icy, but we managed to get some photos and by way of a sneak preview I show them to you now.
The piece is called “On The Strand” and measures 6.5m in length
It is in essence a very large necklace made up with “beads” of hardened cotton cord, Friendly Plastic, wire and recycled beads from a charity shop. In a previous post I showed you the picture below and asked what you thought they were made of.
Of course the answer was Friendly Plastic, but the scale was difficult to judge; now you can get a better idea of the scale, particularly when I tell you that the largest bead in the necklace is almost 1ft (30cm) across.
Sarah is a professional photographer at Derek Whitehouse Photography an she has been asked to photograph some very weird things in her time. She is also not a fan of sand (huge understatement), so I can only say a huge thank you to you Sarah for spending your precious Sunday with me on the sand in the rain in Skegness! And just in case you are wondering, these photos are from my camera and not Sarah’s, hers will be really fabulous.
She has also photographed my other major piece for the exhibition and I hope to be able to give you a sneak preview soon. This one is only 2m high though. Working big used to terrify me, but now it seems to be the only way to express myself. However, in the Autumn, I will be exhibiting with DOT (Designs On Textiles) which is a computer design group and the only piece I have completed for that is less than 8” square – maybe I am having an identity crisis!


I had no idea that those beads were that big! Did you?  and who would have guessed that they were Friendly Plastic?  WOW! Amazing artwork.  I am always so blown away by all the talent that I see with Friendly Plastic. 

If you are in the UK - you can get your Friendly Plastic supplies at:  http://www.rarebird.co.ltd/
In the US- please visit:  http://www.friendlyplasticmarketplace.com/





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Posted in Friendly Plastic Beads, Friendly Plastic Jewelry, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, magaines with friendly plastic | No Comments »

Creating Friendly Plastic Addicts One Friend at a Time – by Jen Lowe

Thursday, April 15th, 2010
It's true - that's our mission...creating Friendly Plastic Addicts one friend at a time.  And the best thing about this addiction is it offers no harmful side effects!  Only creative fun and a chance to escape some stress!

I say if Cool2Craft can put out a call for 1 Million people who think it's cool to craft we can do the same!! 1 Million FP addicts huh?

Many of the techniques you see here were inspired by internationally known artist Liz Welch

I thought you would enjoy this post by Jen Lowe


Last time, I posted about teaching 1 person who taught another person.....and how you can grow a craft that way.

This blog is about how one person took what she learned here, and made numerous pendants from that same "class" - she is growing her Friendly Plastic skills by leaps and bounds.

Here's what my good friend Shelly made - all done with Friendly Plastic. We're teaching the world, one friend at a time!!!












Which one do you like best???





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Posted in Animal Print friendly Plastic, Art Jewelry, Friendly Plastic Jewelry, Jen Lowe, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, angelina fibers, friendly plastic angelina fibers, ooze | No Comments »

Upcoming Classes in Friendly Plastic by Liz Welch

Monday, March 22nd, 2010
Passing along this information for  those of you interested in classes by Liz Welch - a UK Friendly Plastic Artist.
Life has been a bit hectic over the last few weeks and I apologise for not making the time to post sooner. However, I can bring to your attention some classes I am running in the next few months. The details are on the Classes Page (see the tab at the top of the blog).
The first is on April 7th at the Husqvara Studio in Nottingham when I will be running two introductory classes, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. First Impressions (in the morning) is a great way to get to know Friendly Plastic and how it works. In two hours we will explore a load of different ways of making buttons for your textile, jewellery and a papercrafting projects. Whether they are teeny tiny little embellishments for a scrapbook page or a card, or giant oversized buttons for making a statement on a bag or garment, we will have fun trying out some different techniques.
Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy, I think I shook the camera a tad. The button is about 2″ across and is made up from a lot of scraps. It finishes of my scrappy hand knitted bag perfectly.
This is such a simple card, I used some scraps of old lace and some card and hand-made paper offcuts and stitched the buttons on before mounting them on the card.

Scraps and a needle tool created this button which adorns a photo album.
Buttons don’t have to be round, they could be any shape, they could have a shank, or they could be more like a bead, it is up to you
In the afternoon we will be looking at making moulds using Easy Mould (2 part moulding silicone putty), and then filling them with Friendly Plastic to make motifs for jewellery, cards an textiles. We will experiment with Friendly Plastic sticks and Pellets which we can colour using alcohol inks

You have seen this image before, but this is the sort of thing I mean when I am talking moulds.
On the 24th April we will spend a whole day Ooozing an Aaahhing! A day of exploration and experimentation, creating amazing textures and trying out loads of ideas. Warm Friendly Plastic can be pushed or Ooozed through all manner of things with holes in, and the effects are astounding. If you like to experiment and have some fun then this is a great day for you. Although the technique developed out of one of my mistakes (rolling thick lace into FP and getting it stuck), the serendipitous nature of the resulting effects is perfect for every application. I always find it exciting to try out a new Oooze medium, whether it is fabric, paper, metal, yarn or whatever I can lay my hands on with holes in, the end result is never quite what you expect, but always interesting and textured.
This is a whole day class at Husqvarna Studios in Nottingham, and you will need to book directly with the venue.
I have more classes for May and June, but I won’t rattle on about them now, you can see the details on the Classes Tab at the top of the page.
Now I mentioned “Shows” in the title of this post, and that is because I will be at Fashion, Embroidery and Stitch at the NEC on Thur 25th March and Sunday 28th March on the Nolitex stand (ZM02) as we are bringing part of our touring exhibition A Question Of Identity to the NEC.
I have two pieces of work on show, and there are lots of lovely and stimulating things to see from the rest of the group. Come and say hello if you are at the show. We have some brilliant value CD catalgues with 90 images of work from the exhibition for £4 on the stand, plus post cards and cards for sale. There will always be a member of the group on the stand if you want to ask any questions, or indeed purchase one of the value packed CDs. I know they are excellent value as I have spent days sorting out the images to use, labelling them all and re-ordering them to make a coherent slide show, compiling the CD, designing and printing the disc an then copying them all. So if there are any mistake you can blame me!
This is likely to be the last time this body of work is exhibited as we will be launching our next exhibition into the world for two weeks from the 12th July 2010 at the Sam Scorer Gallery in Lincoln under the title “TideLine”. I will tell you more about that closer to the time, but I am very excited by what I have seen so far of the work for TideLine, it is incredibly varied in techniques, and really stimulating. I can’t tell you any more now, I have to go and paint some plinths in readiness for Fashion Embroidery and Stitch.






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Posted in Classes in the UK, Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic Classes, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, Rarebird website | No Comments »

Simple Photography Tips for Friendly Plastic

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
By now, you've probably been reading our daily posts and have created a mountain of Friendly Plastic projects - Right????  I sure hope so!!   Now it's time to share them with the rest of the world.  But how do you photograph them so that they will stand out in the photo?

Here are a few of my favorite tips if you are just beginning:

  • Select a camera that will do nice close up (macro) shots.  This is very important.

  • Hold the camera steady - if you can't, consider using a tripod and the timer button on the camera

  • Use a simple background.  A light grey, black or light blue works well.  As an option you could use a pretty piece of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper with a gentle pattern.  Stay away from pure white as this tends to confuse the camera and sends the white balance in a tizzy.

  • Use natural lighting if at all possible.  Shoot by a window, but not in direct sunlight.  You can also take your project outside and choose a nice shady spot.  This helps avoid shadows.  Lighting is so important - so give attention to this particular tip!
  •  
  • For nice detail shoot the photo in as high of resolution that your camera will allow.  Mine is 8mp.  The higher the megapixel the more detail in your photo when enlarged.  
  • Here's an important one.....if emailing your photo to your Flickr, Photobucket, Facebook or to me to share, please resize the photo down to an "email version".  Most photo editing programs will allow you to resize these photos to send quickly over the internet.  If you are using Photoshop, simply click on FILE then SAVE FOR THE WEB and this will do the trick!!  
The photo below is a good example of simple photography.




I photographed this on a patterned piece of scrapbook paper.  While the paper has a light pattern to it, it doesn't detract from the Friendly Plastic pendant.



 You can see that the patterned background that I used above would not be a good choice for displaying a variety of beads, such as these beads created by Liz Welch.  She effectively used a lighter grey background to highlight each and every bead. 




 This is an example of a close up photo.  Liz used a black background to make the individual bead stand out.  The photo is clear.  Just a word of caution, be careful using black backgrounds, since they could come off as greys, blues or purples. 

Have fun with the photography and stay tuned tomorrow as I give some more advanced tips!

Email me your photos!!

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 Amaco, Beginner Friendly Plastic, Friendly Plastic Tips and Techniques, Linda Peterson, Liz Welch, Plastic Industry News, photography tips | No Comments »

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