plastic industry india » Liz Welch

How to make Bauble Beads with Friendly Plastic and Glass Marbles

Linda Peterson Designs — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:17:00 +0000

Learn how to make bauble beads with Friendly Plastic and Glass Marbles. Hosted by Linda Peterson and inspired by Liz Welch.

Be sure to visit Liz Welch at her blog: http://rarelizzie.wordpress.com for lots more yummy inspiration!

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

Neon Lights in Friendly Plastic

Linda Peterson Designs — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 02:08:00 +0000

Amaco Friendly Plastic 40 Stick Assortment ~CelebrationIm currently busy in the studio creating what I call like to call a vintage grunge look in Friendly Plastic - which is this month's feature for FPTV...but until then, I thought you'd like this snippit from Liz Welch - my UK friend and fellow Friendly Plastic Addict. Not surprizingly her work is in print again....read her article:

I hope you enjoyed today’s Create and Craft with Friendly Plastic and The Little Book of Secrets Kit. More about that in another post, but I wanted to tell you that I am in print again! Check out this month’s issue of Make Jewellery Magazine, for the project. It is called Neon Lights and features an inlay technique using Friendly Plastic and Envirotex Lite. I have used really bright and up to the minute colours of Fuchsia Pink and the new Citron yellowy green. The technique is very simple and involves using small circular cutters and a needle tool to scratch in a design.

The set is made up of a pendant created in two halves and melded back to back, earrings that are reversible and a ring inset into a silver plated Amate bezel. Envirotex Lite coats all three elements of the set making them have a glass-like super glossy appearance great for whatever part of the world you live in because the Envirotex Lite protects the Friendly Plastic from any extremes of temperature. Mind you , the only extremes of temperature we have been having in the UK recently are more likely to freeze your Friendly Plastic: melting in the sunshine is not a likely option at the moment!

I have often been asked how to apply Envirotex Lite, and the answer is “with a bit of preparation and care”. Jana Ewy and Linda Peterson both use this 2 part resin and I can’t remember which one gave me th tip about using Blue Tak to support the work and lift it off the surface. Make sure that everything is absolutely level because Envirotex is a self leveling compound and if you are on a tilt, it will run off!

Mix equal quantities of the hardener and the resin very thoroughly together and leave to stand for a couple of minutes whilst some of the bubbles created in the mixing process have risen to the surface and popped. I use a cocktail stick to encourage the resin to the edges, taking care to avoid overflows. A gentle blow across the surface removes remaining bubbles. Then all you need to do is leave it to dry for 12 hours. After that you can trim off any dribbles with scissors, or add another layer if you want. The resin needs to dry for 24 hours before you can use the heat of a heat gun to stick the two coated element back to back.

If Envirotex Lite is too lengthy a process for you, then why not try MagicGlos which does the same job but cures in 10 minutes using a UV nail lamp.

Friendly Plastic inspiration from an "Enchanted" castle

Linda Peterson Designs — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:10:00 +0000

We recently featured Kate Charles on the blog and THANK YOU to our subscribers for checking out her website - she reports nearly 500 hits that week alone!!!

She writes:

The tower is made from small "stones" of FP, mainly pewter and silver,
covered in a variety of materials eg voiles, skeleton leaves, micro beads
or patterned with stamps. When all the pieces were assembled the tower as
burnished with rub'n buff in golds and silver. Small ivy leaf cut outs
were then attached to the tower with a soldering iron. The inside is
painted with acrylics.

I learnt so much on Liz's course that my head is full of new ideas. Your
amazing blog is also inspiring - I'm scrounging old bottles of nail polish
to make my own coloured sticks to work with - what a brilliant idea."

Wow!!! Kate was inspired by a Castle......tell me...what inspires you??

Visit Kate's website at: http://www.katecharlescrafts.co.uk/

Send your work to me at lindapetersondesigns@yahoo.com and I"ll feature you!

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

Adventures in Friendly Plastic with Liz Welch

Linda Peterson Designs — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:38:00 +0000

I wish I would have been able to coordinate my time in England to be there for Liz's class! Liz shares highlights from her class...and yes...it's in a CASTLE!!! WOW!:

I had been looking forward to the weekend so much: I knew that the group of people would be fun to work with, there were some characters I knew of old, and some I had yet to meet. What I had not anticipated was just how much fun, and just what a whacky and characterful lot they would turn out to be. Spontaneous renditions of camp fire songs, home-made biscuits, selfless sharing of materials, tools, equipment and ideas and buckets full of laughter.

The weekend I am referring to is last weekendâ€™s Friendly Plastic course 3D FP in Chepstow Castle. Having arrived in the dark on Friday night, I did not get the chance to appreciate just what a lovely little place Chepstow is. After a full English (well, you only get to have it when you stay in a hotel donâ€™t you), I drove my car, laden to the gunwales with stuff, right up to the very walls of the castle. The gates (replicas of the original 12^th century gates) swung open to let my modern conveyance inside the narrow entrance and into the ancient keep itself.

Adrienne Goodenough (Lifelong Learning Manager for Cadwr â€“ Welch Heritage organisation) followed hot on my heals and with the help of Annie we unloaded our cars and with a suitably regal wave we grandly proceeded back through the gates th at were never designed with anything more than a horse and cart in mind. Not many people get the opportunity of driving in to the very heart of such an ancient and spectacular castle, but we got to do it â€“ twice (we had to pack up at the end didnâ€™t we).

Adrienne had organised for us to use two adjoining rooms in the castle for the course, and she had brought heaters, tables, and most essentially tea and coffee. By the time we had set up, everyone else had arrived and it was a time for greeting friends old and new, and making real those friendships that had, up until this point, been only virtual ones on various on line groups.

We began with a stroll around the castle with sketch books and cameras to hand, hoping that the rain would hold off long enough for us to get a good look at the ancient stones, towers and views. The castle is right on the river Wye and is in remarkably good order for a ruin! There were beautiful vistas wherever you looked, interesting details, inspiring textures and the time we had was too short to really appreciate all that was on offer. However, we needed to get back to the class room and start exploring possibilities.

Although the course was aimed at creating 3D pieces in Friendly Plastic, not everyone was ready to take things that far. But this was of no issue at all as the techniques that are handy for construction, forming and moulding are also very suitable for 2 dimensional work.

We looked at construction methods â€“ joining and piecing, forming using bowls (or gourds and oranges as things turned out), moulding, layering, texturing, re-colouring, Lacework, Friendly Plastic Pellets and loads of other things besides. When everyone had a handle on these useful techniques we discovered the castle was about to close so we had to get a wiggle on and decamp for a spot of socialising in a lovely little restaurant bar called The LimeTree Cafe Bar. Having enjoyed home-made soup and rolls in the The Chepstow Castle Inn at lunchtime, everyone still seemed to have plenty of room for delicious tapas at The LimeTree.

The evening was relaxing, and a superb opportunity to get to know one another better. Neet and Vonnie had both brought their other halves with them (they had been off stomping across the hills in the rain), and Nathalie had her 12 year old daughter Marianne (who was also doing the course).

The following morning the sun made all the autumn colour on the wooded slopes of the river Wye glow in perfect harmony with our uplifted spirits. Everyone was looking forward to another exciting day in great company (with Lynneâ€™s delicious home-made biscuits to fend off any untoward pangs of hunger.

Back into the embrace of the ancient castle we all strode (toddled!) ready for the days activities. Everyone had some sort of an idea about what they wanted to achieve and today was the day that they would do it. Using the skills they had already learnt they set to, with a small amount of guidance from me. You can see the results for yourself, they are tremendous. Everyone took some aspect of the castle itself and used it to create their wonderful bowls, boxes and artwork. This little Box was made by Maxine who was very new to Friendly Plastic, but she managed to ge eh textures and colours of the walls beautifully.

Annieâ€™s bowl made initially over a gourd using Alcohol Ink coloured Friendly Plastic Pellets worked beautifully and captures the colours of the wooded slopes of the valley.

Kate was one of the more experienced in the group and managed to perfectly recreate one of the towers of the stone keep using small pieces that she textured in a wide variety of ways including stamping and OoozeI Her colours are subtle and the tumbledown effect should always remind her of Chepstow Castle. Like everyone else she still has some finishing off to do, but the construction is complete. Fabulous Kate.

Lynneâ€™s colours hark back to dashing days of chivalry and sumptuous velvets, but her textures and shapes come directly from the castle itself. She even managed a very neat spaghetti trim round the top â€“ reminiscent of jousts I think.

Adrienneâ€™s bowl is like burnished metal on the inside and is of a most interesting shape as it was moulded around a gourd. The outside texture was achieved using lace but until it gets it legs put on, it bears a remarkable resemblance to one half of Madonnas bra! Or perhaps it could be some medieval warrior princessâ€™ breast plate in the making!

There are so many photos and I want to show you them all, so I am putting all the rest into a gallery for you to view. Remember that at least 4 of the girls (whether they were 60+ or 12 or anywhere in between) had not worked with Friendly Plastic before.

I am delighted by what you achieved girls, you worked so hard and put so much of your personalities into the weekend, I only hope that you are as proud of your creations as I am. Make sure you send me photos of the finished items so I can blog about them and put them on the gallery pages of my website. Even if we never touched any Friendly Plastic again (God forbid!!!) I would still thoroughly enjoy your company.

So who is game for next year and what shall we do?Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

Friendly Plastic Dichroic Effect by Linda Peterson featured on Cool2Craft

Linda Peterson Designs — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 22:22:00 +0000

In case you missed the episode yesterday, here's the segment featured on Cool2Craft Live Craft TV

You can catch Cool2Craft every Monday at Noon eastern.

Like this technique? Purchase the kit from CrafTECH University. - Click on Today's special! - Free shipping is applicable only in the US/Canada. And additional charge will apply to all orders outside US.
Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

Friendly Plastic featured on Cool2Craft Monday October 25

Linda Peterson Designs — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Join Linda Peterson on Monday October 25th at 12 noon Eastern time - (11am central and 5pm in the UK) to learn how to create a dichroic effect in Friendly Plastic using some materials she brought back from England!!! Such a fun technique inspired by Liz Welch.

See you then!!!

To see the show live visit linqto.com/rooms/cool2craft about 30 minutes and take part in the pre-show chat.

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

A Friendly tease…………..Friendly Plastic TV and Friendly Plastic visits Knottingham

Linda Peterson Designs — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:06:00 +0000

Im in the final stages of editing the next in the series of Friendly Plastic videos and I've shot the opening on location in London, which I think you will enjoy.

But for now, I am on my way to the English Midlands to go visit a couple of very dear friends, Gill and Liz.

Liz has been featured many times on the blog for her amazing work in Friendly Plastic and helping spread the word throughout England and the world. I will be visitin Liz's home and studio tomorrow. So stay tuned....even I don't know what we will create!

For now here's a sneak peak at what's coming up on FPTV. Make faux jade using Friendly Plastic Pellets!

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.

Friendly Plastic…..Swimwear?

Linda Peterson Designs — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:29:00 +0000

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.

Friendly Plastic…..Swimwear?

Linda Peterson Designs — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:29:00 +0000

Swim wear of sorts...

Create and Craft with Liz Welch – !

Linda Peterson Designs — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:19:00 +0000

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 Worldâ€™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 wonâ€™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 peopleâ€™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.

Linda Peterson is compensated and endorsed by AMACO. The guests features may or may not have any affiliation with AMACO.