Thursday, October 29, 2009

A Rainbow of Color


Here's something that's been adding a huge amount of color to my work area lately. It's Friendly Plastic from the good folks at Amaco. Of course, I use Amaco products all of the time when I work with metal clay, but I have never tried Friendly Plastic.


My eye is really attracted to these luminescent metallic sticks. I've got a few ideas percolating for them, and I'm about to embark on my great adventure playing with a little more color than I'm used to using in my work. Cool! Color is good. I should have a few things to show you next week. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at my lovely materials.

If you are already a Friendly Plastic afficianado, remember there's still time to enter the Friendly Plastic Open Design Challenge! Hurry, though - the postmark deadline is November 6th. (Oh, and if you are already a veteran Friendly Plastic crafter, tips are very welcome on this end - be sure to leave me a comment! Thanks!)

8 comments:

Alice said...

Hmmmm, these look interesting. I can't wait to see what you do with them as I'm not familiar with it all.

The colors are just beautiful!

Anonymous said...

wow, i've never tried that. can't wait to see what you can do!

Rain Blanken said...

I seem to remember these chunks of plastic being in craft stores during the early 90's. Is it the same stuff?

Over at the About.com blogs, we thought we'd put together a photo collage holiday blog roundup if you're interested, ala Alexa's Terrorific Tuesdays.

It's a craft roundup, so any holiday tutorials or recipe how-to's and patterns are welcome to take part. All holiday traditions are welcome including Christmas, Yule, Hanukkah...

Everyone will be posting a group of holiday crafts each Thursday until the date of Christmas Eve. Shoot me an email to join up if you're interested.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Alice and Sandra, It's interesting stuff, right? I should have something to show for it by mid-week...

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Rain,

It's probably the same material - Friendly Plastic has been around for many years.

I'll contact you about the blog round-up!

Joyce, Bead Bee said...

I have never worked with Friendly Plastic, but I like to work with colored plexi, I cut it to shape and embellish with stones, do image transfers, or sandwich pretty paper or fabric in between layers. Nevertheless, have fun, love to discover new materials and look forward to seeing your results.

M said...

Hi Melissa & Rain,

This is DEFINITELY the same stuff from the 90s. I have a little pin I made back then from these materials, and I remember both some the color palette you've displayed, Melissa, and the physical appearance/structure.

Melissa, as always (love, love...,) Love what you've done.

Miriam

Melissa J. Lee said...

Hi Joyce, I'd love to give plexi a whirl next - it's been on my list of materials to try for a while.

Thanks, Miriam! The projects that the Friendly Plastic artists currently make with these brightly-colored sticks are very sophisticated and beautiful - and I really like them, especally the long-striped tube beads which are just gorgeous. However, there's still a part of me that loves the sheer campiness of those bold colors.