Holiday Jewelry Making Fun with Friendly Plastic

If you want to make unique jewelry that has color and style, Friendly Plastic is for you. What is it, you ask? This plastic material is easy to use, and can be manipulated into shapes by cutting and molding. All it takes is warming it in hot water to make it pliable. Friendly Plastic can be found at craft or jewelry supply shops online or in the mall. Here are a few tips for working with this popular jewelry making medium.

You can buy Friendly Plastic in different forms, from plastic pellets (good for molding), to sticks or flat planks. The planks come in colors from metallic, patterned to solid hues. Small kids should be monitored when using this medium. It can stick to acrylic fingernails, other plastics and aluminum so be careful what you place it on. You can get a rubber work mat to work the plastic on.. Use heat resistant, non-aluminum bowls to warm up. One great feature of this plastic is that if it dries hard and you don't like how it looks, just re-heat it and re-work it again.

When it is pliable, you can stamp textures into the surface of the plastic, or press things like rhinestones, beads, other plastics, and whatever other supplies are available. Just experiment with it, to see how to use it. It's not hard to use, and can working with it can result in spectacular jewelry. It can be painted with acrylic paints, drawn on with markers and sealed with Krylong clear coat when you're totally finished. When the plastic is manipulated to your liking, then attach it to the jewelry findings. You can find needle nosed pliers and other small tools for working with the findings, along with the findings themselves, at your local craft store. Jewelry findings such as pin backs, pendants or pierced ear hooks come in small packages or you can buy them in bulk. If you plan to sell jewelry, ask the craft store manager if you can buy the findings at a bulk rate, per gross.

A good way to work with Friendly Plastic is to buy a small, compartmentalized chest to hold findings and different colors of plastics. When you are finished with your project, save the scrap pieces of plastics, and put them in the mini-chest, for use later. Store the chest and plastics in a cool place. Leaving the plastics in the sun will re-melt them, so make sure not to expose them to unnecessary strong heat. Those of us living in tropical climates have to be mindful of things like this.

This is a unique medium, and when I used to sell jewelry years ago, everything I made sold quickly. The colors are beautiful and with a little creativity, the plastic can be transformed into elegant art items. Have fun, and enjoy yourself, whether you're amateur or professional. Friendly Plastic is sure to please and impress.